Texas rallies past Marquette in five

Abby Vander Wal perpares to servce at the AVCA First Serve

Texas outlasted Marquette 3-2 (25-22, 19-25, 16-25, 25-23, 15-8) on Monday night at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.

Hitting efficiency told the story. Texas closed at .258 as a team compared to Marquette's .104, a gap that showed up most in the decider, where the Golden Eagles' offense had also gone negative in the second set. Texas won the ace battle 10-3 as well, a difference that mattered in tight moments. Blocking and digs were close to even (Marquette 12 blocks to Texas' 11, both teams tied at 59 digs), but Texas' clean side-out numbers proved decisive.

Torrey Stafford led all players with 19 kills and added 12 digs for Texas, while Cari Spears backed her up with 17 kills and four aces. For Marquette, Carson Tyler paced the offense with 18 kills, and Luanna Markus ran the show with 35 assists to go with 11 digs and six block assists.

The win moves Texas to 1-1 on the young season, while Marquette drops to 0-1.