Marquette upset No. 11 Kentucky in dramatic fashion – Marquette Wire

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In the air-conditioned University of Kentucky Memorial Stadium, the Marquette Golden Eagles will host No. 11 Kentucky (25-21, 25-22, 18-25, 16-25, 15-12) to open the season on Friday night.

The upset victory extends Marquette’s season-opening winning streak to 11, nine of which have come under head coach Ryan Theis.

Additionally, it’s just the second time the Golden Eagles have defeated the Wildcats in program history.

Marquette started the first set with a 5-2 lead behind 4-0 chances. The Wildcats stormed back to tie the set at 10 before the Golden Eagles responded with another extended run. Sophomore center Hattie Bray had a solo block to force a Kentucky timeout for Marquette’s 17-13 lead.

Kentucky slowed Marquette’s momentum with a 5-1 run to tie the set at 18. Marquette went on to outscore Kentucky 7-3 to close out the set at 25-21. In the set, the Golden Eagles hit .306 while the Wildcats hit .152.

The Wildcats led 18-14 with multiple four-point leads in the second set before the Golden Eagles fought back with consecutive scoring runs. The most important of those runs for Marquette came from the final three points to win the set 25-22. Marquette hit .361 in the set and Kentucky hit .286.

After falling into an early deficit, Kentucky came out hot in the third set to jump out to an 11-6 lead, forcing Theis to call a timeout.

Coming out of the period, the Wildcats continued to keep their foot on the gas as they took their biggest lead of the game, 17-10.

Freshman outside hitter Natalie Ring saw her first action as a Golden Eagle and provided spark with two kills in a 4-0 Marquette shutout.

In the third set, Kentucky slowed Marquette’s offense and took the match 25-18. Kentucky hit Marquette .559 to .355 in the set.

The fourth set opened with a combined six points from mistakes in the first and Kentucky leading 4-2. Soon after, Marquette went on a 4-0 run to take its first lead, 7-5. Kentucky then responded by scoring seven of the next eight points, as Marquette built a big lead to take a 19-10 lead back. The Wildcats forced a fifth set and went on to win 25-16. In the set, Kentucky hit .143 and Marquette hit .031, the lowest of any set in the game.

Entering the final set, Kentucky had zero nine aces to Marquette and Kentucky had 12 service errors to Marquette’s 11. This means that Kentucky had an eight-point advantage from the service line.

Marquette eventually allowed zero aces and had no service errors in the fifth set. The Golden Eagles jumped out to an early lead before Kentucky stormed back with a 4-0 run. Marquette went on a 4-0 run to take a 9-5 lead over the Wildcats.

The Wildcats snuck within one at 12-11 before the Golden Eagles called a timeout. After a timeout, sophomore Yadira Enchante hid one of Kentucky’s blockers as they scrambled to try Bree.

Junior outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton put the nail in the coffin with a kill to close out the upset over Marquette, taking the final set 15-12.

In her first match as a Golden Eagle, Hamilton led the way with 18 kills, seven digs and two total blocks. Sophomore setter Ella Foti was the other player with double-digit kills in her Marquette debut with 12 with nine digs and five assists.

Kentucky was led by senior outside hitter Adana Rollins, who finished with 26 kills and 11 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Erin Lam came off the bench for the Wildcats and finished with 18 kills.

Marquette finished hitting .288 on the night and Kentucky hit .296.

The Golden Eagles (1-0) are back in action Saturday when they play Ohio State in Lexington, Kentucky at 3 pm CST. It airs on ESPN+.

This article was written by Ben Schultz. He can be reached at benjamin.a.schultz@marquette.edu or on Twitter @benschultz52.



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