One step backward, one step forward.
That has been the theme for Marquette volleyball’s season so far, and their results this weekend certainly fit the trend. The Golden Eagles lost to the Villanova Wildcats in straight sets on Friday night, then regrouped to defeat the Seton Hall Pirates in straight sets on Saturday. Marquette is now 3-2 in BIG EAST play.
“We’ve got to continue to get better at the little things,” said Marquette head coach Ryan Theis. “That hurt us on Friday night, but I thought that we did a lot of little things really well [on Saturday night.]”
The Golden Eagles got off to yet another slow start against Villanova, and the Wildcats made them pay. Villanova’s junior outside hitter Claire Crutchfield tallied 13 kills on only 29 swings to help lead the Wildcats to victory. Marquette’s freshman outsider hitter, Taylor Louis, also recorded 13 kills, but those kills were accompanied by 10 errors.
The loss means that five of Marquette’s six defeats on the season have come in matches where they have not played another match in the previous 24 hours. In contrast, Marquette is 8-1 in matches where they have played another match in the previous 24 hours.
After the Villanova game, Theis told his team that they needed to play more consistently.
“I told them that we were executing effectively for very short durations of matches,” he said. “I thought our consistency with good play was extremely low.”
Whatever adjustments Coach Theis made after the Villanova loss must have worked, because Marquette played like an entirely new team against Seton Hall. The Pirates were held to a subpar .174 hitting percentage for the match, and only one Seton Hall attacker managed to lift her hitting percentage above .220. Marquette also recorded seven blocks.
Louis returned to being her usual effective self against Seton Hall, putting up 16 kills while limiting herself to only two errors. Junior setter Sara Blasier also had one of her better games as a Golden Eagle, pacing the offense with 38 assists.
“To lose and not play well on the first match of the road trip and to bounce back and get better…. I was very pleased with that,” Theis said. “That’s not easy to do for a group of 18-to-21 year olds.”
Marquette still has two more road fixtures left to play before they can return to the Al McGuire Center. They will square off with the Georgetown Hoyas in Washington D.C. on Friday night before flying to Omaha on Sunday to take on the Creighton Blue Jays, who are 4-0 in conference play.
