Sophomore middle blocker Morgan Daugherty delivered the final kill and pandemonium ensued with over 2500 kids from Milwaukee Public Schools deafening the Al McGuire Center with their cheers.
In the annual Field Trip Day game, Marquette volleyball swept DePaul 3-0 (25-16, 25-11, 25-15) Wednesday afternoon.
“I really liked our serve pass game, I thought servers were aggressive, we started a little slow, serves got more and more comfortable as the match went on,” Marquette head coach Ryan Theis said. “Then our passers did a great job of handling the serves as well.”
With this win, the Golden Eagles remain the only undefeated team in the Big East.
Statistical leaders
Junior setter Yadhira Anchante earned her eighth double-double of the season with 30 assists and 10 digs.
“Today we played really good, pretty clean, and you could see that,” Anchante said.
For the 10th game in a row, senior outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton finished with over 10 kills, earning 11 overall in the match.
For DePaul, senior outside hitter Jill Pressly was the only Blue Demon to achieve double-digit kills with 12.
Defensive dominance
This was the first time this season where Marquette held a team negative in hitting percentage.
“We played really good defense, our passers were really good, and our serves were really aggressive too,” Anchante said.
Overall, the Golden Eagles held the Blue Demons to hit -.009, forcing them to commit 23 errors while only earning 22 kills.
DePaul had three players hit in the negative, and only 1 hitting over .100.
“We got stops right away,” Theis said. “Jill Pressly is a really terminal attacker, her first four swings, we stopped three of them, her first five we stopped four. If we can get stops on her that’s we really just got to spin the transition.”
Unique faces
The Field Trip game created an unconventional environment at the Al with a different type of fanbase in attendance.
There weren’t many Marquette students, but that didn’t matter as the local Milwaukee youth screamed and danced the whole way through the match.
“A lot of kids,” Anchante said. “I’ve never played in an environment like that before, but they were loud on the court so it didn’t affect us, but I think it was pretty cool.”
Next up
Marquette will face off against No. 15 Creighton Friday night at the Al McGuire Center. The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. CST.
“They’re a load, they’re really good, and they’re big and physical with multiple positions,” Theis said. “They control the ball really well, so we just got to understand how to do our thing well, and just be prepared for a tough fight.”
This article was written by Sofie Hanrahan. She can be reached at sofia.hanrahan@marquette.edu or on Twitter @SofieHanrahanMU.