No. 20 Marquette Hosts Georgetown and Villanova this Weekend

MILWAUKEE – The No. 20 ranked Marquette University volleyball team returns home for a pair of BIG EAST matches this weekend, hosting Georgetown on Friday, Sept. 28 before taking on Villanova on Saturday, Sept. 29.

First serve is slated for 7 p.m. CT and 6 p.m. CT, respectively, at the Al McGuire Center.

The Golden Eagles opened BIG EAST play on the road last weekend going 1-1 with a win at Providence and a loss at No. 10 Creighton. The match at Creighton was the first between two ranked BIG EAST teams since the 2005 season.

Both matches will stream live and for free at GoMarquette.com and will be produced by the Marquette Wire.

WHERE TO WATCH/FOLLOW THE ACTION
WATCH LIVE: All Matches: https://gomarquette.com/watch/?Live=20&type=Live

LIVE STATS: All Matches: https://gomarquette.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary

PROMOS
FRIDAY vs. Georgetown- Join us for family weekend. Marquette parents can get discounted tickets by using the promo code located in the Marquette guide book.

SATURDAY vs. Villanova- Family weekend continues with parent discounted tickets and the first 150 students in attendance will receive free Qdoba.

OPPONENTS

GEORGETOWN (10-5, 3-0): Next to Creighton, the Hoyas begin this week as one of only two teams to start unbeaten and are the hottest team in the conference with a six-match winning streak to open BIG EAST play at 3-0, including a win over Seton Hall on Wednesday. Iva Vujosevic, the outside hitter from Bar, Montenegro was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on September 25. The junior averaged 3.80 kills and 4.50 points per set in five-set wins over St. John's and Villanova last weekend. She recorded consecutive double-doubles in each match with 16 kills and 13 digs against the Red Storm, then 22 kills and 19 digs versus the Wildcats.

Marquette won both meetings in 2017 and owns a 15-4 record all-time against the Hoyas.

VILLANOVA (9-6, 2-1): Villanova earned its second league victory with a five-set win over St. John's on Tuesday night. Villanova's freshman, Clare Delaplane, was tabbed BIG EAST Freshman of the Week on September 25 after she averaged 4.00 kills and 2.33 digs per set over the weekend, recording a season-high 22 kills in a win versus Seton Hall. The Wildcats' libero Reagan Lough was named to the weekly honor roll. Lough leads the conference and is ranked 15^th in the NCAA with 5.56 digs per set.

Marquette split the season series with the Wildcats last season with each team winning on its home court. The Golden Eagles are 14-4 all-time against 'Nova.

WHAT THE TEAM IS SAYING:
After the Creighton loss…
"I thought that might be the best serving team we have seen all year and we also served relatively well, but their passers handled it." They were really good at bettering the ball and took aggressive swings today. We created bad passes from them, but they generated too many quality swings. We need to get better defensively and find a couple more points in order to get them when they come to our place next month."

- Ryan Theis (Head Coach)

STORYLINES:

• Marquette moved up one spot to No. 20 in this week's AVCA Coaches Poll, setting a new highest-ever 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.

• Junior Allie Barber was named to the BIG EAST weekly honor roll after leading Marquette to a 1-1 record to open BIG EAST play. Barber led the league with 5.33 kills per set at Providence and No. 10 Creighton.

• Redshirt senior Jenna Rosenthal is now Marquette's all-time leader in total blocks with 463. She tops the record set by Meghan Niemann (2013-2016).

• Rosenthal also looks to become the all-time leaders in assisted blocks this weekend and is currently tied with Niemann with 412.

• The Golden Eagles entered their 14th season of BIG EAST competition last weekend and own an 9-5 record in league lidlifters, including a 3-2 mark under head coach Ryan Theis.

• Theis picked up his 100th Marquette victory in a 3-0 sweep over Illinois State on Sunday. 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.

• Marquette leads the BIG EAST and ranks 10th in the NCAA with 13.49 assists per game as junior Lauren Speckman and sophomore Sarah Rose have teamed up for setting duties this season. Speckman is handing out 7.22 assists per set, while Rose tallies 4.77 per contest.

• The Golden Eagles also lead the league in kills and rank 11th nationally with 14.36 per contest, paced by 4.51 per frame from Barber, which leads the BIG EAST and ranks 16th in the NCAA.

• Junior Allie Barber and redshirt senior Jenna Rosenthal boast stellar hitting percentages at .336 and .319, respectively through the 14 games of the season, helping propel the Golden Eagles to a .254 average combined, which is tops in the league.

• Marquette has had a player record a double-double on eight occasions this season.Speckman and sophomore Sarah Rose have three, while senior Anna Haak has tallied two.Hope Werch has recorded one double-double.

• This is the 43rd season of Marquette volleyball and the program is 753-694-5 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.