Volleyball sweeps Butler in Indy

Box Score (PDF)

INDIANAPOLIS – The Marquette University women's volleyball team used contributions from across its lineup in a 25-15, 25-9, 25-17 sweep of Butler on Friday evening at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

"I was pleased with the play of our entire lineup," MU head coach Ryan Theis said. "Ella Foti stepped into the setter role and played phenomenally tonight and our middles got a ton of touches. I thought Samantha Naber and Sarah Kushner played well in the back row, and Sienna Ifill was big for us on the right side. We'll regroup tonight and focus on a tough matchup with a talented Xavier team tomorrow evening in Cincinnati."

The Golden Eagles (12-8, 8-1 BIG EAST) hit a season-high .447 (42-4-82) and had six players with at least five kills in the victory. Aubrey Hamilton led MU with nine kills, while Jenna Reitsma posted eight and Ifill and Hattie Bray each had seven.

Foti, playing for the first time as MU's primary setter, posted a career-high 26 assists along with three digs, two blocks and six kills on eight errorless attacks. Kushner turned in over six digs per set with 19 in the three-frame sweep.

Butler (9-11, 3-6 BIG EAST) was led by 10 kills from Mariah Grunze and the Bulldogs hit just .062 (32-25-112).

NOTABLE:

Foti started for Anchante at setter, while defensive specialist Samantha Naber took the final starting spot for MU with Foti rotating over from right-side hitter.
Ifill saw the true first extended playing time of her career and hit .545 with a career-high 11 kills.
The Golden Eagles are hitting a league-best .302 in conference play and are limiting opponents to .129 through nine matches.
MU freshman defensive specialist Molly Berezowitz continued to help the Golden Eagles from the service line, recording a pair of aces for the third time this season.
Marquette claimed five of its six blocks in the second set and closed the frame with the final seven points.
Two-time BIG EAST Libero of the Year Jaymeson Kinley had just 10 digs for the Bulldogs.
The Butler offense entered the match second in the BIG EAST with 13.09 kills per set and had 32 total kills on Friday.
Butler is led by first-year head coach Kyle Shondell, who was the 2022 AVCA National Coach of the Year in NAIA men's volleyball at Indiana Tech.
Marquette is 20-9 all-time against Butler in a series that dates to the 1987 campaign.
Since Butler joined the BIG EAST for the 2013 season, MU is 19-3 against them. All six meetings from 1987-1991 were Butler victories.
MU hit at least .325 in each of last season's two wins over BU.

UP NEXT: Saturday's contest at Xavier takes place at Cintas Center at 5 p.m. CT and airs on FloSports.

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