No. 10 Marquette resumed its BIG EAST slate with a sweep (25-14, 25-20, 25-18) of Providence Friday night after a 10-day break.
The Golden Eagles dominated from the opening serve and used an early 5-0 run to take the first set 25-14.
“We were playing collectively as a team (in the first),” sophomore setter Claire Mosher said. “Everyone was doing their jobs and we were all playing as one.”
Providence kept it close in the second frame. There were seven ties and four lead changes in the set, but MU overcame a late 4-0 Providence run to win the set.
“We gave a few points away (in the second),” Theis said. “Then we stopped giving them away and pulled away. Then the error bug kind of crept in at the end there. We weren’t solid throughout the entire set.”
The third frame was all Marquette, as the Golden Eagles cruised to a 25-18 victory. Theis pulled most of the starters near the end of the set.
Senior Allie Barber led the way for MU with 11 kills, hitting at a clip of 0.688.
“Allie was exceptional out of system tonight,” Theis said. “She had some struggles with that in previous matches, but (she had) some real high, deep swings on sidelines and endlines (tonight).”
Freshman Hannah Vanden Berg contributed nine kills, while graduate student Gwyn Jones totaled six. Mosher had a team-high 16 assists, while junior Martha Konovodoff put up a match-high 17 digs.
For the Friars, Jennifer Leitman had 11 kills, and Addison Root contributed eight kills and 11 digs. Setters Allison Barber and Brielle Mullally had 17 and 15 assists respectively. As a squad, Providence hit just 0.110 in the match, posting 21 service errors and just 33 kills.
No. 10 Marquette (15-2, 5-0 BIG EAST) takes on No. 13 Creighton Saturday at the Al McGuire Center.
“Last year, it was rough losing to Creighton both times,” Mosher said. “We’ve prepared this (past) week and a half and we’re all really excited to play (Creighton) tomorrow night.”
