There was a lot for No. 24 Marquette volleyball to be upset about.
There was the lowly, season-worst .175 hitting percentage — which stemmed from not being able to hit over .200 in three of the sets or over .150 in two of them. And then there were the seemingly endless sloppy mistakes in all facets of the game — especially from behind the service line, where nine errors were committed. Not to mention the inability to perform down the stretch of frames or capitalize on any of the Broncos’ errors.
While there was fight from the Golden Eagles (1-3), there wasn’t enough to overcome all their mishaps, muck-ups and fallacies, resulting in a 3-1 (21-25, 20-25, 25-21, 22-25) loss to Western Michigan — their first non-conference home defeat against an unranked opponent since 2015.
Seldom has the Al McGuire Center seen such a sobering performance.
“We rotate things that are going well and things that are going wrong,” head coach Ryan Theis said. “So until more things are going well at the same time, against two good teams, it’s really tough. We got several more good ones in a row, so we got our hands full.”
For the Golden Eagles, Sunday was a chance to stop a two-game losing skid and get back in the win column. To end an already difficult week on a high-note. To hit the road unfettered by the ever-lording and evil spirit that has haunted their every waking moment in the non-con the past two years.
But Broncos Mary Clare Brusek and Keona Salesman’s witchcraft banished the exorcist from entering the Al, keeping MU’s pesky Ghost of Ownage around for four more sets on Sunday.
The sounds of the ball leaving their hands and meeting the Taraflex-covered court for a combined 39 kills — 20 from Brusek and 19 from Salesman — mixed with the chorale of 57 digs from libero Andelyn Simkins and setter Logan Case — 39 for Simkins and 18 for Case — were loud enough to scare away what was supposed to be the Marquette celestial savior’s first appearance inside the Al this season.
If not for the Golden Eagle leaders doing everything possible to dig, claw and scrape out of what turned-out-to-be an impossible hole the defeat would have arrived even faster. Aubrey Hamilton (14 digs and 12 kills) and Yadhira Anchante (42 assists and 19 digs) both posted double-doubles as Jenna Reitsma finished just short (15 digs, nine kills).
Start to finish Marquette was forced to play catch-up. From the end of the opening frame when it conceded four-straight points after being tied 20-20; to the second set when even a 5-1 run meant it still trailed by two points; all the way to the dying embers as the Golden Eagles pieced together a 4-0 streak to make it 22-24 and keep the game — along with their comeback dreams — alive before the Broncos killed both dead.
In what is a bonafide non-conference crucible for Marquette, games like this, the rare ones against an unranked team become even more must-win. Yet Sunday — its last home match before Big East play — wasn’t treated as such. Instead, it was so ropy in nature that even the usually-stoic Theis couldn’t hide his disappointment.
“It’s gonna take some belief,” he said about bouncing back. “Gotta start believing a little bit.”
The road doesn’t get any easier from here on out, either.
The Golden Eagles’ final five games of non-conference play are in hostile territory, three of which see them face ranked opponents — No. 22 Dayton, No. 6 Wisconsin and No. 3 Pitt. They also play Western Kentucky, the unofficial No. 26 team in the country, in their next match on Friday.
“At the end of the day, we have a veteran team, we have four underclassmen, we know what we’re capable of,” senior right side Ella Foti said.
“It’s honestly, at the end of day, it’s being able to come together and use each other for positive energy and encouragement and staying together, even in tough times, when everything’s kind of falling apart, but just keep fighting.”
This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.
