Volleyball hits .324 to sweep UConn

Box Score (PDF)

STORRS, Connecticut – The No. 17 Marquette University women's volleyball team picked up its ninth-straight victory with a 25-21, 25-17, 25-19 sweep of UConn on Sunday afternoon at Gampel Pavilion.

"I was really impressed with our overall performance today in a lot of areas," said MU head coach Ryan Theis. "'Yadhi' (Anchante) was particularly impressive and I'm hopeful we can continue to improve as we head into late November and December."

The Golden Eagles (24-2, 15-1 BIG EAST) hit .324 (49-13-111) and were led by 13 kills from outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton, while middle blocker Carsen Murray posted 12 kills on .600 hitting (12-0-20) with a pair of blocks. Redshirt freshmen Ella Foti and Hattie Bray each also landed nine kills and MU recorded nine total blocks.

Setter Yadhira Anchante orchestrated MU's offensive attack while posting 36 assists, 11 digs and a pair of service aces.

UConn (15-12, 9-7 BIG EAST) kept the first set tight with 10 ties, but could not overcome 18 MU kills in the frame as the Golden Eagles posted an 81% side-out percentage. Caylee Parker notched nine kills to lead the Huskies, who entered the contest as winners of nine of their last 10 matches.

NOTABLE:

Marquette is 11-3 all-time against UConn. The Golden Eagles have won the last eight matchups in the series, including a sweep of the Huskies earlier this season on Sept. 30 in Milwaukee. Hamilton led the Golden Eagles with 10 kills in that match, while Jenna Reitsma had a career-best six service aces.
The sweep is MU's 17th of the season.
In BIG EAST play, MU has only lost sets in three matches: Butler (one set) on Sept. 24, at Creighton (three sets) on Oct. 14 and at DePaul (two sets) on Oct. 26.
The Huskies entered the match third in the BIG EAST in hitting percentage, but hit just .175 on Sunday afternoon.
UConn is led by fourth-year head coach Ellen Herman-Kimball, who played under Theis at Ohio.
Current MU assistant coach Abby Gilleland joined the MU staff this year from UConn, while 2021 MU volunteer assistant coach Peter Netisingha switched benches the opposite direction and is in his first season in Storrs.

UP NEXT: Following this weekend's matches, the Golden Eagles have just one remaining home weekend on Nov. 18-19 against Xavier and No. 12 Creighton. The Xavier match on Friday, Nov. 18 will serve as the program's Senior Night.

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).