The Marquette Golden Eagles are now on a two-game win streak after they took down the DePaul Blue Demons (25-19, 25-13, 25-19) Friday. Marquette was all business, working fast and efficiently as the match took only one hour and 20 minutes.
Marquette hit .330% and had five service aces on the night.
There was a balanced attack for the Golden Eagles, as senior Hope Werch led the Golden Eagles with nine kills and also added four digs, one block and one service ace. Sophomore Hannah Vanden Berg followed with eight kills, senior K.J. Lines added seven kills. Sophomore Claire Nuessmeier tallied six kills.
Reigning BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week and graduate student, Savannah Rennie, had six kills, two digs, one assist and one block.
For only the second time this season, the Golden Eagles out-blocked their opponent, with nine compared to DePaul’s five.
Marquette started strong for the first set, even having an extended lead of seven points during the set. Marquette started out with a 7-3 lead and pushed right through the remainder of the set. DePaul tried to make a last minute rally, going on a 3-0 run, but they were still down 24-20. However, head coach Ryan Theis challenged the play and reversed the point, which ended the set for MU. The Golden Eagles won by a score of 25-19. Vanden Berg, Werch, and Rennie all had four kills in set one, while DePaul senior Emma Price had five kills.
Set two was a dominated by the Golden Eagles, but it didn’t start that way. There was back and forth volleyball through the first 10 points as MU held a 10-7 lead. Marquette then added a six point gap, going up 14-8 before DePaul would take a timeout. After the timeout, Marquette capitalized on the set by out scoring the Blue Demons 11-5. DePaul was unable to hit well, with just nine kills and nine attack errors on 27 attempts. Marquette, on the other hand, hit .526%, with only one attack error in the set. The set was very quick as well, only taking 20 minutes.
In set three, DePaul came out and held a lead early, but MU came back to tie the game at 12. After the that point, Marquette went on a 4-0 run to force DePaul into taking a time out. Marquette then pulled ahead by six, but a 3-0 DePaul run would get them within three points, making to score 22-19. However, after a Marquette timeout, they would finish the set on a 3-0 run to win the set 25-19.
DePaul struggled in offensively during the match, tallying 18 attack errors on the day to go along with seven service errors. DePaul finished the match hitting .116 with 29 kills. DePaul senior Avarie Evans-Allen was the top kill leader of the game with 10 kills, to compliment her three digs and two blocks.
Marquette improves to 5-2 and earned their first conference win of the season. They will take on the Blue Demons one more time this weekend at 3 p.m. on Feb. 13.
This story was written by Jackson Gross. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JacksonGross6.
