The No. 23 Golden Eagles defeated the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers in straight sets (25-13, 25-16, 25-23) Sunday afternoon at the Al McGuire Center.
“We wanted to focus on engagement, energy, efficiency the three E’s that we have been working on and I thought we did a pretty good part of that for most part,” head coach Ryan Theis said. “We played pretty low error in the first two (sets) and got a little high in the third.”
For Marquette, this was its third win of the week after previous victories against Loyola Chicago and LSU.
Despite a back and forth start to the first set, the Golden Eagles quickly claimed a 14-6 lead forcing the Panthers to call a timeout.
“If you can get an early run it just takes a lot of the pressure off throughout the course of the rest of the set,” Theis said. “Anytime you can do that, it just releases some pressure to play a little more free.”
Marquette did not take its foot off the pedal, as it took the first set 25-13. Behind a sound defensive performance, the Golden Eagles held the Panthers to a .133 hitting percentage.
“We really aim to stop some of the big hitters like 14 on the outside and then number six in the middle,” sophomore middle blocker Hattie Bray said. “That was our goal is to stop them and then we would get in the homestretch. So I think we executed that grade.”
The Panthers flipped the switch early in the second set, finding some rhythm on offense. Despite the seven score changes in the frame, Marquette responded with three straight aces to take the lead and didn’t look back.
The Golden Eagles hit .481 in the second set while the Panthers hit their match-high .333.
Marquette’s woes of starting the third set did not continue Sunday.
The Golden Eagles used a 6-1 scoring run, which included a service ace from sophomore setter Yadhria Anchante and a Panther attack error, to jump out to an early lead in set three.
Twenty-four hours after saying the start to the third frame have driven him crazy, Theis was pleased with how his team began the stanza Sunday.
“We just said whatever you’re doing between (set) two and three do the opposite,” Theis said jokingly. “And so we stayed out today instead of going back to the locker room (after set two) and we won so we decided that’s obviously the answer.”
Milwaukee cut the deficit to 23-20, but Marquette finished the match with a 25-23 set win.
Sophomore middle blocker Hattie Bray and junior outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton tied all Marquette hitters with eight kills a piece. Hamilton added six digs on the afternoon as well.
Bray, who is fifth on the team in kills, also hit .667 with a pair of blocks on the afternoon. She has 16 kills in the last two games.
“I’ve been working on connecting with my setter Yadhira (Anchante),” Bray said. “We’ve been just in the gym constantly trying to get better at that and it’s been connecting so it’s working great.”
Sophomore outside hitter Jenna Reitsma added six kills and five digs, and sophomore setter had six kills and four service aces.
Junior middle blocker Anastasija Svetnik returned from injury making her season debut in the third set. Svetnik finished with one kill and one service ace.
“She was injured earlier and has slowly worked back,” Theis said. “Her first day of practice was maybe two or three days ago and she’s working back in. She had a really headsy tip keel and then went back and dialed up the ace. We left her in to serve on purpose because she’s got a really good one (arm).”
The Golden Eagles (6-1) will host University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Tuesday at 7 p.m. CST at the Al.
This article was written by John Leuzzi. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JohnLeuzziMU.