No. 12 Marquette opens season 1-1 on Friday at Flyer Invitational

WKU Box Score (PDF) | Drake Box Score (PDF)

DAYTON, Ohio – The No. 12 Marquette University women's volleyball team gutted out a five-set win over Drake on Friday evening in its second match at the Flyer Invitational inside a hot and humid Frericks Center.

The Golden Eagles (1-1) fell 3-1 to No. 24 Western Kentucky earlier in the morning and had to rally from a 2-1 hole to win in five against the Bulldogs, 18-25, 25-21, 19-25, 25-19, 15-11.

"We knew it would be tough," MU head coach Ryan Theis said. "Western Kentucky had 29 wins last year and Drake had 30, so we just played 59 wins in one day. Credit to our strength coach Emily Jacobson and our conditioning. It was Drake's fourth and fifth set (today) and it was our eighth and ninth in these conditions. It is one of the hottest environments we've ever had to play in.

"And credit to our team for a gutty performance. I thought we got more consistent at scoring points and getting stops as the match went on. That's not easy to do, going down 2-1 and coming back and winning the fourth and fifth. It's a high character group and it showed."

Redshirt sophomore Ella Foti turned in a huge performance to cap the day with a near triple-double (16 kills, a career-best 19 digs and seven assists), along with three blocks.

"Ella played great," Theis said. "She's starting to learn when to be conservative or go for it, and she's just really good at volleyball. All of a sudden she's setting and then she's running points from the service line. She's a valuable part of what we do."

Yadhira Anchante, who shared setter duties at times late in the match with Foti, had 41 assists, 15 digs and a pair of blocks. Senior outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton hit .308 with 14 kills and 16 digs.

Head coach Ryan Theis utilized his reserves to alleviate the fatigue of the day's events and highlighted the performances of Samantha Naber, Sienna Ifill and Ella Holmstrom off the bench. Naber switched into the white libero jersey for the final four sets against Drake and compiled 12 digs, while Ifill turned in a career-best four kills and was big in the fourth set as MU pushed the match to five.

Drake's Macy Daufeldt posted a match-high 22 kills for the Bulldogs (0-1), while two-time MVC Player of the Year Haley Bush had 20 kills, 15 digs and a pair of aces.

MU opened Friday with a 25-19, 24-26, 25-23, 25-21 loss to the Hilltoppers (1-0).

Middle blocker Hattie Bray hit .348 against WKU with 11 kills and three blocks. Outside hitter Jenna Reitsma also reached double digits with 10 kills and was a key part of MU's 26-24 second set win alongside Foti.

Marquette fought off a pair of WKU set-points in the second to even things at the break after hitting a match-best .379. The Golden Eagles got off to an early four-point lead in the third but could not hold off WKU, which claimed the third and fourth sets with the final four points of each stanza.

The Hilltoppers (1-0) were led by a match-high 16 kills from AVCA All-American Paige Briggs, while Missouri-transfer Kaylee Cox added 15.

NOTABLES:

The Golden Eagles were without the services of unanimous All-BIG EAST middle blocker Carsen Murray on Friday due to injury.
The four teams in this weekend's event (MU, WKU, Drake and Dayton) combined to go 108-30 last season (.783), including identical 29-4 marks from MU and WKU.

DRAKE MATCH NOTABLES:

The Golden Eagles own a 6-2 advantage in the all-time series and have claimed victories in each of the last five meetings. MU's most recent victory over the Bulldogs came during the spring of 2021 in Cedar Falls, Iowa as AVCA All-American Taylor Wolf posted a triple-double.
Drake tied the fifth set, 9-9, before MU pulled away for the win.
Naber replaced Sarah Kushner at libero for the second set and played the position the rest of the way.
Foti reached a double-double in kills and digs by the end of the second set.
The Bulldogs went 30-8 in 2022 and made an appearance in the championship match of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship.
Drake is the preseason runner-up in the Missouri Valley Conference Coaches Poll.

WKU MATCH NOTABLES:

Anastasija Svetnik started alongside Hattie Bray in the middle, while graduate transfer Sarah Kushner donned the blue libero jersey for the Golden Eagles and had a match-high 15 digs
MU's loss to WKU was its first in a season lid-lifter since falling 3-1 to Saint Louis in Iowa City, Iowa on Aug. 26, 2011. Marquette ended that campaign with a win over then-No. 24 Western Kentucky in the NCAA First Round in its first NCAA tournament match.
MU entered today's match as winners of its last 11 season openers.
Western Kentucky now leads the all-time series with MU, 2-1. WKU claimed the first matchup at the Al McGuire Center in a sweep on Sept. 4, 2004, while MU won the previous meeting, 3-1, in 2011.
The Hilltoppers are the preseason favorite in Conference USA following their 23rd consecutive 20-win campaign in 2022. WKU went 29-4 last season and fell to third-seeded Kentucky in the NCAA Second Round after a perfect 14-0 performance in conference play.

UP NEXT: MU will meet the tournament-host Dayton Flyers at 5 p.m. CT Saturday in a match aired live on ESPN+. The Flyers face WKU in Friday's final match.

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).