REVIEW: #6 Creighton Bluejays 3, RV Marquette Volleyball 1

I'm not trying to tell you that Marquette volleyball was close to beating #6 Creighton on Tuesday night on FS1. That doesn't seem to be true.

But I have a feeling Marquette wasn't far away from beating #6 Creighton. The Golden Eagles allowed a few short attacks on the Bluejays in each of the first two sets, and the resulting gap allowed Creighton to hold off Marquette and take a 2-0 lead. It felt like “a great team beating a good team” more than anything. When you look at the Bluejays' shooting percentages in the first two sets, it's easy to say, “Hey, Marquette gave Creighton's offense problems there.” The reason Marquette lost 2-0 is because their offense didn't even kept up with CU's hitting .200 as MU hit .098 in each of the first two frames.

The third frame was different. Creighton hit .281, Marquette just .107 and the Jays led 16-11 midway through the game… and that lead just vanished. The tenacity and loudness needed to beat the No. 6 team in the country showed up at just the right moment as MU reeled off five straight points to flip the set from 22-19 Creighton to 24-22 Marquette, and after a final Jays point, Natalie Ring completed a 25-23 MU win.

Okay, 2-1, still behind the eight ball, need to win #4 to force #5, but hey, something is brewing.

Oh wait, no, that steam isn't coming from Marquette's kitchen, it's coming from Creighton's ears. Apparently losing that set to Marquette, especially the way they did it, really infuriated Creighton. The Bluejays went from 6-2 out of the gate to 13-4, and that was about it. Marquette didn't even score consecutive points until they reached 21-11, and you get the point here.

Marquette is now 6-6 on the year, 2-1 in Big East play and will have to wait until mid-November to get a clean sheet at Creighton in Milwaukee. For now, MU's chances of another Big East title are tied to this contest, although they will need to win every single game between now and then to make that happen.

Next: Only one game this weekend for Marquette as they had that midweek contest. Butler comes to the McGuire Center on Sunday, with first serve at FloSports scheduled for 1 p.m. Central. The Bulldogs are…not good, at 2-12 this year and 0-2 in Big East play after losses to DePaul and Xavier over the weekend. They have won just one set in their last five games and none in their last three.