MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University women’s volleyball team travels to Bowling Green, Kentucky for the Hyatt Place Invitational on Sept. 13-14 against Western Kentucky and No. 24 Dayton at E.A. Diddle Arena.
Friday’s match against WKU airs live on ESPN+ and live statistics for both contests will be available on GoMarquette.com courtesy of WKU.
The Golden Eagles square off against the host Hilltoppers at 11 a.m. Central time on Friday and will face the Flyers at 12:30 p.m. CT on Saturday.
MU continues its season-long five-match road swing next week against No. 8 Wisconsin at the Kohl Center on Tuesday, Sept. 17 in Madison in addition to weekend games in Pittsburgh against East Carolina and No. 1 Pitt.
MARQUETTE (1-3)
- The Golden Eagles sit at 1-3 on the year after home losses last week to then-No. 5 Stanford, then-No. 13 Kansas and Western Michigan. MU opened the season on Aug. 30 with a sweep of Eastern Illinois on the road.
- Outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton leads the Golden Eagles with 3.43 kills and 0.93 blocks per set on a hitting mark of .144, while middle blocker Hattie Bray has posted 2.71 kills per set and a hitting percentage of .400 with 13 blocks.
- The Golden Eagles are hitting .223 (194-71-552) this year against four opponents who all competed in the 2023 NCAA tournament.
- Sophomore Molly Berezowitz has served as MU’s libero in all four matches this season and leads the squad with 52 digs for an average of 3.71 per frame.
- The Golden Eagles are picked to finish second in the BIG EAST Conference preseason coaches’ poll and four MU student-athletes were named to the league’s preseason team, led by Hamilton, a unanimous selection. Setter Yadhira Anchante and middle blockers Bray and Carsen Murray also received preseason recognition.
- Marquette is a three-time reigning BIG EAST regular season champion and made its 12th NCAA tournament appearance in the last 13 seasons last fall (MU’s lone NCAA miss during 2020-21 was due to the tightened tournament field).
WESTERN KENTUCKY (4-3)
- The Hilltoppers are 4-3 after a five-set loss to Tennessee on Tuesday evening in their home opener at Diddle Arena.
- WKU began its season with wins over Morehead State and Northern Kentucky in an event hosted by the University of Kentucky on Aug. 30-31. In addition to a 3-1 loss to the Wildcats, WKU also dropped a 3-1 decision at Michigan State on Sept. 6.
- Outside hitter Kaylee Cox, the 2024 C-USA Preseason Player of the Year, leads the Hilltoppers with 82 kills this season (3.04 per set) and her 2.74 digs per frame mark ranks just behind libero Abby Schaefer’s 2.93 digs per set.
- Kenadee Colye (2.19 kps, .291%) and Aliva Skidmore (2.60, .240%) also average over two kills per frame, while middle blocker Izzy Van De Wiele has notched 41 blocks this season (1.52 per set) and is one of 18 players nationally to average at least 1.50 blocks.
- The Hilltoppers are hitting a combined .255 (333-111-871) through the season’s first seven matches.
- Reigning C-USA Coach of the Year Travis Hudson is in his 30th season in Bowling Green.
SERIES HISTORY WITH WKU:
- Marquette and WKU have split the previous four meetings in program history.
- WKU won last year’s season opener in Dayton, 3-1, as MU middle blocker Carsen Murray missed the game due to injury. Hattie Bray led MU in the loss with 11 kills and MU hit a combined .137 to WKU’s .242.
- Playing against the Hilltoppers holds special significance for MU, which defeated then-No. 24 WKU, 3-1, in the 2011 NCAA First Round at Huff Hall in Champaign, Illinois. That match was MU’s first in NCAA tournament play and the win marked MU’s first ever over a ranked opponent. Former AVCA All-American Ciara Jones led MU with 17 kills in that contest, while fellow outside hitter Ashley Beyer had 15.
No. 24 DAYTON (5-0)
- The Flyers are 5-0 this season and have swept each of their last four matches since a five-set win over Northern Iowa in the season opener on Aug. 30.
- Outside hitter Lexie Almodovar leads UD with 71 kills this season for an average of 4.18 per set. The reigning Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Year has also posted six service aces and six blocks with 2.06 digs per set (35 total).
- The Flyers enter the weekend fifth nationally with a .322 hitting percentage (243-62-562).
- UD is coming off an event across town at Wright State against Bowling Green, UMBC and the host Raiders last weekend in Dayton. Almodovar posted 18 kills and Dayton hit .326 in Sunday’s sweep of UMBC.
SERIES HISTORY WITH UD:
- MU and UD have a long and storied history dating back to the 1978 campaign, which has included a pair of NCAA tournament matchups in recent seasons.
- MU swept Dayton in the first NCAA meeting in 2019 in West Lafayette, Indiana and the Flyers earned a 3-1 win over MU in the 2021 NCAAs at the same location. MU won the first of three-straight BIG EAST regular season titles in 2021 but was playing in the NCAA tournament without both of its starting outside hitters (Hope Werch and Hannah Vanden Berg), who missed the game after sustaining late season-ending injuries.
- MU and UD were conference mates in the North Star, Midwest Collegiate and Great Midwest and played on a yearly basis until Marquette joined Conference USA in 1995.
- Marquette held off the Flyers for a five-set win last season at the Frericks Center in Dayton on Aug. 26, 2023. MU had four players with double-doubles in the contest led by 20 kills from Aubrey Hamilton. The Golden Eagles claimed the first and third sets and went up 14-8 in the fifth. UD stormed back to fend off six MU match points before a 16-14 fifth-set win by the Golden Eagles.
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