After the dust had settled and the lights had faded, all No. 2 Marquette could do was watch.
Watch No. 1 Creighton hoist it’s fifth consecutive Big East Tournament Championship — 10th overall — , watch some of its seniors celebrate their fourth title in four years. Watch their chances of hoisting that oh so coveted trophy diminish right before its eyes.
Marquette volleyball (23-8, 16-2 Big East) fell to Creighton (29-2, 18-0 Big East) in straight sets (14-25, 16-25, 19-25) in the championship match of the 2024 Big East Tournament at D.J. Sokol Arena.
In the first set, Hattie Bray — who had missed Marquette’s semifinal contest against Villanova on Friday with an ankle injury — announced her presence early on with a solo block on an attack from Ava Martin.
From that point on though, it was all Creighton. The Bluejays would serve the Golden Eagles six services aces en route to a set one victory, 25-14.
After getting out to a 2-0 lead briefly at the start of set number two, Marquette would watch itself get blitzed over the course of the next 15 points.
Following a 13-2 Creighton run, the Golden Eagles trailed 13-4. While holding All-Big East outside hitter Norah Sis to one kill in the frame, the Golden Eagles were not able to stop the rest of the calvary that makes up the Bluejay offense.
All-Big East middle blocker Elise Goetzinger filled the shoes of Sis just fine, accumulating four kills and a block to help Creighton to a 25-16 set two win.
Set three was the most competitive of the trio Saturday evening, as both teams delivered blows at each other through the first 34 points, as the set was all evened up at 17 points a piece.
It was that moment that it appeared the Bluejays were done fiddling around. After losing two points to go down 17-19, one of Marquette’s three All-Big East selections — Aubrey Hamilton — fired a kill home to bring the Golden Eagles back to within one.
From there, it was a 6-1 Creighton run fueled by kills by three different Bluejays and a service ace that helped seal the deal on win number 29 for Creighton. Sydney Breissinger capped everything off with the Bluejays’ ninth and final ace of the match. Marquette did not garner a single ace during the match, and had seven service errors.
The Golden Eagles will head into Selection Sunday with an overall record of 23-8, owning a key win over No. 23 Dayton.
However, without the auto-bid from winning the Big East Tournament, Marquette will once again be left to do one thing when the bracket is slowly but surely released: watch.
This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at matthew.baltz@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @MatthewBaltzMU.