Volleyball continues road swing at Butler and Xavier

Match Notes (PDF)

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University women's volleyball team continues its four-match road swing this weekend with matches at Butler and Xavier on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

The Golden Eagles face Butler on Oct. 20 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in a 5 p.m. Central time matchup that airs live on FloSports. Saturday's contest at Xavier takes place at Cintas Center at 5 p.m. CT and airs on FloSports. Live statistics for both matches will be available through GoMarquette.com.

The Golden Eagles are amid an eight-of-10 match stretch on the road and their lone home matches over the next month are next weekend, Oct. 27-28, against Providence and UConn.

MARQUETTE (11-8, 7-1 BIG EAST)

Outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton leads MU this season with 272 kills (3.83 per set) on .286 hitting and was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Monday for her play in matches at Seton Hall and St. John's. It is the fifth time in as many weeks that Hamilton has earned weekly honors.
The Golden Eagles defeated Seton Hall on Friday before a five-set loss to the Red Storm on Saturday evening in Queens.
MU is currently tied atop the BIG EAST standings with St. John's at 7-1, while No. 15 Creighton and Xavier are each 6-2.
The Golden Eagles are hitting a league-best .290 in conference play and are limiting opponents to .137 through eight matches.
MU leads the BIG EAST in blocks per set (2.59) in conference matches and is third in service aces (1.71) and fifth in digs (15.86).
Marquette has won at a 74.8 percent clip (214-72) since joining the BIG EAST in 2005 and is 129-28 (.822) in BIG EAST matches under head coach Ryan Theis.
MU is 90-13 (.874) in BIG EAST play over the last seven seasons (2017-23) under Theis, including consecutive regular season league titles in 2021 (16-2) and 2022 (17-1).
MU has played one of the nation's 10 toughest nonconference schedules according to the Massey Ratings.
MU has 10 matches this season against teams currently ranked in the AVCA Coaches Poll (No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 7 Pitt, No. 8 Oregon, No. 12 Tennessee, No. 14 Kansas, No. 15 Creighton (twice), No. 16 Dayton, No. 19 Purdue and No. 25 Western Kentucky. MU is eight spots outside of the rankings with 15 total points.

BUTLER (9-10, 3-5 BIG EAST)

The Bulldogs are coming off a week in which they split meetings against Providence and UConn on the road. BU swept PC on Friday, Oct. 13 before falling in four sets at UConn. In addition to the Friars, Butler also owns conference victories over Seton Hall and Villanova.
Butler opened the season with three wins in its home tournament over Kent State, Fresno State and UC San Diego. It also owns non-conference wins over Indiana State, Morehead State and in five sets over Cincinnati in its non-conference finale on Sept. 15.
Two-time BIG EAST Libero of the Year Jaymeson Kinley leads the Bulldogs with 5.09 digs per set on the year, a mark good for second in the conference.
Setter Cora Taylor leads the BIG EAST with 736 assists (10.51 per set) and paces an offense that is second in the league with 13.09 kills per set.
Outside hitter Abby Maesch tops BU with 3.43 kills per set, while Mariah Grunze is right behind her with 3.41 kills. The two rank fifth and sixth, respectively, in the BIG EAST.
Butler is led by first-year head coach Kyle Shondell, who was the 2022 AVCA National Coach of the Year in NAIA men's volleyball at Indiana Tech.

SERIES HISTORY WITH BUTLER:

Marquette is 19-9 all-time against Butler in a series that dates to the 1987 campaign.
Since Butler joined the BIG EAST for the 2013 season, MU is 18-3 against them. All six meetings from 1987-1991 were Butler victories.
MU hit at least .325 in each of last season's two wins over BU.
MU setter Yadhira Anchante recorded her first and only triple-double in NCAA Division I play with 10 kills, 46 assists and 13 digs in the first meeting last season, a 3-1 MU win on Sept. 24.

XAVIER (13-6, 6-2 BIG EAST)

Xavier has won its last three BIG EAST matches after sweeps last weekend over UConn and PC.
Xavier is the only team other than Marquette to have defeated Creighton in league play this season. They topped the Bluejays in five sets at Cintas Center on Sept. 23.
XU was also swept by St. John's at home on Oct. 6.
Outside hitter Emma Grace leads the Musketeers with 2.59 kills per set, while middle blocker Delaney Hogan is right behind her with 2.51 kills per frame.
Hogan leads the squad with a hitting mark of .358, which is second in the BIG EAST behind only MU's Carsen Murray.
Setter Carrigan O'Reilly was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Monday for the third time this season.
Xavier head coach Christy Pfeffenberger is in her ninth season and was honored last fall along with her staff as the BIG EAST Staff of the Year.

SERIES HISTORY WITH XAVIER:

Marquette is 19-9 all-time against Xavier and has won each of the last nine meetings since a loss to the Musketeers in the 2016 BIG EAST semifinals in Indianapolis.
MU is 14-4 against Xavier since the Musketeers entered the BIG EAST for the 2013 campaign.
MU hit .359 with 15 kills from Aubrey Hamilton and 31 digs from Carly Skrabak in the last matchup on Nov. 18 last season at the Al McGuire Center.

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