Ava Martin killed many of Marquette volleyball’s things in Saturday’s Big East tournament semifinals.
She killed, obviously, the Golden Eagles’ chances at winning, propelling the Bluejays to a 3-0 sweep (25-19, 28-26, 25-23). She also killed any of their hopes of hoisting the conference championship trophy for the second time in program history.
And, if that were not enough, the Big East player of the year very well could have killed Marquette’s 2025 NCAA tournament appearance — and season. The Golden Eagles, who are No. 33 in the RPI, went into Saturday’s game epitomizing “bubble team.” A win over the No. 12 ranked Bluejays, would have burst that and started a dance party.
Martin had other plans, though. Plans that nobody on Marquette could overcome, no matter how many times they dove to keep a point alive or swung with the intention of ending one. Twenty-four kills on .432 hitting plans.
“It was a combination of her playing well and also our block could have been better,” Marquette head coach Tom Mendoza said.
In the first set, Martin posted eight kills — double the number of leading Golden Eagle Natalie Ring’s four. She also did it with a .667 hitting percentage, while Ring was even at .000.
By the end of the second frame, Martin had 19 kills on .500 hitting. But it was when the last of the 11 in the set came that was most important.
All three times the Golden Eagles had a chance at closing the set — first at 24-23, then again 25-24 and one more time at 26-25 — Martin came aswingin’ and ended Marquette’s chances with kills of her own. By then, it was too late for Marquette to win, no matter how much it fought, and Creighton secured the sweep.
“Losing multiple deuce sets is always frustrating, because you think you’re so close, or had set points and didn’t capitalize,” Mendoza said.
The Golden Eagles were led by Ring, who finished with 13 kills, the lone player to post double-digit numbers in that stat.
Now, Marquette has a long week of thumb twiddling as the rest of the volleyball world plays before learning if Martin did enough to end its season.
“We have put together a resume that deserves to be in the NCAA tournament,” Ring said. “I think we’ve played a tough schedule, and we’ve gotten some wins against good teams.”
This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at jack.albright@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.