Volleyball heads to Omaha for BIG EAST Championship

Match Notes (PDF)

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University women's volleyball team heads to Omaha, Nebraska for the 2024 BIG EAST Conference Women's Volleyball Championship Presented by JEEP at D.J. Sokol Arena on Nov. 27-30.

The Golden Eagles have earned the league's No. 2 seed with a 16-2 conference record and will face sixth-seeded Villanova in Friday's second semifinal at 5 p.m. Central time in the contest opposite top-seeded tournament host Creighton.

Friday's semifinal contests air live on the BIG EAST Digital Network through FloCollege, while Saturday's title match is slated for 5 p.m. CT on FS2.

The Golden Eagles are in search of their second conference tournament title and first since 2013, when they defeated Creighton in Omaha.

The NCAA Division I Selection Show is slated for Sunday, Dec. 1 at 5 p.m. CT on ESPNU.

MARQUETTE (22-7, 16-2 BIG EAST)

MU middle blocker Hattie Bray and outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton were unanimous selections to the All-BIG EAST Team announced Tuesday, while setter Yadhira Anchante was also included. The postseason honors are the third for each and MU had at least three players honored for the seventh year in a row.
Anchante earned her third BIG EAST Setter of the Week honor on Monday after wins at Xavier and DePaul last weekend in which she averaged a league-leading 12.71 assists per set. On Sunday at DePaul, she posted four kills, eight digs and 50 assists in the four-set triumph. It is her highest assist total in a four-set match this season.
Anchante has helped MU hit a combined .268 this season and averages 10.51 assists per frame and a team- and career-best 3.21 digs.
Anchante became the fourth player in program history to reach 3,000 career assists in the Nov. 3 match against St. John's and is currently fourth all-time at MU with 3,244 in 89 matches.
Bray was also named to the league honor roll on Monday after hitting .500 at XU and DPU with 3.80 kills and 1.20 blocks per set. In BIG EAST play this year, Bray leads the conference with a hitting mark of .431 (161-27-311), over 20 points ahead of CU's Ava Martin in second place.
Hamilton leads the Golden Eagles with 3.54 kills per set in all matches with 2.35 digs and 0.60 blocks.
Hamilton became the 14th player to reach 1,000 kills in a MU uniform in the Oct. 18 win over DePaul with a career-high 28 kills.
Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Natalie Ring is now second on the squad with 2.56 kills per set in all matches on a hitting line of 192-47-492 (.295).
Middle blocker Carsen Murray, MU's all-time leader in career hitting percentage, leads the BIG EAST this season with a mark of .387 in all matches.
Murray became just the fifth player in MU history to reach 400 career blocks on Sunday, Nov. 24 at DePaul.
MU head coach Ryan Theis posted the 250th win of his Marquette career in the Nov. 3 match against St. John's. The Nov. 6 win at Butler was his 150th in BIG EAST action and he has 397 wins in his NCAA Division I head coaching career.
Senior libero Samantha Naber averages 3.48 digs per set to rank ninth among players in BIG EAST action.
MU is ranked 20th in the NCAA's eighth RPI ranking of the season, which includes matches through Nov. 24.
Marquette began conference play with the seventh-toughest strength of schedule in the country according to the NCAA Division I Massey Ratings.
Eight of MU's 11 non-conference matches have come against squads that competed in the 2023 NCAA tournament.

MARQUETTE BIG EAST TOURNAMENT HISTORY:

The Golden Eagles are 13-15 all-time in the BIG EAST Championship and won the 2013 tournament title over Creighton in Omaha.
Marquette has advanced to the title match on eight occasions but is just 1-7 in those matchups.
The tournament was last at D.J. Sokol Arena in 2022 when MU swept UConn in the semifinals and fell in five sets to then-No. 15 Creighton. MU won the fourth set against the Jays, 33-31, to even the title match before falling, 15-12, in the fifth. Hamilton and senior libero Carly Skrabak earned all-tournament recognition for their play.
Last season, MU fell to St. John's in five sets at the Al McGuire Center in the league semifinals.

VILLANOVA (17-13, 9-9 BIG EAST)

Villanova came back from down 2-sets-to-1 to defeat UConn in Wednesday's opening round match.
The Wildcats earned the league's six seed at 9-9, one match behind both St. John's and DePaul at 10-8 and a match ahead of 8-10 Xavier.
VU opened BIG EAST play 4-0 to extend a season-long eight-match win streak heading into its first matches against Creighton and Marquette on Oct. 11-13.
Outside hitter Abby Harrell leads the Wildcats with 3.21 kills per set and averages 2.14 digs and 0.40 blocks per frame.
In addition to Harrell, three other players average above 2.00 kills per set, including freshman Campbell McKinnon (2.28), Cat Young (2.18) and Tara Garvey (2.09).
McKinnon, a middle blocker, is one of the league's top freshman, hitting .334 with 0.91 blocks per set and 21 total service aces.
Villanova hits .219 this season and .227 in BIG EAST play, a mark that ranked third behind MU and Creighton.

SERIES HISTORY WITH VU:

Marquette holds a 26-4 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 13 matches after a five-set loss at Jake Nevin on Oct. 14, 2017.
The Golden Eagles own two sweeps over Villanova this season and held VU to just 44 points in the last meeting on Nov. 1 at the Al McGuire Center. MU was led by 11 kills from Ring and hit .367, while holding the Wildcats to a mark of .068.
Marquette hit .310 in the first meeting on Oct. 13 in Pennsylvania, led by 15 kills from Hamilton.

BIG EAST PLAY REACHES 20 YEARS

The 2024 campaign is MU's 20th in the BIG EAST Conference and 50th overall.
Marquette has won at a 76.1 percent clip (239-75) since joining the league and is 154-31 (.832) in BIG EAST matches under head coach Ryan Theis.
MU is 115-16 (.878) in BIG EAST play over the last seven seasons (2017-23) under Theis, including consecutive regular season league titles in 2021 (16-2), 2022 (17-1) and 2023 (16-2).
The Golden Eagles were picked to finish second in the BIG EAST Conference preseason coaches' poll and four MU student-athletes were named to the league's preseason team, led by Hamilton, a unanimous selection. Anchante, Bray and Murray also received preseason recognition.
Marquette is a three-time reigning BIG EAST regular season champion, has won four league titles overall (2013, 2021, 2022, 2023) and made its 12th NCAA tournament appearance in the last 13 seasons last fall (MU's lone NCAA miss during 2020-21 was due to the tightened tournament field).

MU ON MILESTONE WATCH

Kills (1,000): Hamilton at 1,178 in MU career, Reitsma (860), Murray (780), Bray (746)
Digs (1,000): Anchante (933), Reitsma (915)
Assists (3,000): Anchante (3,244)
Blocks (400): Murray (400), Bray (264)
Aces (100): Reitsma (147), Foti (93), Anchante (80), Hamilton (77 at MU; 90 overall)

2024 MARKS MU'S 50TH SEASON

The 2024 campaign marks MU's 50th season of competition and 20th season in the BIG EAST Conference.
The first season of women's volleyball at Marquette was played during the 1975-76 academic year and MU has grown into a perennial NCAA tournament participant and four-time BIG EAST champion.
The Golden Eagles have qualified for each of the last 12 NCAA tournaments with full 64-team fields and have advanced to the NCAA Second Round seven times and own a pair of NCAA Regional Semifinal appearances.

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).