Volleyball heads to Kansas Invitational to face Purdue and KU

Match Notes (PDF)

MILWAUKEE – The No. 19 Marquette University women's volleyball team continues nonconference action in the Kansas Invitational on Friday, Sept. 1 and Saturday Sept. 2 against No. 25 Purdue and No. 23 Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas.

The Golden Eagles will face the Boilermakers at 3 p.m. Central time on Friday before a 1 p.m. Saturday clash with the host Jayhawks at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena. Both matches will have live statistics through StatBroadcast, courtesy of Kansas Athletics. Saturday's match against KU airs live on Big 12 NOW through ESPN+

The three squads also met in a tournament hosted by Kansas in Lawrence on Sept. 13-14, 2002, the Jayhawks Classic. This weekend's contests will be MU's second and third ranked matchups this season.

No. 19 MARQUETTE (2-1):

The Golden Eagles earned five-set wins over Drake and Dayton in the Flyer Invitational over opening weekend in Dayton, Ohio. They also fell to then-No. 24 Western Kentucky in four sets in their first match.
MU played all three matches without all-conference middle blocker Carsen Murray, who was out with an injury.
Outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton and setter Yadhira Anchante each earned all-tournament honors in Dayton.
Hamilton led MU with 41 kills (2.93 per set) and hit .218 with 2.29 digs per set and double doubles in wins over Drake and Dayton. Posted her second-highest kill total (20) in a MU uniform against Dayton, following last season's 25-kill BIG EAST tournament title match at Creighton.
Anchante also had double doubles in MU's wins last weekend, including a 46-assist, 20-dig effort against the host Flyers with two service aces and a block.
MU is 13-33 against ranked teams under head coach Ryan Theis and MU faces a pair of ranked opponents this weekend.
The Golden Eagles have nine matches this season against teams currently ranked in the AVCA Coaches Poll (No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 4 Oregon, No. 10 Pitt, No. 20 Creighton (twice), No. 22 WKU, No. 23 Kansas, No. 24 Tennessee, No. 25 Purdue).
This weekend's matches are MU's final non-conference games outside Milwaukee this fall. Marquette closes non-conference play with four matches at the Al McGuire Center on campus, the Wisconsin match at Fiserv Forum (home of MU men's basketball and the Milwaukee Bucks) and a Thursday, Sept. 14 match across town at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
This weekend is a homecoming of sorts for Carsen Murray from Lee's Summit, Missouri, a 50-mile drive from Lawrence.

No. 25 Purdue (1-2):

The Boilermakers won their season opener against Duke, 3-1, but were swept by then-No. 18 Creighton and fell in five to Loyola Chicago to close their opening weekend at home.
Freshman Chloe Chicoine led Purdue with 48 kills (4.00 per set) in its first three matches, while sophomore Eva Hudson posted 40 kills (3.33 per set). The Boilermakers hit .204 combined in 12 sets, while allowing Duke, CU and LUC to hit .218.
Purdue began the season at No. 16 in the AVCA Coaches Poll.
Hudson was a unanimous preseason All-Big Ten selection after leading Purdue in points and kills in 2022 as an AVCA All-America honorable mention and the 2022 Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
The Boilermakers added the nation's No. 3 recruiting class this fall, including the country's top overall recruit in Chicoine.
Chicoine and Hudson were members of the Team USA gold medal-winning squad at the Under-21 Pan American Cup this summer.
Dave Shondell is in his 21st season as head coach at Purdue and has led the Boilermakers to 17 NCAA tournaments in the last 20 years, including nine Sweet 16 appearances and four trips to the NCAA regional finals. He is a two-time Big Ten Coach of the Year.

SERIES WITH PURDUE:

The Boilermakers have won all three meetings against the Golden Eagles.
Purdue won the most recent meeting in four sets on Dec. 7, 2019, in the NCAA Second Round in West Lafayette. MU also played in the 2021 NCAAA tournament at Purdue but fell to Dayton in the opening round.
The first two all-time meetings were five-set Purdue wins, including a match in Lawrence, Kansas on Sept. 13, 2002.

No. 23 KANSAS (2-0):

The Jayhawks picked up a pair of sweeps on opening weekend over Pepperdine and Omaha in Omaha.
KU hit a combined .304 in both matches and was led by 26 kills (4.33 per set) from Ayah Elnady and 24 (4.00/s) from Reagan Cooper.
Elnady had a match-high 18 kills on .405 hitting in the opener against Pepperdine with 15 digs, while Cooper led all players with 14 kills on .522 hitting (14-2-23) against Omaha as KU hit .333.
Junior setter Camryn Turner was the lone Jayhawk named to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team after AVCA all-region honors in 2022. She was second team all-conference last season.
Turner ranks ninth nationally in assists per set after the opening weekend with 11.67 per frame
The Jayhawks was picked fifth in the Big 12 preseason poll.
KU is led by 26th year head coach Ray Bechard, a four-time Big 12 Coach of the Year who has led the Jayhawks to 11 NCAA tournament appearances.

SERIES WITH KANSAS:

The Jayhawks have won all four meetings between the two programs, the most recent of which came in Theis' second season at Marquette in 2015.
KU has swept all four previous matchups.
Kansas hosted both Marquette and Purdue in the Jayhawk Classic in Sept. 2002.

SEPT. 13 MATCH TO HIGHLIGHT STATE VOLLEYBALL
The Golden Eagles welcome No. 1 Wisconsin to Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee on Wednesday, Sept. 13 to highlight the state's volleyball community and attempt to set an indoor volleyball attendance record.

Individual tickets at Fiserv are not included in the Marquette season ticket package and a very limited number of tickets remain. 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.

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).