Marquette women’s volleyball gave their fans a treat in their home opener by beating Iowa State 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-15).
“This weekend is culminating a preseason where we set certain goals. We missed two opportunities the first two weekends and we just didn’t want to miss any more,” head coach Ryan Theis said. “We talked about taking advantage of opportunities and I think tonight we did that.”
“We definitely made a big statement on what we can do as a team,” added outside hitter Taylor Louis. “We have been working on a whole bunch of team defense, team passing and having a well-known team come to Marquette kind of underdogs us, but it put a mark to the other teams out there to let them know what we can do.”
Marquette was dominant defensively throughout the match. They held Iowa State to just a .096 hitting percentage to go along with 10 team blocks. Furthermore, in the third set they held the Cyclones to just 15 points.
“I thought we took away their hitters’ comfort and that made them struggle, made them play a little bit higher,” said Theis. “I thought Lauren (Houg) played great defense tonight and I thought that was pretty disruptive to what they wanted to do.”
After being named tournament MVP a week ago, Louis kept her success going with 19 kills, four digs and three blocks.
“Honestly, just focusing on being a team,” said Louis about what was important key for her recent success. “My teammates keep me focused, and I don’t know, just being a team player and doing everything together.”
Marquette and Iowa State stayed neck and neck for the first two sets. The Golden Eagles won the first set 25-22 and in the second set both teams were tied seven times. Marquette would eventually go on to win the second set 25-21. However, in the third set everything would change.
Freshmen Madeline Mosher and Allie Barber used back-to-back kills to propel Marquette to an 8-4 lead. Following a Cyclone timeout, Marquette jumped out to a 15-8 lead and never looked back, winning the set 25-15.
“To be honest, I don’t think either team was clicking in the third,” said Theis. “It was getting a little sloppy on both sides and I think we just managed the game a little bit better than them from a giving away points perspective.”
Despite the satisfying win, there was little time for celebration. About half an hour after the match, Marquette was already meeting to discuss their first match tomorrow against Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
“We had a preseason goal of 10 wins and that means we need two more tomorrow,” said Theis.
It all begins Saturday at the Al McGuire Center with a match against UWM at 1 p.m. and then Marquette will wrap up the tournament with a match against Missouri State at 7 p.m.