Marquette volleyball entered the Flyer Invitational in Dayton, Ohio with its backs against the wall.
The No. 12 Golden Eagles (2-1) had three tough matchups in a row, senior middle blocker and unanimous All-Big East Preseason honoree Carsen Murray was injured and they had a double-header to start the season.
And after the first game against No. 24 Western Kentucky, it was clear it all would take some getting used to.
Friday
For a Marquette team that lost its starting defensive specialist, playing fifth year outside hitter Paige Briggs — who hit .320 last season — was never going to be a breeze.
The Golden Eagles ended up losing to the Hilltoppers 3-1 (25-19, 24-26, 25-23, 25-21) Friday morning in the Frericks Center.
After the match, there were a lot of questions about the libero position, but the most shocking thing perhaps was Marquette’s offense.
The Golden Eagles hit -0.038 in the opening set and .137 in the match, earning 40 kills and 40 assists to the Hilltoppers’ 55 kills and 54 assists. Also, all three of Marquette’s starting outside hitters hit under .100 overall.
However, Marquette needed to flush the loss because it had another game at 4 p.m. CST against Drake.
The Golden Eagles won 3-2 (18-25, 25-21, 19-25, 25-19, 15-11) wearing Marquette women’s lacrosse’s navy blue uniform tops. Sophomore right-side Ella Foti earned a double-double with 16 kills and 19 digs.
Even though the match went the distance, Marquette was much better offensively, hitting .229 in the match and holding Drake to .194.
After one day and two matches, the Golden Eagles sat 1-1 with a final game against Dayton Saturday.
Saturday
Marquette’s final match of the invitational was its hardest.
Dayton was the home team, used to playing in the non-air conditioned gym and it had just come off a 3-0 sweep over Western Kentucky.
The Golden Eagles, in their regular jerseys for the first time of the season, were victorious in five sets (25-20, 18-25, 25-23, 22-25, 16-14).
The game started off even until a service ace from Foti made it 10-6 and forced Dayton to call a timeout. Marquette ended up winning the set 25-20 with junior defensive specialist Samantha Naber in the white libero jersey.
After losing the second set 18-25, Golden Eagles’ head coach Ryan Theis made a mid-match switch, putting graduate student libero Sarah Kushner in the white jersey.
The third and fourth sets were both close, ending 25-23 and 22-25 respectively to force a fifth and final frame.
Marquette looked poised to win the fifth set after being up 14-8. But six straight points for Dayton tied the game at 14. Junior outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton ended the game with a kill to secure a 16-14 win for the Golden Eagles.
Leading Marquette was Hamilton with 20 kills while hitting .232. For Dayton, redshirt junior outside hitter/libero Lexie Almodovar earned a double-double with 32 kills and 15 digs.
Up Next
Marquette heads to Lawrence, Kansas and will play Purdue Friday afternoon and Kansas Saturday. On the trip, the team will go to Murray’s house in Lee Summit, Missouri.
“I’m excited because it’s gonna be a world colliding moment,” Murray said Aug. 9. “I’m happy that Ryan (Theis) makes an effort to bring everybody close to home so that they can show people their roots.”
This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JackAlbrightMU.
