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Marquette drops its first Big East game of the season, falling 3-1 to No. 6 Creighton – Marquette Wire
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Marquette drops its first Big East game of the season, falling 3-1 to No. 6 Creighton – Marquette Wire

Things weren’t looking good for the team in blue and gold.

Senior middle blocker Elise Goetzinger had just recorded her 10th kill of the match to put No. 6 Creighton (12-2, 3-0) ahead 22-19 late in the third set. Then Marquette women’s volleyball (6-6, 2-1) decided to make things interesting at DJ Sokol Arena.

The Golden Eagles would finish the set with a 6-1 run, fueled by a kill from graduate middle blocker Carsen Murray, two kills – including the final kill of the frame – from junior outside hitter Natalie Ring and a service ace from graduate setter Yadhira Anchante.

After avoiding the sweep in set three, Marquette wouldn’t be able to reproduce the same magic in the fourth frame.

The Bluejays blew the Golden Eagles out of the gate in the fourth to take a 20-8 lead. Creighton won the set 25-12, hitting .500.

Senior setter Kendra Wait shined as usual, tallying 47 assists against the Golden Eagles. She continued to make history on Tuesday evening.

The reigning Big East Player of the Year overtook fellow former setter Kailey Reyes for third on Creighton’s all-time assists list.

Along with the offensive struggles in the fourth set, Marquette swung just .098 in the first frame of play. After trailing by a significant margin for most of the set, the Golden Eagles went on a 5-2 run to push the Bluejays’ lead to 20-17, forcing head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth to call a timeout call.

Out of the timeout, a pair of kills by Goetzinger then forced head coach Ryan Theis to call a timeout himself with his team trailing 22-17.

Three kills and a Marquette service error later, Creighton had taken the opening set. The Bluejays won the battle at the net quite easily, blocking the Golden Eagles 5-2 and outscoring them 15-9.

Trailing 16-10 in the second frame, the Golden Eagles would capitalize on a Bluejay service error, followed by a trio of attack errors from Goetzinger as part of a 4-1 run. After three straight Creighton points, back-to-back kills from senior outside hitter Ella Foti and a service error from senior middle blocker Kiara Reinhardt immediately pulled Marquette back to within three.

But a pair of kills from former All-Big East outside hitter Norah Sis helped Creighton seal the deal in set two, winning it 25-18. Sis finished the match with 14 kills, hitting .256.

Sis was just one of four Bluejays with more than nine kills Tuesday (Goetzinger, Reinhardt, Martin and Sis).

With the loss, Marquette now drops to 2-12 over the past two seasons against ranked opponents.

The Golden Eagles will look to get back on track on Sunday against the Butler Bulldogs (2-12, 0-2) at the Al McGuire Center. Opening service will take place at 1:00 PM CST.

This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at (email protected) or on Twitter/X @MatthewBaltzMU.

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