No. 10 Marquette extended its winning streak to eight games after beating the Xavier Musketeers in four sets (25-15, 19-25, 25-23, 25-16) Wednesday morning.
The first set was total Marquette domination, taking a 21-11 lead. While MU held the Musketeers to .261 clip, the Golden Eagles combined for its most efficient clip of the season at .682.
Marquette seemed like a completely different team in the second set, hitting at a .121 clip. Though MU kept it close, once Xavier reached a 17-12 lead, the Golden Eagles. couldn’t come back to cut the deficit.
Most of the third frame was back and forth with nine ties. Even though Marquette had a 21-16 advantage, Xavier stormed back to tie the set at 22-22. The Golden Eagles won the set 25-23.
In the fourth set, Xavier suffered 13 total errors and hit at a clip of .000. Meanwhile, MU finished with five blocks and three service aces during this frame alone. Marquette claimed an early 7-4 lead and never relinquished it, winning 25-16.
Senior Allie Barber finished with a match-high 16 kills and had two blocks. Sophomore Ellie Koontz added nine kills and three blocks. Junior Hope Werch finished with eight kills, nine digs and two aces. Gwyn Jones recorded seven kills, hitting at a stellar .429 clip and accumulating three blocks.
Norah Painter led the Musketeers with 13 kills. MaryAnn O’Toole ended with a team-high 17 digs while Ailsa Watson contributed 19 assists and seven digs.
No. 10 Marquette (14-2, 4-0 BIG EAST) has short break until the Golden Eagles play host to Providence and Creighton next weekend.
