Volleyball begins season Friday with three matches in Hawaii

Match Notes (PDF)

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University women's volleyball team begins its 2021 season in the Rainbow Wahine Classic on Aug. 27-29 in Honolulu at SimpliFiArena at Stan Sheriff Center against Texas A&M, Hawai'i and Fairfield.

The Golden Eagles open the season on Friday, Aug. 27 at 9:45 p.m. Central time (4:45 p.m. Hawaiian) against Texas A&M, before facing tournament-host Hawai'i at midnight CT (Saturday - 7 p.m. local) on Sunday, Aug. 29. MU's final match on O'ahu pits the Golden Eagles against Fairfield on Sunday at 7:45 p.m. CT (2:45 p.m. local).

The match against Hawai'i will be broadcast live through ESPN+ (Spectrum OC16) and live statistics will be available through StatBroadcast for all three MU contests. Fans are not currently allowed at any University of Hawai'i athletic events.

The Golden Eagles are coming off a spring season in which they went 10-4 overall, 4-2 in BIG EAST Conference regular season action, and finished as league runner-up in the conference tournament. Marquette returns all six starters and its libero from last year, including All-BIG EAST Preseason Team selections Taylor Wolf and Savannah Rennie.

Wolf and Rennie, each grad transfers last season from Green Bay and Cal, respectively, earned AVCA All-Region recognition last year and were joined on the All-BIG EAST Team by outside hitter Hope Werch. Werch is returning for her fifth season in Blue & Gold this fall and is 49 kills from becoming the 13th Marquette player to reach 1,000 in her career.

Wolf led the Golden Eagles in the spring with 144 kills (2.82 per set), while also averaging 5.02 assists, 3.06 digs and 0.63 blocks per set. Competing as both a right-side hitter and setter, she posted six triple-doubles in 14 matches. Rennie led Marquette up front by averaging a team-best 1.00 blocks per set, while hitting .312 with 2.12 kills per frame.

The Golden Eagles are in their eighth season under head coach Ryan Theis and look to return to the NCAA tournament this fall after the field was narrowed to 48 teams in the spring of 2021 due to the truncated college volleyball season.

TEXAS A&M: Marquette's Friday opponent, Texas A&M, posted a 9-9 record against an all-SEC schedule in 2020-21 and was led by 133 kills (3.59 per set) from Kansas-transfer Morgan Christon. The Aggies return five starters and 13 total players from last year, including fifth-year senior setter Camille Conner. A&M added six newcomers during the offseason with two transfers in junior outside hitter Destiny Cox from North Carolina and fifth-year libero Macy Carrabine from Denver.

SERIES WITH A&M: The Golden Eagles and Aggies have met just once all-time, a sweep by the Aggies on Aug. 29, 2003 in Durham, North Carolina.

HAWAI'I: The Rainbow Wahine were one of 23 NCAA Division I programs to not compete during the 2020-21 academic year, but were selected as 2021 favorites in the West Coast Conference with seven of 11 first-place votes. Hawai'i returns three All-Big West performers from 2019 in Amber Igiede, Skyler Williams and Brooke Van Sickle and is led by fifth-year head coach and three-time Olympian Robyn Ah Mow. The Wahine open the 2021 campaign against Fairfield on Friday, Aug. 27 before playing the Golden Eagles.

SERIES WITH HAWAI'I: Marquette claimed the only meeting in program history against the Rainbow Wahine, a five-set victory on Aug. 25, 2017 at the Stan Sheriff Center. Werch, then a freshman for the Golden Eagles, posted 12 kills, five digs and three blocks in her NCAA debut.

FAIRFIELD: The Stags went 9-1 in the spring of 2021 against an all-MAAC schedule and won their first nine matches of the year before a five-set defeat at Quinnipiac to end the regular season. After earning a split of the MAAC regular season crown, Fairfield was forced to withdraw from the MAAC Championship after a COVID-19 positive test within the program. The Stags return five of their top-six point scorers from the spring as well as three-time MAAC Setter of the Year Manuela Nicolini. Fairfield plays Hawai'i in its season opener on Friday and Texas A&M on Saturday before facing Marquette.

SERIES WITH FAIRFIELD: The Golden Eagles and Stags will meet each other for the first time on Sunday afternoon.

Keep up with the Marquette University women's volleyball program through social media by following on Twitter (@MarquetteVB) and Instagram (@MarquetteVB) and 'liking' on Facebook (/MarquetteVolleyball).