MADISON — Marquette volleyball said hello to the Kohl Center when it won the first set.
It promptly said goodbye when it lost the next three.
For the Golden Eagles, who’ve historically played their in-state rivals in the UW-Fieldhouse, Tuesday marked their first-ever trip to the 17,000-seat arena.
And in front a contingency of 15,084 Badger fans clad in red, Marquette (3-4) left Herb Garden with a 3-1 defeat (25-22, 20-25, 16-25, 22-25) to 7th ranked Wisconsin.
“Their size, we know from playing them year-in and year-out is a factor. Really negates a lot of the tempo stuff we run offensively, and so we know that’s going to be a challenge,” head coach Ryan Theis said.
“[Setter Carly Anderson] did a terrific job. (Sarah) Franklin and (Anna) Smrek’s windows are so large that it’s hard to stop them in so many different positions. And they’re really good at where position is dictating what they’re doing. So they’re tough to stop, even if you’re serving well, and it’s tough to score against.”
Marquette and Wisconsin were neck-and-neck at the start of the match, and the Golden Eagles won the first set on a 3-0 run thanks to kills from three different people.
It was seemingly all coming together for the underdogs from Milwaukee.
Kill-machine Aubrey Hamilton had six to her name, the offense hit .348 while the defense posted 27 digs and — most importantly — Franklin, the reigning National Player of the Year, was limited to just five kills.
That didn’t last for long, though, as Franklin would go on to finish with a career-high 33 kills on 60 attacks with just two hitting errors for a .517 hitting percentage. She also had eight digs and two blocks.
“The angles she can create above the net,” Theis said about what makes her so difficult to stop. “In any set location, she almost has two or three things she can do. And her decision making is so good.
“I mean, National Player of the Year for a reason.”
Once the 6-foot-4 outside hitter got hot in the second set (she finished the frame with 14 kills, hitting .483) there was no stopping her — or the rest of the Badgers.
In the third frame, Marquette held a 14-12 lead over Wisconsin in what was shaping up to be a nail-biting finish to an already nail-biting start. The Badgers had other plans — scoring 10 straight points to take a 22-14 advantage.
It sent the 15,000+ religionists in attendance into a frenzy.
Despite calling a timeout when Wisconsin had scored six-straight points, and again when the Badgers extended that number to a 9-0 run, the Golden Eagles could not stop the avalanche of points — or dig themselves out of the hole.
“Those are always confidence killers,” Theis said.
Wisconsin closed the frame 25-16, hitting .419 in the process. Marquette, conversely, hit an abysmal .029.
While the final set was close, and the Golden Eagles weren’t done scrapping, the Franklin train had left the station long before and she killed the match dead, 25-22.
Marquette was led by 12 kills from Carsen Murray on a match-high .632 hitting percentage, and Hamilton was right behind with 10 kills of her own. Yadhira Anchante posted her third-straight double-double with 39 assists and 14 digs.
Other than Franklin, Smrek and Julia Orzol were the other two Badgers with double-digit kills (15 and 10 respectively). Orzol also had 16 digs, marking a double-double.
Godspeed, Kohl Center, until next time.
This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.
