Sarah Rose scored the first point of No. 24-ranked Marquette sweep over the Iowa State Cyclones (25-15, 25-19, 29-27) Saturday afternoon. The senior was introduced prior to the game’s start during the Senior Night ceremony and was met with a standing ovation from the limited crowd at the Al McGuire Center as she was named an honorary starter.
Marquette came out strong in set one, going on a 6-0 run early, but ISU would tie it at nine. Marquette went on to outscore the Cyclones 16-6 to win set one 25-15.
The Golden Eagles had four service aces, 14 kills and two blocks in route to conclude the first set blowout. The Golden Eagles hit .414 and held the Cyclones to .000. The combination of senior Taylor Wolf, grad student Savannah Rennie, and sophomore Hannah Vanden Berg totaled up 10 kills in the set. Rennie had four of those and went on to finish with eight on the day.
Set number two was a lot closer, but the Golden Eagles were still able to come out with a 25-19 win.
ISU hit much better at .205, with five attack errors and only two service errors. The early part of the set was tight, as there were three ties within the first ten points of the set.
Marquette pulled away and outscored the Cyclones 5-3 to win the set. ISU called two timeouts down the stretch and both times Marquette responded with two quick points coming out of it. Vanden Berg added two kills to make it 21-16 and then added another after their second timeout to make it 23-17. Vanden Berg would finish with a career-high 14 kills. She tied her career-high in MU’s last match against Saint Louis with 12 kills.
Set three went the distance and beyond, with Marquette pulling out a 29-27 victory. It was truly a back and forth set with 15 ties and three lead changes. ISU got their first lead of the day when they were able to pull ahead with an 11-10 lead. They would build that lead up, featuring a kill from senior Piper Mauck at 16-13. The Golden Eagles would then go on a 3-0 run thanks to a kill from senior Kaitlyn Lines and Wolf, and finishing with an attack error from sophomore Kenzie Mantz to tie the score at 16.
Ties and small leads persisted throughout the final stages of what would be the normal end to a set, at 25 points. However, while Marquette did get a two point lead at 24-22, a bad set from Lines and a kill from sophomore Annie Hatch, who ended the day with eight kills, tied set three at 24.
The Cyclones would hold five match points from the Golden Eagles, and tied at 27 a piece thanks to a kill from junior Eleanor Holthaus. She lead the way for Iowa State with 10 kills.
Head coach Ryan Theis’ 300th career win as head coach came on a block from Rennie, after a Wolf kill gave Marquette the lead.
The celebrating was not over as after the match concluded, the team showed a video of Rose’s family and friends congratulating her on her college career and supporting her fight against cancer.
The Golden Eagles improve to 9-1 on the year and will finish the year on the road, first heading to Indianapolis to take on the Butler Bulldogs March 5 and 6.
This story was written by Jackson Gross. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JacksonGross6.
