Volleyball hosts Air Force and No. 7 Oregon

Match Notes (PDF)

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University women's volleyball team hosts Air Force on Saturday and No. 7 Oregon on Sunday at the Al McGuire Center for its final non-conference matches of the season.

Both matches are slated for a 1 p.m. first serve with Bob Brainerd on the call. Saturday's match against the Ducks airs live on FS1 and live stats are available for each match through GoMarquette.com.

Following this weekend, MU begins BIG EAST Conference play on Friday, Sept. 22 against Villanova at the Al.

MARQUETTE (3-6):

The Golden Eagles play their seventh match this season against a ranked opponent on Sunday.
MU has nine matches this season against teams currently ranked in the AVCA Coaches Poll (No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 7 Oregon, No. 8 Pitt, No. 14 Creighton (twice), No. 15 Tennessee, No. 17 Purdue, No. 20 Kansas, No. 25 Dayton). Western Kentucky is also receiving votes.
Marquette outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton reached 1,000 career kills in the first set of Wednesday's match against No. 1 Wisconsin at Fiserv Forum. She enters the weekend with 516 kills through 42 matches at MU and a total of 1,027 in her career.
Hamilton leads the Golden Eagles with 126 kills this season for an average of 3.41 per set. She also averages 1.95 digs per set with 11 service aces and 19 total blocks.
Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Hattie Bray is second on MU with 2.28 kills (82 total) per set and a team-high 24 total blocks.
MU played its first three matches without all-conference middle blocker Carsen Murray, who was out with an injury.
Through the season's first nine matches, the Golden Eagles are hitting a combined .172 and allowing their opponents to hit .246.
MU entered the week with the nation's sixth-toughest schedule.

AIR FORCE (8-1):

Air Force plays at Milwaukee on Friday evening before making its way to the Al McGuire Center for Saturday's match.
The Falcons have won six-straight matches since a five-set loss to UT Arlington on Aug. 26. Since that time, USAFA has defeated UC San Diego, Gonzaga, Idaho, CSU Bakersfield, Santa Clara and Saint Mary's (Calif.).
USAFA's 8-1 start is its best start at the Division I level.
Joi Harvey leads Air Force with 90 total kills (2.37 per set) on .358 hitting and is also averaging 1.11 blocks per frame. Aaryn Scires has notched 88 kills (2.32/set) and 32 blocks (0.84/set).
The Falcons enter the weekend ranked 12th in the NCAA with 2.96 blocks per set and are led by Mac Russ, who is 19th individually in the NCAA with 1.59 blocks per frame (55 total).
Air Force opponents are hitting just .130 on the season, the 10th-lowest mark in the NCAA.

SERIES HISTORY WITH AIR FORCE:

Marquette is 2-0 all-time against Air Force and the two teams will meet for the first time since 1997.
The first meeting was a 3-0 Marquette sweep at the Georgetown Invitational in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 6, 1996.
MU also swept the most recent meeting on Sept. 13, 1997, at Air Force.

No. 7 OREGON (8-1):

The Ducks have played a very tough non-conference slate and own sweeps over then-No. 13 San Diego, Hawai'i, Santa Barbara and Pepperdine, in addition to a 3-1 victory over No. 15 Ohio State last Saturday. Their lone loss was in five sets to then-No. 10 Minnesota on Sept. 8.
They defeated No. 8 Pitt in five sets on Thursday night in Pittsburgh and will face James Madison on Friday afternoon before traveling to Milwaukee.
Mimi Colyer leads Oregon and ranks 16th nationally with 4.42 kills per set and a total of 146 on the year. Hannah Pukis is 15th nationally with 11.00 assists per set and Kara McGhee is 27th in Division I with a .436 hitting percentage.
As a team, the Ducks rank eighth nationally in hitting percentage (.308), assists per set (13.42) and 11th in kills per set (14.27).
Oregon head coach Matt Ulmer is in his seventh season in Euguene and has led the Ducks to five NCAA tournament appearances and a pair of trips to the Elite Eight in 2018 and 2022.
Ulmer played collegiately at Carthage College (2005-07) in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he was an AVCA All-American for current MU assistant coach LJ Marx. Ulmer still ranks in the Carthage career top-10 in assists, service aces and blocks.

SERIES HISTORY WITH OREGON:

Sunday is the first meeting between the two programs.

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).

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Players Mentioned

Hattie Bray

Aubrey Hamilton

Carsen Murray