No. 14 Marquette Sweeps High Point and Advances to NCAA Second Round

MILWAUKEE--The No. 14 seed Marquette University volleyball team made quick work of High Point to advance to the NCAA Championship second round for the fourth time in program history on Friday night at the Al McGuire Center.

The Golden Eagles (27-6) swept the Panthers, 3-0 (25-11, 25-19, 25-15) and will meet Cincinnati on Saturday, Dec. 1, for a chance to advance to the Sweet 16, which would be a first for the program. MU was playing in its first-ever NCAA Tournament as a nationally seeded team and host school and the Golden Eagles were bolstered by an energetic crowd.

Junior Allie Barber led all with a match-high 12 kills and hit at a .407 clip, while sophomore Hope Werch added eight kills. Seniors Anna Haak and Jenna Rosenthal each connected on six kills and two blocks.

Marquette had an efficient hitting night as a team with a .337 percentage, while the defense was able to hold the Panthers (21-10) to just a .054 clip with only two players hitting better than .200.

Junior Lauren Speckman opened the first set with two aces and the Golden Eagles rolled from there, never trailing High Point en route to the 25-11 win. The second set was much more balanced as the Panthers got on the board first and ran out to a 9-5 lead, which sent Marquette into a timeout. The Golden Eagles came out of the break swinging and Barber hit three consecutive kills to give MU a 16-14 lead, which would not be surrendered.

The third frame was controlled again by the Golden Eagles as they never trailed and earned the 25-15 victory on consecutive miscues from HPU.

Speckman and sophomore Sarah Rose dished out 18 and 14 assists, respectively, with Speckman nearly at a double-double as she also collected nine digs. Sophomore libero Martha Konovodoff collected 11 digs.

Abby Broadstreet connected on nine kills, while Abby Bottomley collected a match-high 17 digs for the Panthers.

Marquette reaches the second round for the first time since 2015 when the squad topped Northern Iowa in five sets in Minnesota.

The Golden Eagles will face an old foe on Saturday in former BIG EAST school Cincinnati. The Bearcats own a 29-8 advantage in the all-time series.

For tickets contact the MU Ticket Office (414) 288-4668 (GOMU).