Volleyball sweeps East Carolina, 25-14, 25-17, 25-23

Box Score (PDF)

PITTSBURGH – The Marquette University women's volleyball team swept East Carolina, 25-14, 25-17, 25-23 on Saturday afternoon at Fitzgerald Field House on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh.

The Golden Eagles (4-4) combined to hit. 411 (45-8-90) in the victory and were led by 11 kills from outside hitter Jenna Reitsma. Reitsma did not have a hitting error on 15 attempts and all six MU starters had at least five kills, with Carsen Murray and Hattie Bray each tallying eight.

"I thought we had awesome balance the first two sets and played really efficiently, some of the cleanest we've played," MU head coach Ryan Theis said. "We didn't really maintain that in the third but I was happy to see us side-out and block a ball out when necessary."

MU hit .567 (17-0-3) to cruise to a first set victory behind four kills from Reitsma and hit .400 (13-3-25) in the second.

East Carolina (7-3) fought back from a 21-14 deficit to claim a 23-22 lead in the third, but MU closed the match with the final three points for its second sweep of the season.

"(I told the team that) we had opportunities in transition and we just missed two of them when ECU was making a comeback," Theis said. "We can't let one bad touch lead to two or three bad touches. So as soon as we got scrambling, whether its a secondary set or bettering the ball behind the setter, we needed to get reorganized faster."

Outside hitter Angeles Alderete and Carlia Northcross each had five kills to lead the Pirates, who hit a combined .188 (31-18-98).

NOTABLE:

ECU is Marquette's first opponent this season that did not participate in the 2023 NCAA tournament. MU's first seven opponents each made the field of 64 last year, as did tomorrow's opponent, No. 1 Pitt, which was a Final Four participant.
MU and ECU met each season from 2001-04 as members of Conference USA and MU has dropped just one set in the series, which came in the last meeting at ECU in 2004. MU improves to 5-0 over ECU all-time with Saturday's win.
Reigning BIG EAST Conference Setter of the Week Yadhira Anchante posted her team-leading six double-double of the year and sixth in as many contests with 34 assists and 12 digs. She also landed five kills on eight attempts without an error.
MU middle blocker Carsen Murray continues her hot play during non-conference action. Murray hit .636 with eight kills and three blocks against the Pirates and leads MU with a hitting mark of .420 this season. In the four matches since a Sept. 8 loss to Western Michigan, Murray is hitting .528 with just three hitting errors (41-3-72) and 1.06 blocks per set.
ECU's Alderete is AAC Preseason Player of the Year and the Pirates are picked to finish fourth out of 13 teams this year.

UP NEXT: The Golden Eagles face No. 1 Pittsburgh on Sunday at noon Central time in a match that airs live on ACCNX through ESPN+.

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).