The Marquette Golden Eagles took care of the winless University of Northern Iowa Panthers in four sets (25-22, 25-27, 26-24, 25-18) Saturday night.
Senior Hope Werch lead the way for the Golden Eagles, racking up 12 kills and 11 digs. Sophomore Hannah Vandenberg and senior Kaitlyn Lines each had 10 kills to help secure the victory for MU.
For UNI, sophomore Emily Holterhaus lead the way with 16 kills and contributed nine digs. First-year outside hitter Yagmur Cinel, and first-year setter Tayler Alden both added seven kills each.
The Golden Eagles started hot in the first set, getting out to a quick 8-4 lead. But UNI would later tie the score at 16. Holterhaus had four kills early on and helped the Panthers comeback. Marquette then took initiative and went on a 3-0 run before the Panthers responded with their own 3-0 run to tie the game again at 19. Marquette was finally able to claim set one after three straight kills from senior Taylor Wolf.
The Panthers opened the second set with a 5-2 lead. However, Marquette fought back with a 4-0 run to retake the lead. The set went back and forth, with Northern Iowa leading by as much as five points. Two errors from the Panthers, a service ace from Wolf, and a Vandenberg kill highlighted the final stretch of the set. Both teams traded points before being tied at several points. A kill from Holterhaus and an attack error from Wolf gave the Panthers a 27-25 win, tying the match.
Set three started very similar to set two, with UNI up 5-2. UNI then took advantage of four unanswered points to take a 10-6 lead, but Marquette came back to tie the set 10. UNI went up 17-11. After calling timeout, Marquette would give up a point to get to that six point deficit and kept up the momentum tying the game again at 17. Marquette was then able to get a 26-24 win thanks to kills from junior Ellie Koontz and sophomore Claire Nuessmeier.
In the final set of the night UNI came out strong with a 4-1 lead, before Marquette battled back throughout the first few points tying the game at 10. After that, Marquette lead by as much as five points and the Golden Eagles would end up finishing the match out scoring the Panthers 7-3.
Marquette ended the night hitting .296% while UNI finished hitting .192%. Marquette had a rough night from the service line, with 12 service errors compared to the Panther’s 7. Junior Katie Schoessow would finish with a match high 13 digs and contributed four assists as well.
Marquette improves to 2-1 on the season and will be back on the court at 5 p.m. Sunday against the Drake Bulldogs.
This story was written by Jackson Gross. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JacksonGross.
