Volleyball hits .317 in sweep of DePaul

Box Score (PDF) | Highlights

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University women's volleyball team cruised to a 25-16, 25-11, 25-15 sweep of DePaul on Wednesday afternoon at the Al McGuire Center.

The Golden Eagles (9-7, 5-0 BIG EAST) hit a combined .317 and were led by 11 kills from Aubrey Hamilton, eight from Hattie Bray and six from Ella Foti. Foti, MU's right-side hitter, backup setter and best right back defender, notched 10 digs, three blocks, a service ace and five assists in the victory.

"I thought our severs and passers did a really good job for us," Marquette head coach Ryan Theis said. "It started a little slow and then the servers got more and more comfortable as the match went on. And then our passers did a great job of handling their serve as well, which got us going."

Carsen Murray contributed on four of Marquette's nine blocks on the day and hit .571 with four kills on seven errorless swings. Libero Sarah Kushner had 12 of MU's 57 digs and settter Yadhira Anchante had a double-double of 10 digs and 30 assists.

"I thought we got stops right away," Theis said. "Jill Pressly is a really terminal attacker and on her first four swings we stopped three of them. Or her first five we stopped four. If we can get stops on her we just have to win the transition points. I was happy with that effort."

Outside hitter Jill Pressly had a match-high 12 kills for DePaul (13-6, 3-2 BIG EAST), which hit a season-low -.009 (22-23-106).

NOTABLE:

Marquette is 42-29 all-time against the Blue Demons in a series that began in 1982.
The Golden Eagles have won 25 consecutive meetings dating back to the 2009 campaign. MU's last loss to DePaul was a five-set defeat on Nov. 1, 2008 in Chicago.
Since both teams joined the BIG EAST Conference for the 2005 campaign, MU has won 28 of 29 matches.
It is MU's fifth sweep of the year.
The Golden Eagles are 5-0 to begin BIG EAST play for the eighth time overall, and the third season in a row.
MU's 9.0 total blocks are its second-highest total in a match this season.
In the 10 matches (33 sets) since Hamilton was held to a -.042 (5-6-24) hitting percentage against then-No. 9 Pitt on Sept. 8, she is hitting .347 (137-29-311) with 4.15 kills per set, 10 service aces, 55 digs and 21 blocks.
Marquette has won at a 74.9 percent clip (212-71) since joining the BIG EAST and is 127-27 (.825) in BIG EAST matches under head coach Ryan Theis.
MU is 88-12 (.880) in BIG EAST play over the last seven seasons (2017-23) under Theis, including consecutive regular season league titles in 2021 (16-2) and 2022 (17-1).
DePaul's Pressly entered the match leading the BIG EAST in both kills (4.50) and points (4.90) per set.
DePaul averaged a league-high 2.52 blocks per set entering the match and had just one joint effort from Pressly and Meghan Scholz on Wednesday. Scholz, a freshman from Tomahawk, Wisconsin, entered the day leading the BIG EAST with 1.17 blocks per set.

UP NEXT: MU welcomes No. 15 Creighton to the Al McGuire Center on Friday night for a 7 p.m. CT showdown. All fans are encouraged to wear white and the first 200 students will receive a free 'White Out the Al' t-shirt. The first 100 will also receive free Shake Shack burgers.

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).