Volleyball heads to Texas for NCAA Regional

Match Notes (PDF) | Interactive Bracket

MILWAUKEE – The fourth-seeded and No. 16 Marquette University women's volleyball team has advanced to the NCAA regional semifinals for the second time in program history and will face No. 1 Texas on Thursday afternoon in the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship at Gregory Gym in Austin, Texas.

Second-seeded Minnesota and third-seeded Ohio State will meet in the opening match on Thursday at 11 a.m. Central time. MU's match with the top-seeded Longhorns will begin 30 minutes following the conclusion of the first contest. The winners of Thursday's regional semifinal matches will meet on Saturday in the NCAA Regional Final at 5 p.m. CT.

Both of Thursday's matches air live on ESPN2 with Courtney Lyle and Holly McPeak (analyst) on the call, while ESPNU will feature the regional final on Saturday.

Tuesday, Dec. 6 (times Central)
12:30 p.m. – Campus send-off (Al McGuire Center)

Wednesday, Dec. 7
4:45-5 p.m. – Press Conference (Gregory Gym Games Room)

Thursday, Dec. 8 (ESPN2)
11 a.m. – [3] No. 10 Ohio State vs. [2] No. 8 Minnesota
30 mins. following – [4] No. 16 Marquette at [1] No. 1 Texas

Saturday, Dec. 10 (ESPNU)
5 p.m. – Regional Final

No. 16 MARQUETTE (29-3, No. 4 seed):

The Golden Eagles earned their second trip to the regional semifinals with sweeps of Ball State and fifth-seeded No. 13 Georgia Tech in the NCAA First & Second Rounds, respectively.
Marquette hosted NCAA matches for the second time at the Al McGuire Center, and first since 2018 when it swept High Point and Cincinnati en route to its first appearance in the round of 16.
MU won its program-record 29th match on Friday over the Yellow Jackets, marking the first time this season that GT has been swept.
The Golden Eagles were led by 17 kills on .382 hitting from outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton, while MU limited 2021 AVCA First Team All-American Julia Bergmann to .195 hitting with 13 kills. Tech hit just .172 in the loss, its fourth-lowest total of the season, while MU notched seven service aces and 10 total blocks.
The Golden Eagles hit .369 in Thursday's sweep of Ball State and were led by 12 kills from middle hitter Carsen Murray on .478 hitting. Yadhira Anchante, Caroline Dragani and Ella Foti each posted a pair of aces in the win, while MU libero Carly Skrabak added three.
Led by Anchante, the BIG EAST Conference Setter of the Year, Marquette boasts the BIG EAST's top offense and one of the tops nationally.
The Golden Eagles enter the regional semifinals with a .293 hitting percentage and 14.57 kills and 1.81 service aces per set after recording 16 total aces in the two matches last week.
Anchante is joined in the MU lineup by five other All-BIG EAST performers in middle blockers Murray and Hattie Bray, outside hitters Hamilton and Jenna Reitsma, while right-side hitter Foti joined Bray on the BIG EAST All-Freshman Team.
Hamilton led MU with 4.33 kills per set in the opening two rounds on .392 hitting, while also posting 1.83 digs per set, one ace and six blocks. Reitsma also averaged over three kills per frame (3.17), while Anchante averaged 11.67 assists and 3.33 digs per set along with three total aces and five blocks.
On the season, Murray leads MU with a .428 hitting percentage (sixth nationally) and 1.10 blocks per set.
Bray is hitting .354 with 0.75 blocks per set this season and hit a combined .464 (16-3-28) in MU's first and second round matches.

NEW LINEUP, NO PROBLEM:
In total, Marquette lost four starters to graduation from last year's NCAA squad and a fifth, outside hitter Hannah Vanden Berg, spent most of the 2022 season recovering from a severe knee injury sustained in the final weeks of last year.

Consider the following percentages of offense the Golden Eagles returned this year:

32.95% of total kills returning (522/1,584)
7.68% of assists returning (111/1,446)
24.9% of service aces returning (47/189)
33.9% of points returning (686.5/2,026.5)

With Vanden Berg also left out, MU returned just 22.1% of its kills and 23.8% of its total points from 2021.

This season, the Golden Eagles established new program records for victories while earning the top seed in the BIG EAST tournament and a second regular season league title in as many years.

MU knocked off then-No. 11 Kentucky in the season opener and picked up wins over then-No. 25 Illinois and sweeps of then-No. 11 Creighton and No. 13 Georgia Tech. MU's only losses came to reigning-NCAA Champion Wisconsin in four sets at UW Field House and a pair of five-set losses at a nationally ranked Creighton squad.

MARQUETTE NCAA HISTORY: The MU women's volleyball program joined NCAA Division I for the 1986 campaign and made its first appearance in the NCAA tournament in 2011. Since that time, the Golden Eagles have made 11 of the last 12 tournaments, with their lone absence coming in the spring of 2021 due to a reduced field.

In total, MU is 8-10 all-time in NCAA tournament play with six trips to the second round and a pair of trips to the regional semifinals in 2018 and 2022. Entering the matchup with the Longhorns, MU is 0-5 against seeded teams (Overall Nos. 1-through-16). The Golden Eagles knocked off Georgia Tech in the second round on Friday, which entered the weekend ranked 13th in the AVCA Coaches Poll and were the five seed in the region (this is the first year the NCAA has seeded teams regionally).

THEIS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: Twelve of Theis' 15 teams have earned NCAA tournament berths and six have won at least one postseason match. Since taking the reins at Marquette for the 2014 campaign, he's led eight of his nine teams to NCAA competition, including in all eight full seasons, and did so at Ohio in four of his six years.

No. 1 TEXAS (24-1, No. 1 seed):

The matchup with the top-seeded Longhorns will pit two of the top offenses in NCAA Division I against each other.
Texas hits an NCAA-best .343 as a team, led by individual national leader Asjia O'Neal at .467 on 2.25 kills per frame. O'Neal also leads UT with 1.19 blocks, while the Longhorns are led in kills by fifth-year senior Logan Eggleston's 4.21 per frame.
Outside of its lone five-set loss at Iowa State on Oct. 19, Texas has only played in seven other matches to go longer than three sets, including its only five-set win at Kansas on Sept. 21 to start Big 12 play.
Since the loss in Ames to the Cyclones, UT has swept all but two opponents, including its first two NCAA tournament foes Fairleigh Dickinson (25-6, 25-13, 25-13) and Georgia (25-14, 25-16, 25-15).
The only two teams to push the Longhorns to a fourth set since their Oct. 19 loss are Kansas State on Oct. 28 in Manhattan, Kansas and Baylor on Nov. 19 at Gregory Gym.
Inside its home venue, Texas averages nearly 4,300 fans per match and is a perfect 15-0 this season. The Longhorns are the No. 1 national seed for the second time in program history and are among the top-4 national seeds for the 13th time since 2007.

SERIES WITH THE LONGHORNS: Marquette and Texas have never met.

No. 8 MINNESOTA (22-8, No. 2 seed):

Minnesota swept both Southeastern Louisiana and Northern Iowa on Friday and Saturday at Maturi Pavilion in Minneapolis to reach the regional semifinals.
The Gophers hit .262 as a team and are led by 4.37 kills per set from outside hitter Taylor Landfair, while freshman middle Carter Booth is hitting .380 and averaging 2.05 kills along with a team-best 1.47 blocks per set.
Landfair was named the Big Ten Player of the Year, while Booth and junior setter Melani Shaffmaster joined her on the All-Big Ten Team. Landfair led the Big Ten in both kills and points per set and became the ninth Big Ten Player of the Year from Minnesota since 1983.
Minnesota split the two regular season meetings with its Thursday opponent, Ohio State, and fell 3-1 at Texas on Aug. 31 at Gregory Gym.
Earlier this season, U of M's Hugh McCutcheon announced that he would step down as head coach at the conclusion of this, his 11th campaign with the Gophers. Since taking the reins at Minnesota in 2012, McCutcheon has led the Gophers to three NCAA Final Four appearances and 10 trips to the round of 16.

SERIES WITH THE GOLDEN GOPHERS: Marquette is 2-8 all-time against Minnesota and most recently met the Golden Gophers in the second round of the 2015 NCAA tournament in Minneapolis. U of M has won all five meetings against MU as NCAA Division I opponents, including a five-set match on Sept. 18, 2011 at the Al McGuire Center.

No. 10 OHIO STATE (21-9, No. 3 Seed):

The Buckeyes, like the Gophers, went 15-5 in Big Ten play this season and earned sweeps of their first and second round opponents at home in Tennessee State and sixth-seeded USC.
Ohio State ended its regular season with four-straight losses, including three at home to Indiana, Minnesota and then-No. 3 Wisconsin.
OSU is led by Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, libero Kylie Murr, and Big Ten Setter of the Year Mac Podraza. Junior right-side hitter Emily Londot joined Murra and Podraza on the All-Big Ten First Team, while outside hitter Gabby Gonzales and middle Rylee Rader were on the second team. Murra and Podraza led the Big Ten in digs and assists per set, respectively.
Ohio State hosted Texas to start the season on Aug. 26-27 and dropped both matches, the first in a sweep and the second in four frames.
The Buckeyes also split the two regular season matchups with the Gophers.

SERIES WITH THE BUCKEYES: Marquette is 0-2 all-time against Ohio State and dropped the most recent meeting in five sets at the Al McGuire Center on Sept. 13, 2009.

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).