If you didn’t catch it, I didn’t recap Marquette volleyball’s 3-0 loss to #7 Wisconsin at Fiserv Forum on Wednesday night. I didn’t really see the point as the Golden Eagles got beat 75-47 across the three sets and really were not competitive with the top 10 ranked Badgers other than for about the first two-thirds of set #3. There wasn’t much to say about how badly MU got stomped in that one, and the more interesting story relative to that loss was going to be how the Golden Eagles responded with #15
Florida and #12 Minnesota coming to the McGuire Center on Friday and Sunday.
That instinct paid off maybe sooner than expected, although for a moment, it didn’t look like it was going to.
#15 Florida cracked open an 18-11 lead on Marquette in the first set, and that was after MU had a 5-4 lead early on. You can do the math on that kind of a run, and it kinda looked like a lot of matches that we had seen from a Ryan Theis coached team over the last decade. Yes, that’s right, the Gators are now coached by the most successful coach in Marquette history, and his ranked squad was doing to unranked Marquette what so many ranked Golden Eagles squads have done to unranked teams themselves.
And then Marquette scored seven in a row to tie the set up at 19.
It’s probably worth mentioning that new Marquette head coach Tom Mendoza beat Florida twice last season when he was the head coach at South Carolina, so he may have been familiar with some of what the Gators were capable of this year. I don’t know how much of Marquette’s rally was Mendoza knowing some tendencies or Mendoza calming his team down and redirecting them without the use of a timeout.
An ace by Hattie Bray gave Marquette their first lead since 5-4, and a Florida attack error gave MU a two point lead, 22-20. There was drama from there after a Gators timeout, but Marquette just traded points with the visitors before Natalie Ring made a nifty kill for the 25-23 first set win.
A big time difference in how things went on Wednesday as MU bounced back from some UF body blows to get the win, but even when Florida was building their lead, they never looked as dominant as the Badgers did from the jump.
The second set tilted towards Florida early at 6-3 and 8-4 and 11-6 and 12-7. But Marquette had been through worse in the first set and they just put a couple of points together here and there to grind away the margin. It was 17-14 before a combo block from Hattie Bray and setter Isabela Haggard triggered a 6-0 Marquette run and burned off both Florida timeouts. 20-17 Marquette now, but coming out of the break, the Gators went to top attacker Jordyn Byrd for three straight. All tied at 20, and Marquette called timeout. What happened after the break may have tilted the match. UF’s Alec Rothe was whistled for a net violation on a block attempt, and that side out led to UF subbing Byrd off the floor. Kiera Schmidt and Elena Radeff stuffed Milica Vidacic for a two point lead, but that disappeared into a 23-23 tie. Byrd never returned to the floor, Marquette called timeout, and a Natalie Ring roll shot and a Bray solo stuff gave MU a second straight 25-23 win and a 2-0 lead.
I said on Bluesky at some point during the Wisconsin match that Mendoza was clearly coaching for Friday against Florida and not so much against the Badgers any more, and if that was the case, it was paying off. The third set? It started to look like Marquette was going to step over Florida like Allen Iverson burying the three to beat the Lakers in the NBA Finals and stepping over Tyronn Lue. 4-1 Golden Eagles out of the gate, 7-2, 8-3, 10-5. But #15 is #15, and that may have pushed the Gators back in a bit. They tied it back up at 10 with five straight, and then Florida took a 12-11 lead. Mendoza had already called timeout at 10-8, so he had to let his team figure it out here.
Figure it out they did. A service error tied the set back up at 12, and a block from Radeff and Bray put MU in front 13-12, and Florida would never lead again. They tied it at 13 and 14, but a kill from Emma Parks — who fought through five errors to add eight important kills and a solo block in this match — and a Natalie Ring ace partnered with two misfires by Florida, and hey look: Marquette up 18-14.
20-15.
21-16.
22-17.
Florida got within two, 22-20, and that’s when Mendoza used his other timeout. Well played by MU’s head coach, and he got a kill from Radeff on the ensuing point. Net violation on Florida’s Jaela Auguste moved the Golden Eagles to match point at 24-21. Two points for Florida for drama — although Mendoza tried to challenge his way into a match winning point for the second time this season — before Natalie Ring got the kill for the winner in straight sets.
Natalie Ring finished with 14 kills and .364 hitting after that final swing, and she gets a double-double with 10 digs because she spent what felt like a somewhat surprising amount of time in the back row in this match. Elena Radeff was the only other Golden Eagle in double digits with 10 kills. Isabela Haggard had 34 assists, which is a very nice night in three sets. Avery Helms ends up coming off the bench to lead Marquette in digs here with 11.
How about some highlights, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and Fox Sports?
Up Next: We find out whether or not Marquette can make it two in a row against ranked opponents! The Golden Eagles will return to action on Sunday evening when #12 Minnesota comes to the McGuire Center for a 5pm Central time start. Why that late on a Sunday? Because FS1 wanted to put it on teevee. The Gophers moved to 9-1 on the year with a 3-0 victory over Loyola Chicago on Friday evening. They’ve racked up all nine wins in a row since losing to then-#9 Texas A&M in their opener.
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