Marquette volleyball has made it a habit as of late to gift every one of its opponents with a nice big broom.
The Golden Eagles (18-6, 12-1 Big East) extended that tradition to a fifth-straight match Wednesday night with a 25-18, 25-16, 25-22 sweep over the Butler Bulldogs (6-19, 4-9) at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
The win makes Marquette the second team to have secured a spot in the Big East tournament, with its next opponent and only conference foe to beat it, No. 5 Creighton, being the first.
The Golden Eagles were led by Aubrey Hamilton and her 12-kill, .529 hitting-percentage performance. Behind her came four players — Hattie Bray (9), Natalie Ring (8), Yadhira Anchante (5) and Carsen Murray (5) — with at least five kills.
They hit .351 as a team, and used 52 digs and eight blocks to hold Butler to .150.
It was Ella Foti from the line who gave Marquette its first inch of breathing room in the opening set, when she led the Golden Eagles on a 6-0 run with unwavering serve pressure.
By the end of the streak, Marquette had a 17-11 lead and forced Butler to burn a timeout, before it finished the job comfortably, 25-18.
Despite the scoreline, the Bulldogs were able to hit a competitive .357 compared to the Golden Eagles’ .516.
The second frame was, though, was much different.
Marquette, en route to its 25-16 victory, hit its best at .583 while Butler finished negative (-.028) with 9 kills and 10 errors on 36 attacks.
The Bulldogs looked like they could force a fourth set when they held a 16-12 lead in the third. But then the Golden Eagles posted a 6-0 run, which dissipated both Butler’s lead and chances of taking the frame.
And now awaits the game that’s been circled on the calendar for months — with first place in the conference on the line.
The Golden Eagles have beaten the Bluejays at the Al McGuire Center each of the last two seasons, a result they’ll need to repeat if they have any shot at being Big East regular season champions for the fourth season in a row.
The match is Sunday at 2 p.m. CST and will nationally televised on FS1.
This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.
