No. 18 Marquette women’s volleyball swept the St. John’s Red Storm (25-17, 25-23, 26-24) at Carnesecca Arena Friday, marking MU’s 12th straight victory on the season.
“I don’t think we played our best offensive match but credit St. John’s block for some of that,” Marquette head coach Ryan Theis said in a statement. “I was impressed we were able to get four blocks and 18 kills in the third to finish off the night. St. John’s made us earn it.”
With the win, the Golden Eagles picked up their third consecutive sweep of the season. Marquette has only lost one set in Big East play, which came against Butler Sept. 24.
Additionally, 12 straight wins in a row is the longest win streak in the Ryan Theis Era for the Golden Eagles.
Marquette got out to hot start in the first set, taking an early 7-2 lead. And despite the Red Storm bringing the deficit to as low as two at one point in the frame, the Golden Eagles outscored St. John’s 17-11 run to take the first set 25-17.
Junior Aubrey Hamilton led all players with five kills in the first frame.
Both teams traded blows early in the second set by going point-for-point until Marquette took a sizable 18-12 lead. St. John’s attempted to mount a comeback late in the set, when it tallied four-consecutive points to cut the score to 23-22.
However a block from sophomore middle blocker Hattie Bray and a kill from Hamilton secured the victory in the set for the Golden Eagles.
The final frame ended up being the closest between both sides as a Johnnies 8-2 scoring run at the end of the set forced the Golden Eagles into extra points for the first time in Big East play this season.
A Marquette attack error tied the match at 24 all, but two consecutive kills from sophomore’s Jenna Reitsma and Ella Foti secured sweep for the Golden Eagles.
Junior middle blocker Carsen Murray and Hamilton led Marquette with 11 kills a piece. Murray also hit .625 on the night while recording five blocks.
Reitsma totaled 13 digs and 10 kills 13 for her third double-double of the year. She also had a pair of service aces.
Graduate student right side hitter Rachele Rastelli led St. John’s with a match-high 13 kills, four blocks and three digs.
With the win, the Golden Eagles have now taken four of their last five matches against the Red Storm. The lone loss came in the Big East Championship in 2019 at the Al McGuire Center.
Marquette will now look for its 13th consecutive win of the season when it travels to South Orange, New Jersey to take on the Seton Hall Pirates Saturday at 3 p.m. CST.
This article was written by Jackson Gross. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JacksonGrossMU.
