No. 12 Marquette opens 2023 at Flyer Invitational

Weekly Notes (PDF) | Season Preview

MILWAUKEE – The No. 12 Marquette University women's volleyball team opens the 2023 campaign in Dayton, Ohio on Friday, Aug. 25 and Saturday, Aug. 26 in the Flyer Invitational at the Frericks Center.

The Golden Eagles kick off their season on Friday at 10 a.m. Central time against No. 24 Western Kentucky and will also face Drake at 4 p.m. CT. MU will meet the host Flyers at 5 p.m. CT Saturday in a match aired live on ESPN+. All three matches will have live statistics through StatBroadcast, courtesy of Dayton Athletics.

The four teams in this weekend's event combined to go 108-30 last season (.783), including identical 29-4 marks from MU and WKU.

No. 12 MARQUETTE (0-0): The Golden Eagles are coming off a 29-4 season in 2022 during which they claimed a BIG EAST Conference regular season title and advanced to the NCAA regional semifinals for the second time in program history. MU returns all six starters from last season and adds a pair of newcomers who are in the mix for the open libero position.

AVCA All-America setter Yadhira Anchante leads the Golden Eagles and was joined on the All-BIG EAST Preseason Team by outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton and middle blockers Carsen Murray and Hattie Bray. All six starters from last season earned conference postseason honors as Anchante, Bray, Hamilton, Murray and Jenna Reitsma each earned All-BIG EAST Team accolades, while Ella Foti joined Bray on the all-freshman squad.

Last season, Marquette paced the BIG EAST in hitting percentage, kills and aces, while ranking second in assists per set. The Golden Eagles were sixth nationally with 14.41 kills per frame, ninth in assists (13.34) and 11th in hitting percentage (.287).

Anchante averaged 10.78 assists per set to rank 22nd in the country, while Murray's hitting percentage of .416 led the BIG EAST and was top-10 nationally.

MU is picked to win the BIG EAST by the league's coaches and checks in at No. 12 in the AVCA Coaches Poll, it's highest preseason ranking in program history.

No. 24 WKU (0-0): The Hilltoppers are the preseason favorite in Conference USA following their 23rd consecutive 20-win campaign in 2022. WKU went 29-4 last season and fell to third-seeded Kentucky in the NCAA Second Round after a perfect 14-0 performance in conference play.

The Tops return four starters and their libero in the 29th season for head coach Travis Hudson in Bowling Green. Outside hitter Paige Briggs returns for her fifth season and was an AVCA All-American last year with a 3.75 kills per set average. Setter Callie Bauer, the 2022 CUSA Freshman of the Year, joins Briggs on the preseason all-conference squad alongside right-side hitter Kenadee Coyle and Missouri-transfer Kaylee Cox.

SERIES WITH WKU: The two programs have met twice and have split the series at one match apiece. WKU claimed the first matchup at the Al McGuire Center in a sweep on Sept. 4, 2004, while MU win the most recent meeting, 3-1, in 2011. The last match came in the NCAA First Round at Huff Hall in Champaign, Illinois, and was MU's first NCAA tournament match in program history. AVCA All-American Ciara Jones, now an assistant coach at Iowa State, led the Golden Eagles with 17 kills in that matchup.

DRAKE (0-0): The Bulldogs went 30-8 in 2022 and made an appearance in the championship match of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship before falling in four sets to Boston College. Drake is the preseason runner-up in the Missouri Valley Conference Coaches Poll and is led by two-time MVC Player of the Year Haley Bush. Bush was the lone Bulldog named to the six-person All-MVC Preseason Team and has amassed 1,316 kills in 90 career matches. Drake garnered three first-place votes in the MVC preseason survey and is just two total points behind league favorite UNI.

SERIES WITH DRAKE: The Golden Eagles own a 5-2 advantage in the all-time series and have claimed victories in each of the last four meetings. Five of the seven matches came before 1992 and MU has earned four total sweeps, including its most recent victory over the Bulldogs during the spring of 2021. MU won that meeting in Cedar Falls, Iowa behind a triple-double from All-America setter Taylor Wolf as MU hit a combined .232.

DAYTON (0-0): The Flyers are the projected preseason runner-up in the Atlantic 10 Conference and return first team all-league selections Lexie Almodovar and Amelia Moore. UD went 20-14 in 2022 and fell to Loyola Chicago in the A10 title match. Almodovar led the Flyers last season with 3.96 kills per set, while hitting .231 and Moore hit .336 with 2.35 kills and 1.30 blocks per frame.

Dayton is led by head coach Tim Horsmon in his 15th season and returns five starters from last year.

SERIES WITH DAYTON: The two programs have a history dating back to the 1978 campaign and UD holds a 20-7 edge in the all-time series. MU and UD were conference mates in the North Star, Midwest Collegiate and Great Midwest and played on a yearly basis until Marquette joined Conference USA in 1995. The last six meetings have come on neutral sites and the previous two matchups were NCAA First Round matches, both in West Lafayette, Indiana. MU swept Dayton on Dec. 6, 2019, behind 17 kills from AVCA All-American Allie Barber. UD won the most recent matchup, 3-1, on Dec. 2, 2021, when MU was playing without its two starting outside hitters, Hope Werch and Hannah Vanden Berg, each of whom sustained season-ending knee injuries late in the year.

THE SCHEDULE
Marquette boasts one of the most formidable non-conference schedules in the country and will be challenged early and often in 2023. MU opens the season in Dayton against No. 24 Western Kentucky, Drake and the host Flyers before heading to Kansas for Labor Day weekend for matches against the Jayhawks and No. 16 Purdue.

Marquette hosts its home opener on Sept. 8 against a No. 5 Pittsburgh squad that played in the national semifinals last season. That's one of six matches in a 10-day span that also includes games against No. 2 Wisconsin at Fiserv Forum in addition to No. 9 Oregon and Tennessee.
The Golden Eagles are also slated to host the BIG EAST tournament at the McGuire Center over Thanksgiving weekend.

SEPT. 13 MATCH TO HIGHLIGHT STATE VOLLEYBALL
The Golden Eagles welcome No. 2 Wisconsin to Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee on Wednesday, Sept. 13 to highlight the state's volleyball community and attempt to set a state volleyball attendance record.

Individual tickets at Fiserv are not included with the season ticket package. Upper bowl tickets are still available for the matchup with the Badgers and can be purchased online through Ticketmaster and GoMarquette.com.

General admission season tickets at the Al McGuire Center are just $40 for the year and can be purchased online or by calling the Marquette Ticket Office at 414-288-GOMU (4668). Email athletics@marquette.edu for group rates or for the limited number of courtside seats that remain.

BRAY SHINES LATE IN 2022
Hattie Bray was an all-conference and all-freshman selection last season and hit .354 with 85 total blocks in 32 starts. She played her best to close the year in a gauntlet against No. 15 Creighton, Ball State, No. 13 Georgia Tech and No. 1 Texas. In the NCAA tournament, Bray hit .432 with 2.6 kills per set and five bocks. She even recorded a career best five digs against Georgia Tech as MU advanced to the Sweet 16.

The native of tiny Hancock, Wisconsin (pop. 400) earned a redshirt during her true freshman season in 2021 while sitting behind Carsen Murray and All-BIG EAST selection Savannah Rennie at middle blocker.

MARQUETTE HAS JUST TWO NEWCOMERS
The Golden Eagles added just two newcomers in defensive specialists Sarah Kushner and Molly Berezowitz. Kushner is a graduate transfer from Illinois State, where she recorded over 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs as an outside hitter. She was a two-time all-league selection during her time at ISU and played MU five times over the last four seasons.

Berezowitz is the lone true freshman on the roster and was the Racine County Player of the Year and a second team all-state selection at Burlington High School, the alma mater of teammate Samantha Naber. Berezowitz's older sister, Maddie, won the 2020-21 NCAA title as a member of the Kentucky Wildcats.

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).