Volleyball to face No. 7 Wisconsin Tuesday at the Kohl Center

Match Notes (PDF)

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University women's volleyball team heads to Madison for a midweek showdown with No. 7 Wisconsin at the Kohl Center on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Central time.

The match at the 17,000-seat venue will air live on Big Ten Network and live statistics will be available courtesy of Wisconsin Athletics.

Marquette will host a prematch reception at Wando's Bar & Grill in Madison from 4:30-6:30 p.m. More information on the gathering can be found here.

Last season, the in-state rivals met at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, home of the MU men's basketball team, and set a NCAA regular season indoor attendance record with 17,037 fans. The crowd was also the largest at a women's sporting event in the state of Wisconsin.

Following play in Madison on Tuesday, MU continues its season-long five-match road swing this weekend in Pittsburgh against East Carolina and No. 1 Pitt.

MARQUETTE (3-3)

The Golden Eagles went 2-0 last weekend with wins at Western Kentucky and over then-No. 24 Dayton to win the Hyatt Place Invitational at E.A. Diddle Arena.
Saturday's win over the Flyers is the first for MU over a ranked foe since a sweep of then-No. 15 Creighton on Oct. 6, 2023.
It is also MU's first win over a ranked non-conference foe since it swept the-No. 13 Georgia Tech in the 2022 NCAA Second Round at the Al McGuire Center. It is MU's first win over a ranked opponent on the road or at a neutral site since a five-set win over then-No. 11 Kentucky on Aug. 26, 2022, in its season opener in Lexington, Kentucky.
MU setter Yadhira Anchante earned most valuable player honors and is the BIG EAST Conference Setter of the Week after averaging 10.56 assists and 3.00 digs per set. She notched a season-best 55 assists and 11 digs in Friday's five-set win over WKU and recorded 40 assists, a season-high 16 digs, three blocks and three kills against the Flyers on Saturday.
Right-side hitter Ella Foti made her first start of the season against WKU and turned in a career-high 18 kills on a hitting-mark of .378 (18-4-37). She also narrowly missed a new career best in digs with 18 in Saturday's win over Dayton.
Middle blocker Carsen Murray earned BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll mention after hitting .452 (21-2-42) with 2.33 kills and 1.11 blocks per set. She landed a season-high 14 kills alongside three blocks in Friday's win at WKU and posted seven blocks and seven kills against UD. She helped shut down the Flyers offense and force Preseason A-10 Player of the Year Lexie Almodovar into 12 hitting errors. Dayton entered the weekend fifth nationally with a .322 hitting percentage and hit just .168 on Saturday.
Outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton leads the Golden Eagles with 3.43 kills and 0.96 blocks per set on a hitting mark of .166, while middle blocker Hattie Bray has posted 2.48 kills per set and a hitting percentage of .291 with 23 blocks.
The Golden Eagles are hitting .222 (319-120-895) this year against six opponents who all competed in the 2023 NCAA tournament.
Sophomore Molly Berezowitz has served as MU's libero in all six matches this season and leads the squad with 85 digs for an average of 3.70 per frame.
MU has a total of eight Wisconsinites on its roster: Molly Berezowitz (Burlington), Sam Naber (Burlington), Hattie Bray (Hancock), Aubrey Hamilton (Hartland), Ella Foti (Madison), Adriana Studer (Hartland), Morgan Daugherty (Brookfield), Natalie Ring (Madison).
MU head coach Ryan Theis grew up in Madison before attending the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Daugherty's father, Sean, was a four-year member of the men's basketball team at the University of Wisconsin (1994-98).
The Golden Eagles are 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. Setter Yadhira Anchante and middle blockers Bray and Carsen Murray also received preseason recognition.
Marquette is a three-time reigning BIG EAST regular season champion 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).

No. 7 WISCONSIN (3-3)

The Badgers are .500 on the season after a sweep over Milwaukee last Tuesday and a pair of five-set wins in the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge over TCU and then-No. 23 Baylor in Waco, Texas.
Reigning AVCA National Player of the Year Sarah Franklin leads the Badgers with 106 kills (4.24 per set) and averages 2.40 digs per frame. Franklin played her first two seasons at Michigan State before transferring to UW for her final three seasons of eligibility.
Fellow Preseason All-Big Ten selection Devyn Robinson averages 2.96 kills and a team-best 1.16 blocks per set and hits .350 (74-19-157), while UW is hitting a combined .256 through the season's first 25 sets.
Middle blocker Anna Smrek also was on the preseason all-conference team. Her older brother, Luke, was a four-year member of the Marquette men's tennis team (2016-20). He was a four-time BIG EAST All-Academic Team selection, a two-time all-conference performer, and the BIG EAST Men's Tennis Freshman of the Year in 2016-17.
UW began the season with a 3-1 loss at then-No. 6 Louisville on Saturday, Aug. 27 and dropped both matches in four sets over Labor Day Weekend at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee against then-No. 1 Texas and then-No. 5 Stanford
The Badgers, led by 12th year head coach Kelly Sheffield, are picked to finish second behind Nebraska in the Big Ten Preseason Coaches' Poll.
UW has just two players from the state of Wisconsin on its roster in redshirt freshman Saige Damrow from Howards Grove and true freshman setter Morgan Van Wie from Waunakee.

SERIES HISTORY WITH UW:

Since the two programs resumed playing on an annual basis during the 2017 campaign, Marquette's lone victory was a five-set win over then-No. 4 Wisconsin on Sept 5, 2019, at UW Field House in Madison.
Last season, the Badgers won a 3-1 decision at Fiserv Forum on Sept. 13 in front of a record crowd. The two squads split the first two sets and MU had a 23-19 edge in the third before a 7-1 run by the Badgers gave them a 26-24 win. UW then hit .452 to take the fourth frame, 25-18.
Outside hitters Aubrey Hamilton of MU and Sarah Franklin of UW each landed their 1,000th career kills in last year's match. Hamilton led MU last season with 16 kills, while Franklin and Smrek each had 15 for the Badgers.

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.

SEASON TICKETS ON SALE FOR $40

Season tickets for Marquette's full 14-match regular season schedule are available to purchase for just $40. They can be bought online or by calling the Marquette Ticket Office at 414-288-GOMU (4668).
New this fall is a Coaches' Corner pre-match talk for season ticket members with head coach Ryan Theis and other members of the MU staff. These sessions will be held on Sept. 6 (Kansas), Sept. 27 (UConn) and Nov. 10 (Creighton). The events begin at a quarter-after the hour prior to each match and cost $20, which includes refreshments and light snacks. More information and a registration link will be communicated with season ticket members prior to each contest.

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).