The grass isn’t always greener on the other side, and Friday night proved it.
After 11 years as the head man for Marquette volleyball, Ryan Theis was back at the Al McGuire Center, but this time it was with Florida.
The Golden Eagles had a little more to play for Friday night against their old coach, and it showed, as MU came out with its hair on fire with no extinguisher in sight for a 3-0 sweep of the Gators (25-23, 25-23, 25-23).
Through nine points of the first set, MU led 5-4, then Florida went on a 4-0 run. After trading points for a while, it was Florida who went on another run to gain a seven-point advantage.
The Golden Eagles trailed 18-11, but Hattie Bray and Natalie Ring then teamed up for six kills over the course of a 7-1 run for the Golden Eagles.
Timeout Florida.
After Bray came off a slide to pound a kill to the taraflex, making it a one-point game, Ella Parks fired home her second kill of the night to even things up at 19. After losing the next point, MU would win the next three points to give itself a 22-20 lead.
Timeout Florida, again.
Moments later Natalie Ring guided a ball onto the taraflex for the set one win, 25-23.
It was a much-needed set win for MU — who got swept by Wisconsin on Wednesday without really being competitive towards the end of any of the three sets.
The second set started the same way the first one did, with Florida getting out to an early lead. The Gators led 11-6 before MU made a charge to get back into the set.
Ring’s 10th kill of the match paired with Isabela Haggard’s second kill of the night tied the second frame up at 17 a piece. Ring has hit for double-digit kills in all nine of Marquette’s games this season.
A pair of Emma Parks kills and a service ace from Bray gave Marquette a 20-17 advantage. But then Jordyn Byrd’s kill count went from six to nine in the blink of an eye and the scoreboard was once again all knotted up.
Just like two boxers in a heavyweight fight, the two teams continued to trade equally as good punches up until the match was tied at 23. It was at that point, the battery of Ring and Bray teamed up again to seal a set win. First it was Ring, earning her 12th kill of the night to set up set point for MU. Then it was Bray, who came down with a solo block on Jaela Auguste’s attack to win set two, 25-23.
Set three did not mirror its predecessors as the Golden Eagles jumped out to an early 10-5 lead. But if Theis proved anything about his teams in his decade-plus at Marquette, they don’t back down. A 5-0 scoring followed as the Gators got the score back to 10-10.
Florida had five service errors in the third set, with the fifth one coming at the most costly time. Milica Vidacic served a ball right into the net, putting the Gators at a 21-16 disadvantage. Florida was unable to recover from there, falling again 25-23 in the final set.
Ring continued her All-American caliber season, racking up 14 kills against the same coach who recruited her all those years ago.
Head coach Tom Mendoza has his first ranked win at the helm of Marquette volleyball, and who better to do it against.
This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at matthew.baltz@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @MatthewBaltzMU.