No. 8 MU Hosts Hyatt Regency Marquette Invitational

MILWAUKEE – The eighth-ranked Marquette volleyball team returns to Milwaukee to host the Hyatt Regency Marquette Invitational beginning Friday, Sept. 20. The home tournament kicks off six consecutive home matches for the Golden Eagles and a stretch of eight of the next nine at the Al McGuire Center.

The tournament's slate consists of St. Louis, Northern Iowa and Green Bay and will wrap non-conference play for the Golden Eagles. MU defeated St. Louis and Northern Iowa in 2018 and will take on in-state foe, Green Bay for the first time since 2014.

Senior Allie Barber was named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week this week and leads Marquette with 4.67 kills per set, also leading the league. She tallied over 20 kills in each of Marquette's matches last weekend, including a season-best 27 kills in a win over UCF.

Junior libero Martha Konovodoff collected a career-high 36 digs against UCF and was named the MVP of the Redbird Classic, while Barber and junior Hope Werch earned all-tournament honors.

WHERE TO WATCH/FOLLOW THE ACTION
VIDEO:
Green Bay https://bit.ly/2mfYLl2
St. Louis https://bit.ly/2kkBRbL
Northern Iowa https://bit.ly/2mfZgeU

LIVE STATS:
All Matches https://bit.ly/2wOtgjz

PROMOS
Friday: Ring out Ahoya Shirt giveaway to the first 300 students
Saturday vs. St. Louis: Free donuts to the first 100 students
vs. Northern Iowa: Team Roster Night

OPPONENTS

ST. LOUIS (6-4): The Billiken dropped a mid-week match to Southeast Missouri in a 3-2 battle, but went 2-1 at the Billiken Invitational. Leading the team in kills is junior Maya Taylor with 4.36 per set and a hitting percentage of .256. Junior Kennedy Cordia is dishing out 9.82 assists per set, while Sien Gallop leads in digs with 3.24 per set. Taylor has earned A-10 Offensive Player of the Week honor twice this season, including this week.

This marks the 35^th meeting between the two programs with SLU owning a 20-14 advantage all-time. MU picked up a 3-0 sweep last season in St. Louis.

NORTHERN IOWA (4-7): The Panthers went 2-2 at the Missou Invitational, which snapped a four-match losing streak. UNI returns five starters, including first team All-MVC selections Rachel Koop and Karlie Taylor. Taylor leads the squad with 4.79 kills per set, while three other players average over two kills per set. Koop is handing out 10.00 assists, while also collecting 2.57 digs.

MU is 3-4 overall against UNI, picking up a 3-1 win in October of 2018.

GREEN BAY (7-2): The Phoenix are 7-2 overall and 4-0 at home. Leading in kills is junior Taylor Wolf with 123 kills with a hitting percentage of .294, leading in assists is senior Maddie Yoss with 285 averaging 10.18 on the season. The Phoenix reached the NCAA Tournament a year ago.

MU is 30-9 on the all-time series against UW-Green Bay.

WHAT THE TEAM IS SAYING:
"I'm really proud of what this group has achieved in the first nine matches. This weekend is about following through and completing the best preseason Marquette has ever had. We have to finish strong and close this chapter of the season. Next week we will start phase two- BIG EAST play."

-Ryan Theis, head coach

STORYLINES:

At 7-2 overall Marquette is off to its best start since 2012 when the Golden Eagles won 7 of their first 8 matches.
The Golden Eagles remain in the top-10 this week, checking in at No. 8 in the week three of the AVCA Coaches' Poll. Marquette entered the poll ranked No. 16 in the preseason.
Marquette has had a player receive BIG EAST honors every week since Sept. 3. This week Allie Barber was named Offensive Player of the Week after leading the conference with 4.87 kills per set and coming in second with 4.93 points per set. She also tallied 46 kills between her matches with Illinois and Illinois State. The week of Sept. 9, Hope Werch was named to BIG EAST honor roll and junior Kaitlyn Lines was named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 2.
Nationally, Marquette ranks third dishing out14.42 assists per set, which leads the BIG EAST, also leading in kills per set at 15.00, ranking sixth in the NCAA.
Allie Barber ranks 24^th with 4.67 kills per set, which leads the BIG EAST.
The Golden Eagles defeated then- No. 4 Wisconsin on Sept. 5 for the first time in program history, which marked the highest-ranked team that Marquette has defeated. MU 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.
The 2019 season marks the first time MU has toppled two top-10 programs and in consecutive matches, and the fourth top-10 program defeated in history, all wins coming on the road.
Head coach Ryan Theis is in his sixth season at the helm of the Golden Eagles and owns a 270-103 career record with a 125-48 mark at Marquette.
Theis is the 17^th winningest coach in Division I with a .723 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.
For the first time in program history the Golden Eagles will begin the season ranked, checking in at No. 16 in the AVCA preseason coaches poll. Marquette spent every week last season ranked or receiving votes in the poll, finishing with a program-best No. 15 ranking in the final poll of the year.
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 plays a tough non-conference schedule and will face 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. Currently, BIG EAST foe Creighton is ranked No. 23 in the poll. The Golden Eagles will have their first chance to knock off the reigning league champions on Saturday, Oct. 12 in Milwaukee.
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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