Marquette fought. Man did they fight. They scratched, clawed, dove, slid and yelled. They fought, battled and never gave up. To sum this up in as few words, they wowed.
No, the Golden Eagles could not topple a top-10 Minnesota team, but the came o so close.
Marquette dared to dream, up 2 sets to 1 with a raucous crowd providing a real home court advantage. Minnesota roared back in the fourth set though, reaffirming its ranking with aplomb. I have never seen a middle attack as fluid and well timed, as the Gophers’. It was something else.
Still, Marquette had a chance to pull off the unthinkable in the fifth and final set.
Nerves. It’s as easy as that. Nerves got in the way of a marquee victory. Marquette missed 3 serves and suddenly was shirting every pass. In the end, Minnesota took the set 15-13 and the match 3 sets to 2.
I can’t believe I’m this far in though, and have yet to drop Ciara Jone’s name in. She was beyond incredible. When she went up for a hit there was terror in the Minnesota players’ eyes. She was simply pummeling the volleyball. Even former Marquette player and NBA player Jimmy was impressed, looking over to Darius Johnson-Odom and making sure he wasn’t the only one who was witnessing this masterpiece.
I have seen Ciara go off plenty of times but this was something else. Minnesota knew it was going to her. They slid the defense over to block her, even triple blocking the outside at some points. Nothing could stop her though. Jones finished with a career high 24 kills and a ridiculous .432 hitting percentage. Standing ovation Ciara, you outplayed one of the best teams in the country.
As for the rest of the team, it was a very gutsy performance. Minnesota was shooting missiles and the back row of Jeziorowski, Stier, Myer and Beyer was picking up them up left and right. The blocking was decent, not tremendous, but considering who was hitting against them it was a very good performance.
Heier notched a new career high by dishing out 57 assists and was very good for the match. I would have liked to see her use some more back slides when Minnesota was keying in on Ciara, but the passing wasn’t always there for that kind of play. Her sets to Jones were delicious though. Fat juicy apples just waiting to be picked.
I will put up some quotes from Bond and co. later on. Great performance by the Golden Eagles though. You did the Marquette community proud.
Jumpin Jesuits 