No. 16 Marquette volleyball went into Omaha, Nebraska looking to take sole possession of first place over No. 21 Creighton.
And while it looked like the Golden Eagles were on the cusp of ending their four-game losing skid against the Blue Jays early on, Creighton came back to complete the come-from-behind reverse sweep over Marquette in five sets (21-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-26, 15-8) at D.J. Sokal Arena Friday night.
With the loss, Marquette’s record-setting 13-game winning came to an end.
Set one started out close between both as it was knotted up at nine. The Golden Eagles then took a 20-13 lead en route to winning the set 25-21. Marquette hit .317 in the set and held Creighton to hitting .178. Sophomore middle blocker Hattie Bray had five kills to lead the Golden Eagles in the opening set.
In the second frame, Marquette and Creighton went back and forth until the Golden Eagles went up 16-12. Creighton battled back to come within one point multiple times but fell short as before Marquette took the set 25-22.
Creighton came out hot in the third set taking a 13-7 lead. The Golden Eagles stormed back and tied the set at 17, but that was as close as they’d get as the Blue Jays finished the set on an 8-2 run to win the set 25-19.
In the set senior outside hitter, Hannah Vanden Berg made her first appearance since Nov. 6, 2021, at St. John’s after dealing with a knee injury.
Similar to the previous set, the fourth started with the Blue Jays jumping out to a 5-0 lead. Creighton continued its momentum expanding the lead to 9-1 and wouldn’t look back as it forced a fifth set by winning it 25-16.
Creighton kept it rolling by opening up the final set with an 8-2 lead. The early deficit would be too much for Marquette to come back from as the Blue Jays completed the reverse sweep over the Golden Eagles.
In the match, Marquette hit .207 and Creighton hit .275.
Leading the way for the Golden Eagles was sophomore outside hitter Jenna Reitsma and junior outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton both with 13 kills. Reitsma also added a career-high 17 digs.
Sophomore outside hitter Norah Sis led all players with 21 kills.
Marquette (15-2, 6-1 Big East) will now travel to Cincinnati, Ohio for a Sunday matinee against Xavier.
This story was written by Ben Schultz. He can be reached at b[email protected] or on Twitter @benschultz52.
