(MARQUETTE COMMUNICATIONS) MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University women’s volleyball team begins its 20th season of BIG EAST Conference play on Friday evening against UConn prior to matches on Sunday against Providence and Tuesday at No. 6 Creighton.
The Golden Eagles welcome the undefeated Huskies to the Al McGuire Center at 7 p.m. Central time on Friday and Providence at 1 p.m. Sunday over the University’s Family Weekend. Both matches air live on FloSports with Bob Brainerd on the call.
The first 100 MU students at Friday’s match against UConn will receive free Shake Shack burgers, courtesy of Milwaukee’s Third Ward location.
Tuesday’s match at Creighton is set for 6 p.m. CT on FS1 and will be called by Noah Reed and Anna Connelly.
Live statistics for all upcoming matches are available through GoMarquette.com.
MARQUETTE (4-5)
- The Golden Eagles head into conference play with the seventh-toughest strength of schedule in the country according to the NCAA Division I Massey Ratings. Creighton slots in one spot behind MU at No. 8.
- Eight of MU’s nine nonconference matches so far this fall have come against squads that competed in the 2023 NCAA tournament.
- Setter Yadhira Anchante posted her 2,500th career assist in Sunday’s match at No. 1 Pitt and sits second in the BIG EAST with an average of 10.30 assists per frame. Anchante has also notched a team-best six double doubles this season and had a streak of six consecutive matches with the mark snapped against the Panthers.
- Prior to the Saturday, Sept. 14 win over then-No. 24 Dayton, MU’s last win over a ranked foe was a sweep of then-No. 15 Creighton on Oct. 6, 2023. MU is 1-4 against ranked opponents this season.
- Outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton leads the Golden Eagles with 3.06 kills per set, while fellow outside Jenna Reitsma has posted 2.36 kills per set and a hitting percentage of .211 with 12 aces, 2.91 digs per set and 10 blocks.
- The Golden Eagles raised their hitting percentage last weekend against ECU and Pitt and are hitting .233 (451-162-1243) in 2024.
- Sophomore Molly Berezowitz has served as MU’s libero in all nine matches and leads the squad with 111 digs for an average of 3.36 per frame. Anchante sits behind her with a career-best 3.24 digs per set.
BIG EAST PLAY BEGINS
- The 2024 campaign is MU’s 20th in the BIG EAST Conference and 50th overall.
- The Golden Eagles are 14-5 all-time in BIG EAST lid-lifters since their inaugural league season in 2005 and are 8-1 when those matches are played at the Al McGuire Center.
- Marquette has won at a 75.3 percent clip (223-73) since joining the league and is 138-29 (.826) in BIG EAST matches under head coach Ryan Theis.
- MU is 99-14 (.876) in BIG EAST play over the last seven seasons (2017-23) under Theis, including consecutive regular season league titles in 2021 (16-2), 2022 (17-1) and 2023 (16-2).
- 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. Anchante and middle blockers Bray and Carsen Murray also received preseason recognition.
- Marquette is a three-time reigning BIG EAST regular season champion, has won four league titles overall (2013, 2021, 2022, 2023) 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).
UCONN (12-0)
- The Huskies enter conference play as just one of six undefeated teams in NCAA Division I.
- UConn has a league-best 102 service aces this season and holds opponents to a hitting mark of just .149, the lowest in the conference.
- The squad is led by Emma Werkmeister’s 3.95 kills per set on a hitting mark of .266. Taylor Pannell also has over 100 total kills and is hitting .366 with 2.86 kills per frame.
- Werkmeister leads the BIG EAST in both points (213.0) and service aces per set (0.79).
- UConn is led by sixth-year head coach Ellen Herman-Kimball, who played under MU head coach Ryan Theis at Ohio.
- Current MU assistant Abby Gilleland is in her third year at Marquette after serving three seasons under Herman-Kimball in Storrs. UConn assistant Peter Netisingha replaced Gilleland for the Huskies and served as a volunteer assistant coach at MU during the 2021 campaign.
SERIES HISTORY WITH UCONN:
- Marquette is 14-3 all-time against UConn and the Golden Eagles have won the last 11 matchups in the series, including a sweep of the Huskies in last season’s meeting in Milwaukee on Oct. 28. 2023.
- MU has beaten UConn eight times since the Huskies rejoined the BIG EAST for the 2021 campaign. Two of those meetings have come in the BIG EAST tournament semifinals.
PROVIDENCE (7-4)
- Shaliyah Rhoden leads PC with 120 kills (2.73 per set), while Lyric Berry has 73 (1.70 per set).
- Rhoden is hitting just .194 on the year for the Friars, who are hitting a combined .208.
- Middle hitter Kayla Grant leads the team with 46 total blocks this season (1.07 per set) and leads the league with a hitting mark of .448.
- PC’s four nonconference losses have all come in four sets, including a defeat to Iowa in the season opener on Aug. 31.
- Head coach Margot Royer-Johnson is in her 25th season at Providence.
SERIES HISTORY WITH PC:
- The Golden Eagles are a perfect 19-0 all-time against Providence and have won the last 56 sets against the Friars (57 of 59 overall). PC’s only set victories came in the second and third frames of a 3-2 MU win in the first meeting between the two on Sept. 10, 1999.
- MU is 12-0 against PC in Milwaukee.
No. 6 CREIGHTON (9-2)
- Creighton is ranked sixth in the latest AVCA Coaches’ Poll, its best ranking since early in the 2017 campaign.
- CU has posted one of its best starts in program history with a win over then-No. 20 USC on Sept. 5 and triumphs last weekend in Lawrence, Kansas over then-No. 6 Purdue and then-No. 10 Kansas. The lone defeats for the Jays this season came in five sets to a pair of top-five teams on the road at then-No. 5 Nebraska and then-No. 4 Louisville.
- Creighton is MU’s travel partner this season in the league’s reconfigured conference slate and hosts both UConn and PC before welcoming MU on Tuesday.
- The Bluejays lead the conference and rank in the top 25 nationally in four statistical categories: hitting percentage (25th; .271), kills per set (17th; 14.05), assists per set (16th; 13.13) and blocks per set (19th; 2.74).
- Reigning BIG EAST Player of the Year Kendra Wait notched her 4,000th career assist last weekend and ranks 11th nationally with 10.90 assists per set. Outside hitters Norah Sis and Ava Martin lead CU offensively with 3.95 and 3.31 kills per set, respectively, while middle blocker Kiara Reinhardt of Cedarburg, Wisconsin has posted a BIG EAST-best 55 total blocks through 39 sets.
- CU returned four starters from last year’s squad which went 29-5 and shared BIG EAST regular season title honors with MU. The Jays also won the league’s postseason tournament over St. John’s at the Al McGuire Center.
- Kirsten Berthal Booth is in her 22nd season as head coach of the Bluejays.
SERIES HISTORY WITH CU:
- Marquette is 7-27 all-time against the Bluejays with all but five of those meetings coming after CU joined the BIG EAST for the 2013 campaign.
- The two squads have split the two regular season matches in each of the last two seasons and each team won both matches on its home court.
- Outside of the St. John’s surprise run to the BIG EAST tournament title in 2019, only MU and Creighton have won league titles since the conference reformed in 2013.
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