The Golden Eagles took down Sacred Heart last night in a four set victory that snapped Sacred Heart’s 22 match home win streak.
I watched the first set through the Pioneer’s live stream and here are a few of my thoughts of the limited action I saw after the jump.
- That looked like a high school gym. The curtain separating the volleyball court from the rest of the gym reminded me of my volleyball playing days back at Shepard High School.
- Ashley Beyer was a digging machine. I’ve never seen her so on her defensive game. She ended up with 17 digs so I’m glad it wasn’t just me hallucinating things.
- I couldn’t believe the Pioneers had a home winning streak and had already beaten 2 Big East teams. No offense to them, but they looked completely outclassed by Marquette in the first set. I think it was just a fluke though, because they were within a point of forcing a 5th set.
- Too many serve receive passes are going over the net. Have to cut down on those simple errors.
- Chelsea Heier sets one beautiful ball. I liked the perspective the camera angle gave me, because you could see what great positions she put her setters in.
- Danie Carlson is on smart woman. Great court vision.
Now some overall thoughts:
- If you can get Beyer, Jones and Carlson to combine for 39 kills every match, Marquette will win the Big East.
- The 14 team blocks is such a nice bonus. It’s like free points.
- Kelsey Mattai and Carol Henney are a great tandem. Either can play and play well at any point in time.
- Same goes for Courtney Mrotek and Holly Mertens. Great recruiting by Bond and his coaching staff.
- 25 Kills for Kimmee Roleder of Sacred Heart. Impressive. Doing it back to back games. Mindblowing. She should be at a bigger school.
Here’s a good recap from GoMarquette.com on Thursday’s victory.
FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Marquette University women’s volleyball team snapped Sacred Heart’s 22-match home winning streak Thursday evening with a 3-1 (25-15, 23-25, 25-17, 27-25) victory at the Pitt Center in Fairfield, Conn.
The Golden Eagles improve to 11-4 on the season and were led by 13 kills apiece from senior outside hitters Ashley Beyer and Ciara Jones and junior middle hitter Danielle Carlson. Freshman setter Chelsea Heier notched 42 assists for the Golden Eagles, who are 8-1 in their last nine contests, with the lone loss to No. 9 Minnesota, 3-2, on Sunday, Sept. 18.
The Pioneers (11-5) were led by 25 kills from senior outside hitter Kimmee Roleder, who also notched seven digs in the contest.
Marquette used seven kills from Jones to take the first set 25-15 after hitting a robust .522 as a team. The Golden Eagles jumped out to a 13-4 advantage on a kill by Jones and took their largest lead 21-10 on a service ace by sophomore defensive specialist Rachel Stier.
The Pioneers jumped out to a 12-9 lead in the second set to force Marquette’s first timeout and would hold on for a 25-23 victory to knot the match at one. The Golden Eagles responded to the early deficit by tying the stanza at 16-16 and 18-18 before Sacred Heart closed out the second. SHU recorded 18 kills in the frame and hit .382 as a team.
The Golden Eagles grabbed a 7-1 advantage out of the intermission to take the pivotal third set 25-17 behind five kills from Carlson. Carlson, who entered the match leading the BIG EAST with a .394 hitting percentage, landed every one of her attacks in the frame as MU hit .423 (12-1-26) as a team.Sacred Heart sat at set point, 24-22, in the fourth and final set but failed to close out the frame as Marquette fought back for a 27-25 win. MU used kills by Beyer to cut the gap to 24-23 and take the lead 25-24. The Golden Eagles closed out the frame and the match on a block by junior middle hitter Kelsey Mattai and redshirt junior right-side hitter Holly Mertens, who made her first start of the season Thursday night.
Marquette returns to action at Gampel Pavilion against Connecticut on Saturday at 1 p.m. before heading to Queens, N.Y. to face St. John’s at Carnesecca Arena Sunday at 1 p.m.
Jumpin Jesuits 