It would’ve been hard to imagine a more frustrating weekend for Marquette volleyball.
The Golden Eagles (12-8, 6-4 Big East), fresh off a tough five-set loss to Georgetown in the nation’s capital on Friday, made the quick trip down to Philadelphia to take on Villanova (16-5, 7-3 Big East).
After a long first set victory, MU struggled to look like the NCAA Tournament team that is capable of being, falling to the Wildcats in four sets, (35-33, 19-25, 13-25, 19-25).
The Golden Eagles had a one-point lead late in set two, but the seven-point Villanova run that followed would subsequently prove to be the start of the end for MU on Saturday night.
The first set was one of the lone positives for the Golden Eagles. Head coach Tom Mendoza signaled for timeout down 20-17 in the first, looking for a response to Villanova’s 3-0 run. The response? A 3-0 MU run behind a service error from the Wildcats, another attack error and senior outside hitter Natalie Ring’s fifth kill of the set.
10 points later, the score was 25-25 and just like that the first set was headed to extra points. Marquette had multiple opportunities at set point — but continued to shoot themselves in the foot with service and attack errors.
Villanova was up 33-32 with its sixth chance at set point, but a Ring kill, an Allie Korba setter dump and another Ring kill quickly ended the first set marathon, 35-33. Ring finished with nine kills to help MU find a way to win a set where it committed five service errors and suffered another five service aces.
The Golden Eagles trailed 16-10 in set two before going on a 7-1 run to even things up at 17. MU won two of the next three points to take a 19-18 lead, but then allowed the Wildcats to go on a 7-0 run and claim set two, 25-19. Villanova’s defense showed up in a big way countless times down the stretch, but another five service errors for Marquette didn’t help its cause either. Ring was unusually quiet as well in the second frame, being held to just one kill.
The same couldn’t be said for the third set, because Ring fired home a kill on the third point of the match to try and re-establish her presence in the blue and gold offense. However, having to follow up a five-set loss with a 68-point first-set is not an easy thing to do, and it appeared MU started to run out of gas.
Two seperate 7-0 Villanova runs in the third set saw Marquette quickly trailing 16-5. The Golden Eagles were making attack errors left and right and having all sorts of issues with serve receive, and the Wildcats made them pay. MU ultimately couldn’t recover from those two runs, falling 25-13 in set three.
Villanova hit .531 on its way to a comfortable 25-19 set four victory. For the Wildcats, it’s a statement win that gets them into sole possession of third place in the Big East standings. They hadn’t won against Marquette since 2017. Junior outside hitter Abby Harrell finished with a double-double, killing 16 and digging 13.
For Marquette, who started the week ranked 37th in the NCAA’s RPI rankings, it was a disaster of a weekend that saw the Golden Eagles drop two games to teams outside of the top-45. MU’s NCAA Tournament chances are slipping right before their eyes, and things aren’t going to get any easier. Four out of Marquette’s six remaining regular season games are on the road, including a trip to Omaha to face No. 13 Creighton.
The Golden Eagles’ next chance to get back into the win column will be Wednesday night at DePaul. First-serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. CST.
