Marquette head coach Tom Mendoza stood on the floor of the Al McGuire Center Friday night drenched from head to toe.
It wasn’t because of a five-set grinder that had caused him to work up a sweat, rather a celebration that was just over seven months in the making.
Here Mendoza was, getting doused in the locker room after earning his first ranked win, smiling from ear-to-ear, getting congratulated by national broadcasters Anna Connelly and Elise Woodward, speaking to the media as former players that included Aubrey Hamilton, Carsen Murray, Sarah Kushner and Jenna Reitsma embraced their former teammates with hugs and excitement after the match.
Thirty minutes after the game, long after fans had cleared out and the music had faded, the lobby of the Al was still serving as a gathering place for current and former players along with their families. Anyone could tell this wasn’t just any win. It wasn’t just about the fact that MU had just beated the No. 15 team in the country, or how it happened. Rather, it was who they beat.
After 11 years as the head man for Marquette volleyball, Ryan Theis was back at the Al McGuire Center, but this time it was with Florida.
It felt like Golden Eagles had a little more to play for Friday night against their old coach, as MU came out with its hair on fire with no extinguisher in sight as it dealt out a 3-0 sweep to 15th ranked Gators (25-23, 25-23, 25-23).
“You expect them to play their best volleyball against the Gators, with me coming back, and they did that,” Theis said.
Through nine points of the first set, Marquette led 5-4, then Florida went on a 4-0 run. After trading points for a while, it was Florida who went on another run to gain a seven-point advantage.
The Golden Eagles trailed 18-11, but graduate middle blocker Hattie Bray and senior outside hitter Natalie Ring then teamed up for six kills over the course of a 7-1 run for the Golden Eagles.
Timeout Florida.
After Bray came off a slide to pound a kill to the taraflex, making it a one-point game, first-year outside hitter Ella Parks fired home her second kill of the night to even things up at 19. After losing the next point, MU would win the next three points to give itself a 22-20 lead.
Timeout Florida, again.
Moments later Ring guided a ball onto the taraflex for the set one win, 25-23.
It was a much-needed set win for MU — who got swept by Wisconsin on Wednesday without really being competitive towards the end of any of the three sets.
“The last 48 hours is how you get better as a team,” Mendoza said. “We thought we could’ve played better on Wednesday, but we didn’t beat ourselves up. We said we’re going to learn from it and own what we need to do better.”
Get better did they ever. Wednesday, unforced errors were a huge issue for Mendoza and company, Friday not so much. Marquette was locked in from the jump, and it showed countless times.
Just like two boxers in a heavyweight fight, the two teams continued to trade equally as good punches up until the match was tied at 23 in the second set. It was at that point, the battery of Ring and Bray teamed up again to seal a set win. First it was Ring, earning her 12th kill of the night to set up set point for MU. Then it was Bray, who came down with a solo block on sophomore middle blocker Jaela Auguste’s attack to win set two, 25-23.
Set three did not mirror its predecessors as the Golden Eagles jumped out to an early 10-5 lead. But if Theis proved anything about his teams in his decade-plus at Marquette, they don’t back down. A 5-0 scoring followed as the Gators got the score back to 10-10.
Florida had five service errors in the third set, with the fifth one coming at the most costly time. First-year Milica Vidacic served a ball right into the net, putting the Gators at a 21-16 disadvantage. Florida was unable to recover from there, falling again 25-23 in the final set.
Ring continued her All-American caliber season, racking up 14 kills against the same coach who recruited her all those years ago.
“We watched the development over the course of of the last two years and saw what (Natalie) was capable of,” Theis said. “I think the greatest increase has come in her ball control, she’s doing a great job with that. I’m happy for her.”
Head coach Tom Mendoza now has his first signature win at the helm of Marquette volleyball, and who better to do it against? His reward? Getting to study tape on No. 12 Minnesota before they come to the Al McGuire Center on Sunday.
“(Minnesota’s) going to come in here and make us earn every point,” Mendoza said. “We need to put as much focus in the next 48 hours as we did the last.”
This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @MatthewBaltzMU.
