Marquette volleyball suffered its first loss of the season in BIG EAST play Sunday with a four-set loss to the No. 19 Creighton Bluejays (20-25, 26-28, 25-19, 16-25) in Omaha, Nebraska.
“I’m proud of our team’s fight,” Marquette head coach Ryan Theis said in a statement. “Creighton’s offense executed at a high level and we couldn’t quite get it done. Five of our last six matches on the road has been tough and we are looking forward getting back home for a few matches.”
With the win, Creighton moves into a tie for first place in the BIG EAST with Marquette.
After a 3-0 deficit to begin the first set, Creighton responded with a 10-0 run forcing Theis to call a timeout. The Golden Eagles would fight their way back into the set bringing the Bluejays score to 21-19.
But Creighton stormed right back with a 4-1 run to take the set 25-20.
Graduate students Hope Werch and Taylor Wolf both finished with four kills in the set as Marquette would hit .364 while Creighton would hit .452.
The second set was back and forth, with both teams trading runs. Despite Creighton taking a late 20-15 lead, Marquette used a 4-0 run to tie the set at 23-23 forcing the Bluejays to take a timeout.
Though Marquette battled through three set points at the end, Creighton took the set 28-26. Marquette hit .182 on the set while Creighton hit .297.
Like the previous set, the third set was back and forth with nine ties and four lead changes coming in the frame. After taking a 19-15 lead, Marquette did not look back as they took the set 25-19.
In the fourth set, the Bluejays stormed right back, hopping out to a 9-1 lead before the Golden Eagles would bring it within two 16-14.
Creighton then responded with a 9-3 run to take the set 25-16.
Werch led the way for the Golden Eagles on the day with 16 kills and nine digs. Wolf added another triple-double on the season with 13 kills, 23 assists and 21 digs.
First-year Jenna Reitsma added a team-high three blocks and seven kills.
Marquette (14-3, 5-1 BIG EAST) will start a three game homestand Friday against St. John’s (12-8, 3-3 BIG EAST) at 7 p.m. CST.
This story was written by Ben Schultz. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @benschultz52.
