Volleyball heads to East Coast for final road trip

Match Notes (PDF)

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University women's volleyball team plays its final two regular season road matches on Friday at Georgetown and Saturday at Villanova.

Friday's match against the Hoyas is slated for 6 p.m. Central time at McDonough Arena in Washington, D.C., and airs live on HoyaVision through GUHoyas.com. The Golden Eagles will then travel to Philadelphia for a 5 p.m. CT matchup with Villanova at Jake Nevin Field House. The contest against the Wildcats airs live on FloSports with Nick Mantegna on the call.

Live statistics for both matches are available through GoMarquette.com, courtesy of the GU and VU athletic departments.

After this weekend's trip to the East Coast, the Golden Eagles return to the Al McGuire Center for their final weekend of the regular season, during which they will honor the 10th anniversary of the program's first BIG EAST Championship as well as seniors Sarah Kushner and Anastasija Svetnik.

MARQUETTE (16-9, 12-2 BIG EAST)

The Golden Eagles are currently tied atop the BIG EAST Conference standings at 12-2 with Creighton.
Outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton leads MU this season with 339 kills (3.77 per set) on .281 hitting. She's an All-BIG EAST Preseason Team selection and has earned five BIG EAST weekly honors this fall.
Setter Yadhira Anchante returned to the MU lineup on Sunday against Creighton after missing the previous five matches due to illness. Redshirt sophomore Ella Foti switched from her right-side hitter position to play setter during those five contests, all Marquette victories against Butler, Xavier, Providence, UConn and DePaul.
In BIG EAST play, MU is hitting a combined .277 and holding its opponents to a mark of .153. Both percentages rank second in the conference, as do MU's 2.35 blocks and 16.51 digs per set.
Marquette has won at a 75.0 percent clip (219-73) since joining the BIG EAST in 2005 and is 134-29 (.822) in BIG EAST matches under head coach Ryan Theis.
MU is 95-14 (.872) 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 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. 2 Wisconsin, No. 7 Pitt, No. 6 Oregon, No. 10 Tennessee, No. 14 Kansas, No. 15 Creighton (twice), No. 18 Dayton, No. 16 Purdue and No. 23 Western Kentucky.

GEORGETOWN (13-13, 4-10 BIG EAST)

Mary Grace Goyena leads GU with 312 kills on the year (3.18 per set) and is third on the team with 2.07 digs per frame.
The Hoyas are 4-10 in BIG EAST play with a five-set win at Butler in their most recent match on Sunday afternoon. GU had lost its previous seven matchups prior to that victory.
Kamryn Lee-Caracci hits .343 to lead the Hoyas and averages 2.31 kills and 0.93 blocks per set.
Head coach AJ Bonetti is in his first season as head coach at Georgetown after five seasons as an assistant coach at Maryland.

SERIES HISTORY WITH GEORGETOWN:

MU holds a 22-4 edge in the all-time series and has won each of the last 19 meetings. Over that time, the Hoyas have won just three of 60 total sets.
The Golden Eagles swept the first meeting this season, 25-15, 25-13, 25-19, on Sept. 23 at the Al McGuire Center. MU hit .311 and held the Hoyas to a mark of .083. Hamilton hit .600 with a match-best 12 kills.
The lone matchup prior to MU's entrance to the BIG EAST in 2005 was a four-set win by the Hoyas in Sept. 1996.

VILLANOVA (16-10, 7-7 BIG EAST)

Villanova is .500 in conference play and had won three of its last four matches prior to a five-set loss at Xavier on Sunday in its last match.
In league action, the Wildcats rank fourth with a .209 hitting percentage, but are allowing opponents to hit a conference-worst .257.
Abby Harrell's 323 kills (3.30 per set) lead VU, while Skylar Gerhardt (2.48) and Kiera Booth (2.55) each average over two kills per frame.
Setter Andrea Campos is third in the BIG EAST with 9.88 assists per set overall.
The Wildcats have landed a league-best 99 service aces in BIG EAST play and are first in average aces per set (1.87), just ahead of MU's 1.85 per frame.
Gerhardt, Harrell and Campos each rank in the top seven of the BIG EAST in service aces per set in league play.
The Wildcats are hitting .226 on the year, led by Madeline Barber's mark of .332.
Barber is the younger sister of former Marquette AVCA All-American Allie Barber.

SERIES HISTORY WITH VILLANOVA:

Marquette holds a 23-4 edge in the all-time series, which began when MU entered the BIG EAST for the 2005 campaign.
MU has won each of the last 10 matches after a five-set loss at Jake Nevin on Oct. 14, 2017.
The Golden Eagles swept Villanova, 25-18, 25-15, 25-11, on Sept. 22 at the Al McGuire Center in their BIG EAST opener. MU combined to hit .440 in the sweep and was led by 13 kills from Hamilton. Hattie Bray notched a career-high 11 blocks, becoming the first MU player to reach the mark in a sweep in over two decades.

BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP TICKETS ON SALE

Tickets for the 2023 BIG EAST Conference Women's Volleyball Championship presented by JEEP are on sale now through the Marquette Ticket Office.
Prices are as follows for tickets online:
- All Session Reserved: $18 (adult)
- All Session GA: $14 (adult)
- Single Session Reserved: $10 (adult)
- Single Session GA: $8 (adult)
Discounted group ticket rates are available to purchase at the Al McGuire Center Ticket Office (770 N 12th Street, Milwaukee) or by calling 414-288-GOMU (4668). Individuals should also make inquiries to the Ticket Office for youth ticket rates.
Match Times:
- Quarterfinals: Wednesday, Nov. 22 at 3 and 5:30 p.m. CT (BEDN)
- Semifinals: Friday, Nov. 24 at 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. CT (BEDN)
- Final: Saturday, Nov. 25 at 1 p.m. CT (FS2)

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).