Volleyball sweeps Hawaii in the Rainbow Wahine Classic

Box Score (PDF)

HONOLULU – The Marquette University women's volleyball team picked up a 26-24, 27-25, 25-21 sweep over the University of Hawaii on Saturday night at SimpliFi Arena in its second match of the Rainbow Wahine Classic.

Hannah Vanden Berg paced the Golden Eagles (2-0) with 12 kills on .391 hitting, while graduate students Taylor Wolf and Savannah Rennie posted 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Wolf and Rennie each hit over .400 in the match and MU combined to hit .303 (48-15-109).

The Rainbow Wahine (1-1), who were held to .183 hitting (41-20-115), were led by 14 kills from Brooke Van Sickle.

Marquette had to fight off a Hawaii set-point at 24-23 in the first set, but came away with a 26-24 victory on a kill from Ellie Koontz. The Rainbow Wahine posted a blocking error and attack error after gaining the advantage, to give MU the chance to close out the frame. Koontz was one of five MU players in the set with three kills and combined with Rennie on a block to give MU its first lead of the set, 11-10.

The Golden Eagles needed extra points again in the second set to pull out out a 27-25 win for a 2-0 edge at the break. Hawaii rallied to tie the stanza at every point from 22 to 25 before Vanden Berg closed the set with consecutive kills.

Marquette led by as many as 10 points in the third set, but had to hold on for the 25-21 victory. A pair of four-point runs by UH pulled the set within three points at 21-18.

The Golden Eagles claimed the only previous meeting in program history against the Rainbow Wahine, a five-set victory on Aug. 25, 2017 at Stan Sheriff Center. Hope Werch, then a freshman for the Golden Eagles, posted 12 kills, five digs and three blocks in her NCAA debut.

Marquette resumes action in the Rainbow Wahine Classic at 7:45 p.m. Central time on Sunday (2:45 a.m. Hawaiian) against Fairfield. The meeting will be the first between the two programs.

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).