Superior Central's Maggie Rondeau, center, swats the ball past Marquette's Taylor Marquardt, left, and Ella Jezewski during the second set on Friday in Marquette. (Journal photo by Ryan Stieg)

MARQUETTE — Tuesday night’s match against Negaunee was a tough one for the Marquette girls volleyball team as it barely outlasted the Miners in a five-set thriller.

Friday’s match against Superior Central, on the other hand, was a much easier affair for the Redettes as they swept the Cougars in three sets, 25-14, 25-13, 25-12.

Marquette clicked offensively from the start and according to head coach Ann Crandell-Williams, her team looked more at ease than in their match earlier in the week.

“I think my girls play best when they’re relaxed,” she said. “When they can just, sort of, do what they do in practice every day, they can be a little more comfortable and confident. I think tonight they came out really relaxed. They played really well.

“Everybody contributed offensively and defensively, and I’d say that’s a good thing when we’re balanced. They had a really balanced effort and that’s something I’m really happy with.”

Even though the Cougars struggled in the match against Marquette’s speed, SC head coach Kris Bray felt her team has made improvements.

“Their (the Redettes) level of play is just faster than ours,” she said. “They’re used to playing kind of a quick game and we’re not. Ours is kind of a slowdown game. It’s one aspect of our game that we have to improve on in order to be more competitive down the road.

“A lot of these kids were on the team last year, and you didn’t see it tonight, but we have improved immensely, especially within our (Skyline Central) conference play that we’ve had. I’m very positive. I think that this is going to be a good team and come districts, we’ll be ready by then.”

Riley Moore was the Cougars’ offensive leader with three kills, while Diane Augustyn had five assists and two aces. Moore also had six digs on defense. Marquette’s final stats were unavailable.

The Redettes took control quickly in the first set, taking a 9-1 lead with the help of two aces from Maria Millado. Marquette built its advantage up to 12 on a kill from Taylor Marquardt to make the score 17-5 and closed out the set on an ace from Seiler Hruska.

SC’s misfortunes continued in the second set. The Cougars briefly held the lead early in the set, but then Marquette caught fire. The Redettes exploded on a 11-0 run to go up 19-4 including three aces from Roxy Nelson and they easily took the set.

The Cougars did a little better job keeping pace with Marquette in the third set, but once again, the Redettes built up a double-digit lead and didn’t look back. Hruska had three aces in the set and Marquette ended the match with a kill by Nelson.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.