No. 12 MU Travels to Villanova and Georgetown

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette women's volleyball team will be back on the road this weekend, taking on Villanova on Friday, October 18^th before heading to our nation's capital to take on Georgetown on Saturday. The 12^th ranked Golden Eagles are looking for a bounce-back victory after dropping a competitive 3-2 loss to No. 11 Creighton. In their first six BIG EAST matches, the squad has outscored their opponents 17-4 in sets.

Friday's contest will begin at 6 p.m. CT and will be available for viewing on Villanova's all-access website for a fee. Saturday's game is slotted for a 4 p.m. CT start and will also stream for a fee. Both matches will feature live stats.

Marquette owns a 15-3 record overall and is 5-1 in BIG EAST play, second in the conference. Senior Allie Barber continues to lead the team and the BIG EAST offensively with 4.60 kills per set, which ranks 12^th in the NCAA.

WATCH LIVE/FOLLOW THE ACTION:
Video – (Villanova) https://villanova.com/watch/?Live=138&type=Live (paid)
              (Georgetown) http://www.guhoyas.com/showcase?Live=140 (paid)

Live Stats – (Villanova) http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=271154
                    (Georgetown) http://statb.us/b/265605

OPPONENTS

VILLANOVA (13-5, 4-2): The Wildcats earned a 3-1 victory over Seton Hall on Wednesday night and currently sits in a tie for third place in the league standings with Butler. Mallory Potts leads Villanova with 2.96 kills per set and is hitting at a .314 clip, which is sixth in the BIG EAST. VU spreads its attack evenly with four other players averaging over 2.00 kills per set. The Wildcats lead the league with a .276 combined hitting percentage.

The Golden Eagles own a 16-4 overall record against Villanova, including winning three straight matches.

GEORGETOWN (11-9, 1-5): Georgetown dropped a four-set contest to St. John's on Wednesday evening and have just one win in league play, a five-set victory at Providence. Iva Vujosevic leads the Hoyas with 3.67 kills per set, which is third in the BIG EAST and leads the league with 0.49 service aces. Georgetown leads the BIG EAST with 1.66 service aces per set and is holding opponents to just a .163 hitting percentage.

Marquette is 17-4 all-time in the series against Georgetown. The Golden Eagles have not lost to the Hoyas since the 2010 season.

WHAT THE TEAM IS SAYING:
"It has been nice to play at home for the past three to four weeks. We've had some battles and tried to prepare accordingly. Both Villanova and Georgetown are capable of scoring points so we will have to get some defensive stops if we want to win out East."
-Ryan Theis, head coach

STORYLINES:

HISTORIC START: At 15-3 overall Marquette has matched its record through the first 18 contests with the 2012 squad. The three losses have come to current No. 1 Baylor, No. 18 Illinois, and No. 11 Creighton.
AVCA POLL: The Golden Eagles came in at No. 12 this week in the AVCA Coaches' Poll after they entered the poll ranked No. 16 in the preseason. This marks the 22^nd consecutive week that Marquette has been ranked, dating back to Sept. 3, 2018.
BIG EAST WEEKLY AWARDS: Marquette has earned multiple weekly accolades this season.

Oct. 15: Allie Barber (BIG EAST Honor Roll); Oct. 1: Allie Barber (Offensive Player of the Week) and Hope Werch (Honor Roll); Sept. 24: Allie Barber and Martha Konovodoff (Honor Roll); Sept. 16: Allie Barber (Offensive Player of the Week); Sept. 9: Hope Werch (Honor Roll); Sept. 3: Kaitlyn Lines (Offensive Player of the Week).

BARBER NAMED SENIOR CLASS CANDIDATE: Senior Allie Barber was selected as one of 30 candidates for the 2019 Volleyball Senior CLASS Award. Midway through the season 10 finalists will be selected and go on to the national ballot.
RPI WATCH: Marquette ranks at No. 14 in this week's RPI rankings. Friday's opponent Villanova is No. 74 on the list and Saturday's opponent Georgetown clocks in at No. 230. Creighton (No. 10) and St. John's (No. 88) are the other league schools in the top-100.
NATIONAL SCENE: The 6-2 offense has worked for the Golden Eagles as the squad is tied for first in the NCAA with 14.03 assists per set. Setters Lauren Speckman and Sarah Rose are handing out 6.92 assists and 5.02 assists per set, respectively, with Speckman ranking eighth in the BIG EAST.

Marquette is sixth in the NCAA in kills per set with 14.65, led by Allie Barber at 4.60 per set, which leads the BIG EAST and ranks 12^th in the NCAA. The Golden Eagles are allowing just 11.91 kills per set from opponents.

EXCLUSIVE COMPANY: Barber is one of just five players in the NCAA that average 4.60 kills per set, while also hitting at a .299 clip or above.

            Jordan Thompson, Cincinnati: 6.20 kills/set, .359 hitting percentage
            Yossiana Pressley, Baylor: 5.86 kills/set, .326 hitting percentage
            Chichi Kwuazom, Columbia: 5.64 kills/set, .454 hitting percentage
            Kylie Kuyava-Deberg, Missouri: 5.15 kills/set, .325 hitting percentage
            Allie Barber, Marquette: 4.60 kills/set, .299 hitting percentage

CLIMBING THE RANKS: Allie Barber currently ranks third all-time on Marquette's kill list. At 1,615 career kills, she is just 119 kills away from becoming the all-time kills leader.
TOP-10 VICTORIES: The Golden Eagles have four top-10 wins in program history and have earned two top-15 road wins this season. MU defeated then- No. 4 Wisconsin on Sept. 5 for the first time in program history, which marked the highest-ranked team that Marquette has ever defeated. The squad also topped then- No. 13 BYU on Aug. 31. The Golden Eagles' other top-10 wins came in a 3-2 victory over No. 7 Florida in 2014 and a 3-1 win at No. 7 USC in the 2016 opener.
THEIS STATS: Head coach Ryan Theis is in his sixth season at the helm of the Golden Eagles and owns a 278-104 career record with a 133-49 mark at Marquette.
Theis is the 17^th winningest coach in Division I with a .728 percentage through 11 seasons as a head coach. He has never had a season with fewer than 21 wins and the 28 victories for Marquette in 2018 was a career best in victories for Theis as head coach.
Marquette is 24-20 in season openers and 6-0 in the Ryan Theis era.
BIG EAST OPENERS: The Golden Eagles opened their 15^th season of BIG EAST competition on Sept. 25 and own an 10-5 record in league lidlifters, including a 4-2 mark under Ryan Theis.
OTHER NOTABLES:
The Golden Eagles were picked to win the BIG EAST in the 2019 preseason coaches' poll, earning eight first-place votes, which is the second consecutive season that Marquette was selected first in preseason.
Marquette played a tough non-conference schedule and faced four ranked opponents and two that are receiving votes in the AVCA preseason coaches' poll beginning at No. 9 BYU. MU also travels to No. 4 Wisconsin (Sept. 5), hosts No. 17 Baylor (Sept. 8) and takes on No. 6 Illinois (Sept. 15 at Illinois State). UCF (Sept. 13) and Northern Iowa (Sept. 21) are receiving votes in the poll. BIG EAST foe Creighton is ranked No. 11 in the poll.
Senior Allie Barber was chosen as the BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year for the second straight season, while juniors Hope Werch and Martha Konovodoff were selected to the preseason squad.
Marquette added two transfers and two freshmen to the squad for the 2019 season. Gwyn Jones joins the Golden Eagles as a senior from Auburn, while Kaitlyn (KJ) Lines is a junior transferring from Pacific. Claire Nuessmeier (St. Peter, Minn.) and Hannah Vanden Berg (Little Chute, Wis.) round out the squad as freshmen.

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