×

Marquette rolls to 20th volleyball win of season

Marquette’s Seiler Hruska, center, spikes the ball between Gladstone’s Joyce Barron, left, and Alissa Sanville in their Great Northern Conference volleyball match on Monday at the Braves’ gym. (Escanaba Daily Press photo by Justin St. Ours)

GLADSTONE — Marquette swept Gladstone in three sets, 25-13, 25-10, 25-18, in a Great Northern Conference volleyball match played here Monday evening.

The first set was tied five times before 20 total points were on the board. The Braves’ Mackenzie Parish tied it, for the last time that set, at 8-8 with an ace. However, a five-point service run from Marquette’s Tellena Nystrom gave the Redettes the lead and momentum to finish the set.

“I would say our serving and passing overall (are where we executed well tonight),” Redettes’ coach Ann Crandell-Williams said after her team improved to 20-2-2 overall and 4-0 in the GNC. “I guess it always goes back to that for me. There were a few times where we weren’t communicating very well, but our consistent serving really helped us out.”

Marquette maintained that momentum into the second set and kept in front of the Braves for the whole set thanks to service runs from the Redettes’ Seiler Hruska and Nystrom.

The teams hung closer together in the third set.

“We had strong service, and we had some good solid blocking tonight,” Braves coach Bill Lawrence said. “Ahna Larson had a great game. She threw up a lot of great hits.”

The Braves (2-4) kept within a few points of Marquette until the middle of the set when a short run from the Redettes’ Maria Millado gave them a 18-13 lead.

“We’re running a fast offense, so our middles are hitting some 1s and 3s,” Crandell-Williams said. “I mean, Aspen (Michelin) and Maria they can jump. We just have girls that are athletic enough to execute that kind of offense. It’s fun and they enjoy doing it.

“It was a team win. Everybody got to play, and everybody played well.”

For the night, Hruska led Marquette’s offense with 14 kills to go with four digs and a service ace. Michelin had 11 kills without an attack error, six digs and three aces, while Millado had seven kills with just one error, nine digs and an ace.

Maiya King set up her hitters with 36 assists, while Celinda Brunswick shared team dig honors with nine as Nystrom had five to go with two aces.

Gladstone closed in to 19-16 on a service error and a forced net violation, but still found difficulty keeping possession.

The Braves grabbed two more points before the set and game finished with a tip over from Marquette’s Taylor Ragusett.

The Braves played without junior Megan Crow.

“I feel like the team filled in a void tonight,” Lawrence said. “We had a gap in the team tonight, and we had some players step up into some positions they’re not used to. I feel like they performed well in those positions.

“In the third set, the girls played more as a team, and they seemed to have better communication. They just seemed to really want it, and they wanted to make it as close as possible.”

Gladstone hosts Westwood tonight. Marquette visits Northern Michigan University for a tournament Saturday.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today