Another day, another Hattie Bray domination.
The senior middle blocker tied her season-high kill count with 15 on a career-best .700 hitting percentage in her fourth consecutive match with over 10 and third in a row as Marquette volleyball’s kill leader.
Bray converted her first five attacks before missing one, and finished with kills on 15 of her 20 attacks and just one error. She also posted five blocks and one ace, dig and assist.
Friday night, if you asked, she answered.
Behind Bray, and with help from outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton (12 kills, 11 digs) and right side Ella Foti Ring (8 kills, 9 digs), the Golden Eagles swept the Xavier Musketeers off the Cintas Center court (25-18, 26-24, 25-18) in their penultimate regular season match.
Outside of Anna Taylor and her 12 kills on .455 hitting, the Musketeers were stifled on offense.
They clawed their way out of negative numbers to finish the first frame hitting .000. Then they hit .145 in the second and .258 in the third for a match average of .136. The Golden Eagles finished hitting .277 with 15 more kills and 13 more assists.
Marquette’s defense set an early tone by forcing two Xavier attack errors on the first three points, and used that momentum to take the opening frame comfortably, 25-18.
The second frame was much shakier, with both teams switching leads multiple times down the stretch.
The Golden Eagles held a 19-16 lead before the Musketeers made it 19-19 with a 3-0 run. That score was followed by a 23-21 Xavier lead and Marquette timeout, which was followed by Hamilton’s sixth kill of the night to tie it 24-24, which was followed by two more points for the Golden Eagles to win the frame, 26-24, on a 5-0 run.
Marquette hit .250 in the frame compared to Xavier’s .145.
Once they got the job done, and had a firm grasp on the match, the Golden Eagles kept building.
They went on a 5-0 at the start of the third and followed it with a 4-0 run to lead 16-9 and force a Xavier timeout. Marquette couldn’t be stopped though, and Bray got her final kill of the night to kickstart a streak which put the Golden Eagles ahead 22-14 and led to a smoothly-achieved 25-18 third set score.
The Musketeers hit their match-best in the frame (.258), but unlucky for them, so did the Golden Eagles (.516).
Marquette closes the regular season Sunday at DePaul, with the first serve set for noon.
This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.
