Just one week after taking down one Top 15 team in the nation, the Marquette women’s volleyball team looked to do the same against in-state rival No. 6 Wisconsin and play spoil on its 2022 national championship night at UW Field House.
However, the Badgers defended home court as the Golden Eagles dropped their first loss of the season in four sets (21-25, 25-23, 21-25, 21-25) Friday night.
“I love our ability to compete,” Marquette head coach Ryan Theis said in a statement. “With this group we talked about to get past a second round of an NCAA tournament, this is the kind of team that you are probably going to have to beat. It’s not going to be easy to get to round two. Now we still have to get to round one, and we know that, but what it takes to beat these guys is sustained good play longer than we did.
“Any time we let the foot off the gas, from the service line or first or second touch perspective, all of a sudden Wisconsin had a lead. I hope we learned a valuable lesson that sustaining good play for longer is going to be needed to win these against really good teams.”
Following both sides exchanging early points to start the night, the Badgers opened up to a 11-6 lead. Momentum shifted into Marquette’s favor quickly when it tied the game at 15-15 following a service ace and a kill from sophomore outside hitter Jenna Reitsma.
With the Golden Eagles continuing their push, Badgers head coach Kelly Sheffield called a timeout with his team down 19-18. Junior middle blocker Devyn Robinson closed the set on kill during a 6-1 Badger run to end the frame, taking it 25-21.
Wisconsin looked like it was going to take a 6-2 lead to break the second set open off blocks from redshirt sophomore Sarah Franklin and junior Caroline Crawford, but Marquette chipped away to tie the match at 8-8.
That set the stage for Marquette to take a 12-8 advantage and not look back on its lead, evening the match one set to one. The Golden Eagles held the Badgers to a .100 hitting advantage in the frame.
Marquette seemed to carry its momentum into the third set, leading as large as eight late in the frame. However, Wisconsin used a late 13-3 run to pull the come from behind 25-21 set three win.
The Badgers had a 21-13 lead in the fourth set looking to finish off the Golden Eagles, but Marquette didn’t stop its fighting as it got within three points at 22-19 forcing Sheffield to call another timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, sophomore setter Ella Foti brought it to 22-20 on a kill. Wisconsin then took a 23-20 lead after an attack error from Foti, which Theis challenged as it looked Wisconsin had a net violation on the play.
However, Theis’ challenge was unsuccessful as the officials were unable to review the play due to a technical error in the replay system according to the Big Ten Network broadcast. Wisconsin would score the final two points, completing the 3-1 win.
Three different Badgers finished with 13 or more kills in the match, as Robinson, Franklin and sophomore outside hitter Julia Orzol collected a match-high 15, 14 and 13 respectively.
Reitsma earned her second career double-double with a career-high 15 kills, 12 digs and two service aces.
Sophomore setter Yadhira Anchante recorded her second double-double of the season with 41 assists and 11 digs.
Reitsma earned her second career double with a new career high 15 kills and 12 digs along with two service aces.
Junior outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton posted 11 kills, 10 digs and three block assists on the night. Foti tied her career high in kills with 12, along with eight digs and two blocks.
Marquette (2-1) will return to action Sunday against High Point University at 6 p.m. CST in Madison, Wisconsin.
This article was written by Jackson Gross. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JacksonGrossMU.
