No. 19 Marquette Heads East for St. John's and Seton Hall

MILWAUKEE – The No. 19 Marquette women's volleyball team makes an East Coast swing and is looking to expand on five-straight victories, each of which occurred in straight sets, when it takes on St. John's on Friday, Oct. 12 at 4 p.m. CT and Seton Hall, Saturday, Oct. 13 at 6 p.m. CT.

The Golden Eagles (15-4, 6-1 BIG EAST) are coming off a 3-0 sweep over Butler on Wednesday night. Marquette was led by junior Allie Barber with 17 total kills, while senior Anna Haak recorded her third double-double of the season (11 digs, 10 kills).

Redshirt senior Jenna Rosenthal also chipped in nine kills to bring her career total to 992 and is on-pace to eclipse 1,000 career kills this weekend.

The St. John's match will be played at Taffner Fieldhouse due to an event in Carnesecca Arena and will only be audio streamed, while Seton Hall will have live streaming available.

Following the weekend's action, Marquette returns home to host DePaul on Friday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. CT.

WHERE TO WATCH/FOLLOW THE ACTION

LIVE STATS: St. John's: https://redstormsports.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
Seton Hall: https://shupirates.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary

WATCH: Seton Hall: https://shupirates.com/watch/?Live=265&type=Live

OPPONENTS

ST. JOHN'S (15-7, 4-3): The Red Storm most recently fell in straight sets on Sunday at No. 10 Creighton. Rachele Rastelli led the team with 11 kills at a .375 clip while Erica Di Maulo finished with a double-double, tallying 23 assists and 11 digs.

Junior Amanda Sanabia was named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll for the fifth-straight week on Monday for her 21-dig performance at Providence.

Marquette leads St. John's in all-time series victories, 13-5, and defeated the Red Storm in both meetings of the 2017 campaign.

SETON HALL (6-14, 1-6): The Pirates most recently won their first conference match of the year against Providence on Sunday. Eden Dolezal was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week as she led the team in digs in the inaugural BIG EAST win, while Abby Thelen secured a career-high 25 kills and a .291 attack percentage.

Marquette leads Seton Hall in all-time series, 14-4, and collected a pair of wins last season.

WHAT THE TEAM IS SAYING:

On success over Butler…
"We have three matches this week, so we were happy to get out tonight in a 3-0 win, Game one was exceptional, we were able to take away some of the things that Butler likes to do and I thought some people made some really nice stops defensively. It was good to see some of the work we have been doing pay off."

-Ryan Theis
Head Coach

STORYLINES:

Marquette is on a five-game win streak since falling at No. 10 Creighton on Sept. 23. Each win has occurred in straight sets and the most recent victory was against Butler on Wednesday, Oct. 10.
Marquette remained at No. 19 in this week's AVCA Coaches Poll, which is the best ranking in program history. The Golden Eagles entered the AVCA Coaches Poll at No. 25 in week two after being the unofficial 26th team to open the 2018 campaign. MU is ranked for the first time since 2013.

RPI watch…The Golden Eagles own an RPI of 21 in the latest rankings after entering at No. 13. MU's four losses on the season come against No. 2 BYU, No. 9 Wisconsin, No. 19 Baylor and No. 21 Creighton. Creighton is right behind MU at No. 22.
Rosenthal earned her second BIG EAST weekly honor of the season as she was named to the honor roll, the league office announced on Tuesday. The redshirt senior averaged 3.83 kills per set and a league-best .583 hitting percentage.
Marquette redshirt senior Jenna Rosenthal has amassed 992 career kills and is poised to reach the 1,000-kill milestone at some point this weekend. She will be the second Golden Eagle to surpass 1,000 career kills this season after Allie Barber tallied the mark a few weeks ago.
Rosenthal became Marquette's all-time leader in assisted blocks in the match against Georgetown on Sept. 28. She owns 418 career assisted blocks and topped the record of 412 that Meghan Nieman set from 2013-2016. Rosenthal is also Marquette's all-time leader in total blocks with 470 currently having recently broken another of Niemann's records.
Allie Barber reached a milestone of 1,000 career kills against Villanova on Saturday, Sept. 29. The junior now owns 1,029 kills. The all-time leader for the Golden Eagles is Theresa Coughlin with 1,733 total kills from 2002-06.
Head coach Ryan Theis picked up his 100th Marquette victory in a 3-0 sweep over Illinois State on September 15. He is in his fifth season at the helm of the Golden Eagles.
Marquette defeated then-No. 10 USC in its homeopener in a five-set thriller. It was just the third victory over a top-10 opponent in the program's history, but the fourth straight season that MU defeated a ranked opponent.
The Golden Eagles also lead the league and rank sixth in the NCAA with 14.71 kills per contest, paced by 4.53 per frame from Barber, which leads the BIG EAST and ranks 15th in the NCAA.
Rosenthal and Barber boast stellar hitting percentages at .373 and .354, respectively through the 19 games of the season, helping propel the Golden Eagles to a .261 average combined, which is tops in the league and 14^th nationally. Rosenthal's mark is 33^rd in the NCAA.
The Golden Eagles also reign supreme in handing out the ball. Running a 6-2 offense this season, junior Lauren Speckman and sophomore Sarah Rose primarily share setting duties. MU is dishing out 13.69 assists per set, which also leads the BIG EAST and is ninth among NCAA Division I schools. Speckman averages 7.18 assists per contest, while Rose is handing out 4.98.
Marquette has had a player record a double-double on nine occasions this season. Speckman, sophomore Sarah Rose and senior Anna Haak has three. Sophomore Hope Werch has recorded one double-double.
This is the 43^rd season of Marquette volleyball and the program is 755-694-5 all-time.

The Golden Eagles were picked to win the BIG EAST, earning six first-place votes. This is the first time MU has been selected to win the league.
Allie Barber was tabbed as BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year, while Jenna Rosenthal and Hope Werch were selected to the preseason squad.