No. 11 Marquette finished its four-match road trip Saturday with a sweep of the Seton Hall Pirates (25-12, 42-40, 25-12), despite a marathon second set.
This was MU’s fourth consecutive win since falling to the Creighton Bluejays 2-3 at home Oct. 12.
It was all Marquette in the first set, with the Golden Eagles leading the whole time and taking it 25-12. In the frame, MU boasted a hitting percentage of 0.483 while holding the Pirates to 0.065.
The second set was a completely different story.
Seton Hall jumped out to an early advantage in the second. But after a timeout by head coach Ryan Theis, the Golden Eagles went on a 6-0 scoring run and reclaimed the lead. Then the Pirates battled back and kept it neck-and-neck for the rest of the set.
There were 22 ties and eight lead changes in the second frame. Neither team was able to rattle off enough consecutive points to take the set until Marquette finally won 42-40, 17 points after a normal set ends.
The third frame was much like the first, with MU rolling from the beginning. The Golden Eagles easily took the set 25-12 and exited Walsh Gymnasium with another sweep over a conference opponent.
Senior Allie Barber led Marquette with 20 kills on a hitting percentage of 0.474. Junior Hope Werch had a double-double with 12 kills and 15 digs, and junior Sarah Rose had 17 assists and 10 digs for a double-double of her own. Sophomore Claire Mosher led the way with 25 assists, and junior Martha Konovodoff contributed a match-high 17 digs.
Senior Lauren Speckman and junior Kaitlyn Lines did not play once again for undisclosed reasons. Lines hasn’t played since Oct. 2.
For the Pirates, Haylee Gasser put up 19 kills, Maggie Cvelbar totaled 29 assists and Raygan Murray contributed 13 digs.
Marquette (19-3, 9-1 BIG EAST) will head back home to take on Xavier at the Al McGuire Center Friday at 7 p.m. Central Standard Time.
