Sophomore outside hitter Allie Barber was brilliant as usual this weekend, delivering point after crucial point for the Golden Eagles. Everybody else, not so much.
That lack of balance caused Marquette to stumble Saturday night against the Butler Bulldogs (25-20, 18-25, 30-28, 17-25, 11-15), losing a five-set match after sweeping the Xavier Musketeers (25-19, 25-19, 25-23) Friday night.
Even the prelude to Marquette’s match against Butler was fraught with trouble. Despite coming in at 2-7 and on a five-match skid, the Musketeers played the Golden Eagles much closer than expected, especially in the third set. That’s when Xavier took a 20-15 lead on the Golden Eagles after a kill from outside hitter Laura Grossman, who finished the match with 12 of them.