Marquette volleyball head coach Tom Mendoza stood in the southwest corner of the Al McGuire Center before the game, simply watching his team warm up.
He mingled with fans, but when it became time to work, and the clock was down to 30 minutes before the first serve, there he stood, in front of the bench, just waiting for his first Big East Conference win.
And he got it.
The Golden Eagles (7-4, 1-0 Big East) took down the Providence Friars (9-5, 0-1 Big East) in a three-set sweep (25-10, 25-16, 25-21).
“We’ve been prepared for the other team, but really focused on ourselves,” Mendoza said.
It was pass, set, swing and kill. Rinse and repeat.
Marquette forced Providence into calling their first timeout when it was 7-1 in the first set.
Even when Marquette had to read the off-speed shots, the aggression was there and the composure was kept.
The sound of blocks echoed through the Al McGuire Center, as did the smack of digs off the Friars’ arms after a Natalie Ring swing – but this wasn’t anything new.
If you looked over to the bench, you would see Mendoza smiling at his team. It was subtle, but it was there. Head nods and thumbs up, too, but in the third set, there were a couple of hands-on-head moments in frustration.
The Friars looked like they had finally gotten used to playing, forcing both teams to ping pong back and forth for the lead, and put Marquette in scramble mode, leaving them to look frazzled. For it was pressure they had not yet faced over the past two sets.
“It’s mostly just reminding each other to stay intentional and remember what our job is,” first-year outside hitter Emma Parks said. “Focus on our side instead of what the other team is doing, and then just taking care of our responsibilities.”
Even when the Golden Eagles were just five points away from victory, the Friars continued to force their pressure, creeping up on the score.
21-18.
Mendoza called a timeout — his first of the game. Point Marquette, point Providence.
The Friars got within three points to take the game to a fourth set, but an error from the Friars’ redshirt senior defensive specialist, Hadley Pride, solidified the Golden Eagle win.
“We got a little tentative,” Mendoza said. ” We could have covered a little bit more, we could have swung through a bit more, so enough good things to be excited about and enough things that we need to work on to focus for tomorrow.”
Now, Marquette will have to learn from their mistakes, continue the aggression and turn their attention to UConn.
First serve is slated for 6 p.m. CST Saturday at the Al McGuire Center.
This recap was written by Raquel Ruiz. She can be reached at raquel.ruiz@marquette.edu or on X @RaquelRuizMU.