It’s never happened before, and it doesn’t appear it’s going to happen anytime soon.
Marquette volleyball (6-5, 2-0) improved to 20-0 all-time over Providence (7-6, 0-2) Sunday afternoon at the Al McGuire Center. Thanks in-part to the efforts of junior outside hitter Natalie Ring, the Golden Eagles were able to complete their second sweep of the weekend (25-10, 25-19, 25-15).
Ring — who finished swinging .227 with nine kills Sunday — had three consecutive kills in the second set to lift Marquette’s 11-7 advantage to 14-7. She finished the frame with a set-high five kills.
The Golden Eagle’s defense stood tall throughout the game’s penultimate frame, holding the Friars to a .029 hitting percentage. In comparison, Marquette’s offense would not be stopped, swinging its way to a .314 clip to go along with 16 kills.
It wasn’t just one Golden Eagle, or two, or even three, their offensive output against the Friars was spread across almost the entire roster.
In fact, seven different players had four or more kills for the Golden Eagles. Sunday’s game was just another outing in which the offensive wealth was distributed fairly evenly.
“I thought we had some good balance today. I thought Yadi put hitters in some really good spots,” Theis said. “It shows our depth on the team here today.”
Among the performances that stood out was Sienna Ifill. The junior right-side hitter had a season-high five kills and three blocks. Along with Ifill, junior middle blocker Morgan Daugherty also turned in a season-high performance, notching four kills.
Sophomore defensive specialist Molly Berezowitz was back as the Golden Eagles starting libero after a brief one game absence. However, both Berezowitz and defensive specialist Adriana Studer split time at the ever-changing libero position for Marquette on Sunday.
“We’re trying to evaluate [the position] as we go through Big East play,” Theis said. “We’re gonna try and make some kind of decision for a final season push.”
Marquette jumped out to a 13-6 lead in set one thanks to a trio of kills from senior outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton. Hitting .000 at that point, Providence elected to call timeout — but things didn’t exactly get better from there.
The Golden Eagles came out of the timeout on a 12-4 run to capture the first set. The aforementioned Friar hitting percentage of .000 plummeted lower. The Friars finished the set hitting -.023, racking up just six kills on 44 attempts.
“I thought our blockers were getting in front of hitters really well,” Theis said. “I thought we had service pressure on (Providence) throughout the match.”
It was tough for them to get good looks or clean looks, or to get the ball on the floor. Everybody had a pretty good game.”
Marquette took the final set by a score of 25-15. The Golden Eagles hit .294 in the frame and suffered only three attacking errors.
The Friars finished the game hitting .018, their second lowest mark of the season.
Marquette will travel to Omaha, Nebraska tomorrow before taking on No. 6 Creighton (11-2, 2-0). The match is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. CST and will be televised nationally on FS1.
This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @MatthewBaltzMU.
