Volleyball claims five-set win over Texas A&M in opener

Box Score (PDF)

HONOLULU – The Marquette University women's volleyball team held on for a five-set victory over Texas A&M in the season opener (25-12, 26-28, 25-21, 15-25, 15-13) on Friday evening at SimpliFi Arena in the Rainbow Wahine Classic.

Graduate student Taylor Wolf posted a match-high 15 kills, while nearly notching a quadruple-double with 24 assists, eight digs and eight blocks. Middle blocker Savannah Rennie added 12 kills and six blocks for the Golden Eagles (1-0), who combined to hit .241 (59-21-158). Marquette had a 15-6 edge in blocks and middle Carsen Murray had six of those in her first career start.

Lauren Davis led Texas A&M with 15 kills and the Aggies hit just .190 as a team.

Marquette jumped out to an early 9-2 lead in the opening set and cruised to a 25-22 frame victory while hitting .565. The Aggies posted the first point of the 2021 season on an ace before the Golden Eagles settled down with some clutch serving from libero Katie Schoessow and solid play from Hope Werch and Rennie, each of whom recorded four kills in the stanza.

Marquette let the second set slip away, 28-26, despite three set-points, including a 26-25 edge on an Ellie Koontz kill. MU led 23-19 but couldn't close out the set while recording seven attack errors in the frame after not having any in the first. The Aggies hit .273 in the stanza and were led by four kills from Mallory Talbert.

The Golden Eagles broke free from a tight third set for a 25-21 win on Wolf's fifth kill of the frame, but dropped the fourth, 25-15, as the Aggies forced a fifth set.

Wolf's final kill gave MU its first five-set win since 2019 with a 15-13 victory in the fifth frame. Murray posted a pair of blocks and a kill in the set, while Wolf added three kills.

Marquette improves to 8-0 all-time in season openers under head coach Ryan Theis.

The Golden Eagles and Aggies had previously met just once all-time, a sweep by the Aggies on Aug. 29, 2003 in Durham, North Carolina.

Marquette resumes action in the Rainbow Wahine Classic at midnight Central time on Sunday morning against the University of Hawaii. Marquette claimed the only meeting in program history against the Rainbow Wahine, a five-set victory on Aug. 25, 2017 at the Stan Sheriff Center. Werch, then a freshman for the Golden Eagles, posted 12 kills, five digs and three blocks in her NCAA debut.

Keep up with the Marquette University women's volleyball program through social media by following on Twitter (@MarquetteVB) and Instagram (@MarquetteVB) and 'liking' on Facebook (/MarquetteVolleyball).