No. 11 MU Heads to St. John's and Seton Hall

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette women's volleyball team hits the road for the second weekend in a row, taking on St. John's on Friday, October 25 then heading to South Orange to face Seton Hall Saturday, October 26. The Golden Eagles are ranked 11^th and are coming off a two-game winning streak on the road.

Friday's match is slated for 6 p.m. CT and will be available for viewing on the BIG EAST Digital Network via YouTube, Caffeine.tv and Twitter. First serve on Saturday is set for 4 p.m. CT start and will be streamed for free from Seton Hall's all-access website. Both matches will feature live stats.

Overall, Marquette owns a 17-3 record and is 7-1 in BIG EAST play, second in the conference. Continuing to lead the BIG EAST offensively is senior Allie Barber, with 4.62 kills per game. She ranks sixth in the league with a .312 hitting percentage, tied with teammate Hannah Vanden Berg. Junior Hope Werch leads the conference with 0.46 service aces per set as she recorded two aces in each match last weekend. Junior libero Martha Konovodoff is fifth in the BIG EAST with 4.57 digs per set.

WATCH LIVE/FOLLOW THE ACTION:
Video – (St. John's) BIG EAST Digital Network
Twitter: https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1rmxPXREXnqxN
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slAbyPWeHYM
Caffeine: https://www.caffeine.tv/bedn
(Seton Hall) https://shupirates.com/watch/?Live=352&type=Live

Live Stats – (St. John's) https://redstormsports.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
(Seton Hall) https://shupirates.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary

OPPONENTS

ST. JOHN'S (13-8, 5-3): The Red Storm are coming off two road wins against Xavier and Georgetown, placing them in a three-way tie for third with Villanova and Butler. Efrosi Alexakou leads St. John's with 4.10 kills per set, hitting a .247 clip, ranking second in the BIG EAST for kills. Erica DI Maulo ranks third in the BIG EAST averaging 9.82 sets per game. St. John's ranks second in the conference for blocks with a total of 166.0 on the season.

The Golden Eagles are 17-5 all-time in the series against the Red Storm and won the first meeting in Milwaukee, 3-1.

SETON HALL (7-15, 2-6): The Pirates are coming off a three-game losing streak on the road. Losing in three against Xavier and Butler and going 3-1 against Villanova. Leading the Pirates in kills is Haylee Gasser, averaging 2.87 kills per game. Maggie Cvelbar leads in assists per game, averaging 7.79 per game.

Marquette is 16-4 all-time in series against Seton Hall and swept the Pirates in Milwaukee earlier this season.

WHAT THE TEAM IS SAYING:
On St. John's….
"We will have our hands full this weekend. St. John's is playing really good defense right now and has a few point-scoring options. It is tough to score so you can't help them out by making unforced errors."

On Seton Hall…
"We never know what to expect when walking into the Hall. We've had crazy heckling before and they always play hard. Throw in some time in New York City and it should be a fun weekend."
-Ryan Theis, head coach

STORYLINES:

HISTORIC START: At 17-3 overall Marquette has matched its record through the first 20 contests with the 2012 squad. The three losses have come to current No. 1 Baylor, No. 17 Illinois, and No. 10 Creighton.
AVCA POLL: The Golden Eagles move up one spot to No. 11 this week in the AVCA Coaches' Poll after they entered the poll ranked No. 16 in the preseason. This marks the 23rd 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. 22: Allie Barber (BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week); Oct.17: Allie Barber (BIG EAST Honor Roll); 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 move to the national ballot.
RPI WATCH: Marquette moves to No. 13 in this week's RPI rankings after previously being ranked No. 14. Friday's opponent St. John's is ranked in the top-100 coming in at 90 on the list and Saturday's opponent Seton Hall clocks in at 280.
NATIONAL SCENE: The 6-2 offense has worked for the Golden Eagles as the squad is ranked second for assists averaging 13.97 per game. Lauren Speckman is handing out 6.92 assists, ranking eighth in the BIG EAST. Sarah Rose follows with 4.91 assists.

Marquette is seventh in the NCAA in kills per set with 14.61, led by Allie Barber at 4.62 per set, which leads the BIG EAST and ranks 12^th in the NCAA. The Golden Eagles are allowing just 11.72 kills per set from opponents.

EXCLUSIVE COMPANY: Barber is one of just five players in the NCAA that average 4.62 kills per set, while also hitting at a .312 clip or above.
Jordan Thompson, Cincinnati: 6.14 kills/set, .338 hitting percentage
Yossiana Pressley, Baylor: 5.74 kills/set, .317 hitting percentage
Chichi Ikwuazom, Columbia: 5.48 kills/set, .452 hitting percentage
Kylie Kuyava-Deberg, Missouri: 5.05 kills/set, .314 hitting percentage
Allie Barber, Marquette: 4.62 kills/set, .312 hitting percentage
CLIMBING THE RANKS: Allie Barber currently ranks third all-time on Marquette's kill list. At 1,644 career kills, she is just 90 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 280-104 career record with a 135-49 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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