RV Marquette Takes on Three Opponents in St. Louis

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University volleyball team travels to Saint Louis to take part in the 2018 Marcia E. Hamilton Classic this weekend beginning Friday, Aug. 31 against Kansas State at 3:30 p.m. Central time.

The Golden Eagles will then face Western Kentucky at 10 a.m. CT on Saturday before concluding the tournament against the host, Saint Louis at the Chaifetz Arena at 7 p.m. CT.

Marquette is coming off a great opening weekend in Texas, where they swept both Texas State and RV LSU before dropping a 3-1 decision to No. 16 Baylor. Lauren Speckman earned the Best Setter award for handing out 7.90 assists through the match, while Martha Konovodoff was named best defensive player of the tournament.

WHERE TO WATCH/FOLLOW THE ACTION
LIVE STATS: vs. Kansas State (http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=226305)
vs. Western Kentucky (http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=226306)
at Saint Louis (http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=226294)
WATCH: SLU Match Only (http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3679b612-2fea-4199-b9fd-d8d4c500efbf/western-kentucky-vs-saint-louis?DB_OEM_ID=27200)
ESPN+ Video Stream Info: http://www.atlantic10.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=31600&ATCLID=211768096&DB_OEM_ID=31600

OPPONENTS

KANSAS STATE (2-0): K-State beat Hawaii in a back-to-back sweep on August 25 and August 26 (3-0) at the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic after the full tournament was restructured due to the tropical storm that hit Hawaii. Redshirt Senior Kylee Zumach was named the season's first Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week leading the conference in kills per set with 6.17 kills per set. Zumach had 19 kills and 12 digs on Aug. 25, and 18 kills on Aug. 26. Freshman Gloria Mutiri recorded 10 kills on 24 swings with no errors in her second career match on Aug. 26.

Kansas State owns a 1-0 record over Marquette in the series history.

WESTERN KENTUCKY (2-2): Western Kentucky fell to Alabama (0-3, Aug. 24) and the College of Charleston (1-3, Aug. 25), while picking up a win against Missouri State (3-1, Aug. 25) at the College of Charleston Tournament. On Tuesday evening the Lady Toppers swept Belmont and extended their home win streak to 24-consecutive matches, the longest in the nation. Senior All-American Rachel Anderson marked her fourth-straight match with double digit kills, notching 11 in the match against Belmont, leading WKU for the fourth time this season.

The series is matched 1-1 all-time against WKU.

SAINT LOUIS (0-3): The Billikens were swept at the Miami Best Western Sycamore Inn Invitational, losing to Miami (Ohio) (3-0, Aug. 24), Cincinnati (3-0, Aug. 25) and UC Santa Barbara (3-0, Aug. 25). Sophomore Maya Taylor was named to All-Tournament team, with 39 kills, nine digs and two blocks in three matches.
This will be the 37^th meeting between SLU and Marquette with SLU owning a 20-16 advantage in the all-time series.

WHAT THE TEAM IS SAYING:
"In opening weekend, I thought we were pretty good in first swing situations offensively and that we needed to be better in transition and similarly, I thought in defense we were pretty good at stopping first ball, but not as good in transition. So, we need to work on transition and at some point we need to block a ball."
- Ryan Theis (Head Coach)

STORYLINES:

Junior Allie Barber and sophomore Martha Konovodoff have been named BIG EAST Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week, respectively for week one of the season.
The Golden Eagles are receiving votes in week one of the AVCA Coaches Poll and currently sit as the first team outside of the top-25, unofficially No. 26.
Marquette leads the BIG EAST with 15.10 assists per game as junior Lauren Speckman and sophomore Sarah Rose have teamed up for setting duties this season. Speckman is handing out 7.90 assists per set, while Rose tallies 5.80 per contest.
The Golden Eagles also lead the league in kills with 16.20 per contest, paced by 4.20 per frame from Barber, which is the second-best mark in the BIG EAST. Senior Jenna Rosenthal checks in at ninth in the conference with 3.20 kills per set.
This is the 43^rd season of Marquette volleyball and the program is 743-690-5 all-time.
Head coach Ryan Theis begins his fifth season at the helm of the Golden Eagles and is 93-42 at Marquette, needing just seven wins to reach 100 victories leading the Blue and Gold.
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.
Marquette plays a tough non-conference schedule and will face four ranked opponents; No. 8 BYU, No. 9 Wisconsin, No. 10 USC, No. 16 Baylor and two receiving votes; Western Kentucky and LSU. BIG EAST foe Creighton is currently ranked No. 15 and the Golden Eagles will face the Bluejays in the BIG EAST weekend opener on Sept. 23.