No. 19 Marquette swept Seton Hall (25-14, 25-11, 25-11) at home for its 10th home win of the season Friday night inside the Al McGuire Center.
The Golden Eagles held the Pirates to hitting -.032, marking the first time this season an opponent has hit a negative percentage against them.
“I thought that we came out and didn’t let them get any free kills and that kind of set the tone for the night,” Marquette head coach Ryan Theis said.
Win the win Theis now has 200 wins as the Golden Eagles head coach, doing so in his ninth season.
“It just means I’m getting old,” Theis said. “I’m thankful that Marquette has allowed me to be an employee here for a ninth season so I can get to 200, but a bit of a longevity award.”
After giving up the first point in the opening set, Marquette scored five straight points to take a 5-1 lead. The Golden Eagles continued to pile on the points and led by as much as 13 in the set before winning it 25-14.
“Runs are always nice, (it) gets us momentum, kind of getting us back ahead of the other team and then if they score then we have a little more of like breathing room,” sophomore outside hitter Jenna Reitsma said.
Seton Hall went on a 3-0 scoring run to open the second set before Marquette responded with a 4-0 run of its own. The Golden Eagles later went on a 7-0 run to give them a 19-8 lead and essentially put the set away before winning it 25-11.
In the set Marquette hit .455 and Seton Hall hit -.067.
“We focused a lot originally on getting them out of system with the serve. I think we had good service pressure on them which puts them out of system,” Reitsma said. “The more they’re not up close to the net the more we can play better defense, betting blocking on them.”
The third set started close before Marquette went on a 4-0 scoring run to give them a 15-9 lead and force a Seton Hall timeout. Marquette continued their momentum and won the set 25-11 with the final kill coming from senior outside hitter Hannah Vanden Berg.
“I wanted to get her some front row time. So that was great to see her go in and take swings, she’s been doing it in practice,” Theis said. “When she got her first kill (against Creighton) I was actually pretty excited. I don’t know that everybody here knew the severity of an injury she went through and the rehab process, but I was sure proud as heck of her.”
Reitsma led the way in kills for Marquette finishing with nine kills, four digs and two assists. She said the connection with sophomore setter Yadhira Anchante is what helped her get kills in the match.
The Golden Eagles hit .367 in the sweep.
Marquette’s (17-2, 8-1 Big East) next match is Saturday when it hosts St. John’s (16-6, 7-2 Big East) at 4 p.m.
“St. John’s, they want to come beat us at home. They’re a great team and they’re fighting for a top seed as well,” Reitsma said.
This story was written by Ben Schultz. He can be reached at b[email protected] or on Twitter @benschultz52.
