The last time Marquette volleyball saw Creighton, the Bluejays were hoisting their fifth consecutive Big East Championship trophy in the air as the Golden Eagles fell in three straight sets (14-25, 16-25, 19-25).
Thursday night at the Al McGuire Center, Marquette saw Creighton again, and head coach Tom Mendoza did as well.
Mendoza served as an associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at Creighton, serving in the roles for the final three years of his six seasons.
And like the outcome of the Big East Championship game, the Golden Eagles (8-5, 2-1 Big East) fell once again in three straight sets (16-25, 19-25, 18-25) to the No. 14-ranked Bluejays (10-5, 3-0 Big East).
Right out of the gate, both teams had everything they needed to put down the ball, which made it difficult for the other to score.
Regardless, Creighton was on the other side of the net, reading Marquette’s offense. The blocks were there, but the Golden Eagles were still swinging.
“They did their job and made us pay for the mistakes, but we got to execute our offense at a little higher level,” Mendoza said. “I thought when we did that, we were successful.”
Point for point, Marquette was making itself known. Until it wasn’t.
The Bluejays went on a 12-0 scoring run in the first set, leaving the Golden Eagles to make mistakes left and right. Mendoza was forced to use both of his timeouts, but nothing could get past the hands of Creighton.
“When we executed our offense, we were rewarded,” Mendoza said.
“Their blockers did a good job pressing, so when we were hitting on the straight ahead, we paid for it.”
The momentum and intensity that the Bluejays were playing with in the first set seemed to be the theme for the rest of the game.
Flying out of the back row and swinging with every ounce of energy she had in her was senior outside hitter Natalie Ring, who led the team with 13 kills.
Not far behind her (11 kills) was graduate student middle blocker Hattie Bray, who was just as effective running slides and putting the ball down where Creighton left a hole.
It became a battle of who wanted it more. Each point was played at a quicker pace, with harder swings and tougher dives. But with that came more disappointment for each point that was lost.
“We need to learn how to respond as a group when we’re pressed or when we get stuck in a rotation,” Mendoza said. “Hopefully it doesn’t happen very often, but we can try to handle it a little bit cleaner.”
The Golden Eagles have one more match at the Al McGuire Center on Sunday against DePaul before taking their game on the road. First serve is slated for 3 p.m. CST.
This recap was written by Raquel Ruiz. She can be reached at raquel.ruiz@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @RaquelRuizMU.