After two weeks on the road, No. 24 Marquette volleyball came home.

Facing the No. 9 Pitt Panthers in their home opener, the Golden Eagles aimed to get their first win against a ranked opponent in front of a crowd donned in gold from head-to-toe.

But Marquette (2-4) will have to wait until Sunday after getting swept 3-0 (15-25, 13-25, 20-25) by Pitt (5-1) on its home court at the Al McGuire Center.

“We call it death by 10,000 paper cuts,” Marquette head coach Ryan Theis said. “Do one thing right and then the next thing gets you. Do one thing right and the next thing gets you. That just added up today.”

Offensive struggles

This season has been filled with inconsistency when attacking for Marquette.

That inconsistency was present tonight as well, ending the first set with eight attack errors and a .000 hitting percentage. The final two points of the opening set for the Panthers were attack errors committed by two different Golden Eagles.

The second frame was even worse, with Marquette putting up just 13 points, committing nine attack errors and hitting -.100.

The third set was closer with the Golden Eagles finishing with a hitting percentage of .216, but they still had more attack errors than the Panthers with five.

Overall, Marquette finished hitting .050 compared to Pitt, which hit .333.

Statistical leaders

For Pitt, first-year outside hitter Torrey Stafford finished with 17 kills, hitting .516.

“Great night and is a great player,” Theis said. “First time ever seen her live obviously. We remember from the recruiting trail and reached out to her and think she’s a really great kid.”

Junior setter Yadhira Anchante ended with a team-high 17 assists.

No answer

After the opening frame ended in a 15-25 loss for Marquette, the scores went even 0-0 and the Golden Eagles had an opportunity to respond and even the game 1-1.

But the Panthers had other plans, going on an early 4-0 run and forcing a timeout from Theis.

Out of the break, Pitt continued to score, piecing together another three straight points to take a 10-3 lead. Its 7-0 run was only stopped by a kill from junior right-side Ella Foti, but the irreversible damage had been done.

“They had two elite servers,” Theis said. “We need to have somebody go back and run those four or five points.”

Marquette went on to play a closer third and final set, only losing 20-25, but Pitt was unstoppable and picked up a quick win on the road.

Up next

Marquette stays in Milwaukee for its next game against No. 24 Tennessee (6-1) Sunday at the Al McGuire Center. The match is set to start at 1 p.m. CST.