Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall senior defensive specialist Makia Radtke reacts to a point during the Tigers' Big South Conference match against St. Peter on Tuesday.

MARSHALL — Early runs helped the top-ranked Marshall volleyball team set the tone in its Big South Conference match against St. Peter on Tuesday. The Tigers started each of the night’s first two sets with at least 6 unanswered points, and overcame some early defensive miscommunications to come from behind in the third and claim its 11th sweep in 12 matches this year.

The Tigers cruised to victory in the first two sets, 25-10 and 25-6. St. Peter led by as many as 4 points in the third, but the Tigers once again regained their rhythm and pulled away for a 25-15 win.

“We knew we needed to get it done right away, so we just came out with that mindset,” Marshall senior outside hitter Halle DeVos said. “We have really good team chemistry and just push each other every day in practice, getting 1% better every single day [allows us to reach this level of consistency].”

Tuesday’s match was its first since picking up a series of big wins at the Southwest Challenge over the weekend, which Marshall won for the first time since 2009 after beating then-Class 4A No. 1 Lakeville South, No. 2 Chanhassen and No. 8 Prior Lake. One of the concerns for Marshall heading into the match was avoiding a letdown in its only competition this week, head coach Dan Westby said, and those concerns prompted the Tigers to come out particularly strong in the opening sets.

Reese Drake’s success at the service line helped kickstart Marshall’s rhythm in the match. The Tigers opened the first game on a 7-0 run, with Drake serving up a pair of aces as the Tigers built up an early cushion.

Drake had a big day from the service line, going 16 of 16 with six aces, while Avery Fahl, Kezlyn Pinckney and Brooke Gillingham each added another. Drake also paced Marshall with 14 kills, followed by Avery and Julia Fahl with 11 and seven, respectively.

St. Peter briefly kept things even from there until, leading 12-5, the Tigers snapped back into form, closing out the set on a 13-5 run to go up 1-0 in the match.

Game 2 started just the same as game 1, with Marshall opening on a 6-0 run with Gillingham at the service line. St. Peter got its first point after calling a timeout, but the Tigers only got stronger from there as they rattled off a 12-1 run before the Saints called their second timeout.

Coming out of the huddle with an 18-2 lead, the Tigers started to work more players into the lineup who hadn’t played in the first set. Marshall continued to excel as it tested its depth, claiming a 25-6 win.

“It’s homecoming week, so we felt it was important to let those seniors play as much as possible,” Westby said. “Those kids have worked hard and they deserve that opportunity, so we were happy we were able to get those kids in as much as we did.”

Gillingham finished the match with 20 set assists for the Tigers, followed by 16 from Fahl.

The Saints put up a bit more of a fight heading into the third set, capitalizing on some early miscues issues from the Tigers to take their first lead of the night at 7-3.

Westby attributed the Tigers’ third-set struggles to unforced errors, noting that there was a point that Marshall committed an error on four consecutive points in a variety of ways.

“We shouldn’t be that team. If teams are going to beat us, they should have to beat us, versus us going points away,” Westby said.

A Julia Fahl spike ended a 5-0 run for the Saints, but St. Peter continued to cling on to a 3-point lead to keep the Tigers at bay. Yet, trailing 10-7, kills from Drake and Julia Fahl helped Marshall regain its rhythm, and a kill from Avery Fahl gave Marshall the lead back at 11-10.

St. Peter called a timeout when Drake served up an ace on the next point, but couldn’t find an answer to the Tigers from there. Marshall maintained a multi-point cushion for the remainder of the match, building its lead up to 12 points for a 25-13 win.

Drake tallied a team-leading 10 digs in the match, followed by Kezlyn Pinckney with seven and Avery Fahl and Kyah Pinckney with four each.

Marshall improves to 12-0 on the year with the win and goes on the road to take on Mankato West (3-4) for its next match on Monday at 7:15 p.m.