The Golden Eagles will need to go 2-0 if they want to still be ranked on Monday afternoon.
There’s a risk to what Marquette volleyball head coach Ryan Theis likes to do with his non-conference schedule.
We’ve been over and over and over the fact that he always loads up with challenges for his team every single year. Usually it goes pretty well, where the Golden Eagles snag an important win or two along the way. Rarely does it go as poorly as it did last season, where Marquette lost all seven matches that they played against teams that were ranked at the time of the match.
But there’s another risk.
Marquette started off the season at #24 in the AVCA preseason poll, and with just their 3-0 sweep of Eastern Illinois on the board when the voters turned in their first in-season ballots, that didn’t change in Poll #1. MU lost their home opener to #5 Stanford on Wednesday night in their first match of the week, which makes the rest of the matches ultra-important in terms of keeping that ranking next to Marquette’s name. Given that the Golden Eagles did end up with fewer points than they had in the preseason poll, it stands to reason that losses to #5 and #13 would strip away whatever Marquette votes remain. It also stands to reason that if Marquette beats #13 Kansas on Friday and then loses to Western Michigan on Sunday, that’s also probably going to cost them their ranking.
And so, a 2-0 weekend is probably a requirement to stay ranked, at least from a logic point of view. There is also a certain amount of “oh no, it’s happening again” that could seep in if Marquette takes a loss against Kansas as well. Remember I mentioned those seven ranked losses last season? Yeah, something like that is a risk again this season because Marquette is just going to keep seeing ranked opponents as the non-conference schedule rolls along. MU made the NCAA tournament quite easily even with those losses thanks to a robust strength of schedule, but it’s really a better idea to be able to hang your hat on a win or two (or three!) instead. There’s a mental boost attached to “yeah, we are this good!” that comes from beating a ranked team, and that would be beneficial for the Golden Eagles as well.
After all, they did play pretty well against Stanford, it just wasn’t good enough to win a match against a team that certainly looks like a national championship contender through the first few matches of the season. But scoreboard wins are slightly better than moral victories, so you’d rather have those.
By the way: If you’re looking for something to do on Saturday, swing on by the McGuire Center at 1pm Central. MU’s two opponents for this weekend will be facing off against each other on a neutral court, so that’s bonus volleyball and I’m sure they’d appreciate an extra fan or two making some noise.
REMINDER: Marquette’s home contests are streamed nearly exclusively on FloSports, as are all Big East home matches and all league schedule contests. If you are paying full price for FloSports at $30 a month, you are doing it wrong. Please use this link to pay less than half of that, and even less if you can use a Marquette.edu email address.
Match #3: vs #13 Kansas Jayhawks (4-0)
Date: Friday, September 6, 2024
Time: 6pm Central
Location: Al McGuire Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Streaming: FloSports
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteVB
Bluesky Updates: @AnonymousEagle
Marquette is 0-6 all time against Kansas. The two teams met for the first time in 1990, and brought it back in 2000, 2002, and 2003, back before the Golden Eagles really took off as a program. MU head coach Ryan Theis had a team swept by the #22 ranked Jayhawks in 2015, and they fell to a #23 ranked team in Lawrence a year ago.
Kansas started off the year as the #13 team in the country in the preseason AVCA top 25 poll, and after an opening weekend in Durham, North Carolina, that’s still where they are. In a trio of matches against South Carolina, Duke, and Colgate, the Jayhawks lost just one set. In their nine set victories, they allowed more than 19 points just once, and that was in the first set of the season as they beat South Carolina 25-23.
The Jayhawks moved to 4-0 on the year on Wednesday night when they hosted Wichita State for their home opener. That was another sweep, although they did let the Shockers get to 21 points in the middle of the three frames.
Kansas is the favorite to win the Big 12 this season, although it’s far from unanimous. The Jayhawks earned six of the first place votes and 173 total points, while second place BYU ended up with four first place votes and 168 points. Arizona State, TCU, and Kansas State all received at least one first place vote. I can’t fault anyone who voted for BYU or ASU, as they were both in the top 20 of the AVCA preseason poll, but it’s a liiiiiiitle surprising that the votes kept separating out like that.
As I was pulling up the Kansas stat sheet, I noticed that they’re hitting .346 as a team through four matches, and I said “dang, that’s crazy.” Part of the reason why? Toyosi Onabanjo is hitting .650 on 60 swings to this point of the year. The 6’1” middle blocker leads the Jayhawks in kills at 3.46 per set, and part of the reason why is because she put down 22 kills on 27 swings in four sets against Duke. That sounds awful for the Blue Devils. “Oh, God, no, she’s swinging again, there’s nothing we can do.”
5’10” senior Ayah Elnady is also averaging over three kills a set as the Egyptian is leading the team in attacks this season. Yes, this means she’s “only” hitting .254, and goodness, can you imagine what the Jayhawks would be doing to people if she was even 10% more accurate? Caroline Bien and London Davis are doing pretty well on the accuracy front, and that’s why they’re averaging over two kills per set as well.
Camryn Turner does the setting for the Jayhawks, and she’s up over 11 per frame at the moment. Sophomore Raegan Burns is tops in digs at 3.31 per set, while Onabanjo is leading the way in blocks at 1.38 per set. No one else who has played in every set is averaging a block per set, but Aisha Aiono (1.20 in 10 sets) and Zoey Burgess (1.17 in 6 sets) are doing a pretty good job stuffing shots when they get their number called.
Match #4: vs Western Michigan Broncos (2-1)
Date: Sunday, September 8, 2024
Time: 1pm Central
Location: Al McGuire Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Streaming: FloSports
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteVB
Bluesky Updates: @AnonymousEagle
Marquette is 4-4-1 all time against Western Michigan. The draw came in the first ever meeting back in 1979, the only match before MU marks their entry to Division 1 in 1986. Marquette won the most recent meeting by way of sweep, and that was back in 2012.
I wonder where Western Michigan would be in the AVCA top 25 voting if they had beaten Clemson at home on Sunday. The Broncos picked up 10 points worth of votes in the preseason poll alongside being tabbed as the preseason favorite in the MAC this season. The Tigers were picked to finish 14th in the 18 team ACC, so losing to them is definitely not the kind of thing you want to do if you’re trying to stay in the relevant national picture. Even worse for WMU? That snapped a 19 match home winning streak at University Arena in Kalamazoo after they started the year with 3-1 victories over Loyola Marymount and Loyola Chicago. I wonder if Loyola Maryland feels left out and ignored?
Julia Marr and Keona Salesman are the top two attackers for Western Michigan, with both women stacking up over 115 attacks so far this season. They both hit over .230 and they both average over 3.3 kills per set. Marr is a little more active on blocks and has one service ace to her credit, so the 6’2” senior from Ohio has the team lead in points per set as well at just barely over four.
Fifth year senior Logan Case is your setter here, and she’s dishing out 12.00 per set so far this season. That’s tied for seventh best in the country through Wednesday night’s matches, which is pretty neat. Fellow fifth year Andelyn Simkins leads in digs at a old-libero-rules type of number of 4.75 per set. Western Michigan isn’t quite adept at getting up to block shots for points, as they only average 1.25 blocks per set as a team. Mary Clare Brusek is the only player to have played in all 12 sets this season and get over 0.40 blocks per set, and she’s only at 0.58.