Another year, another dance party.
So is the way for Marquette volleyball, which extended its NCAA tournament streak to four years after being named a No. 5 seed and awarded a ticket to Salt Lake City, Utah for a first round matchup against Florida Gulf Coast Thursday at the Jon M. Huntsman Center.
𝟏𝐬𝐭 & 𝟐𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬
Salt Lake City, UT
Dec. 5-6
(5) @MarquetteVB
@FGCU_VB
@CofCVolleyball
(4) @UtahVolleyball#NCAAWVB pic.twitter.com/UZfHICdUES— NCAA Women’s Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) December 1, 2024
The selection means the Golden Eagles have missed only one tournament in head coach Ryan Theis’s 11 years at the helm, coming in 2021 when there was a smaller field due to the impacts of COVID-19.
“It’s always exciting getting to see our name pop up,” graduate student Carsen Murray said. “I know, when in 2020-21, when we had the shortened year and we didn’t see our name popped up, that still sticks with, like, me and (Ella) Foti specifically.
“That feeling, that’s not always guaranteed. And knowing that all the hard work that we poured in this year, it’s paying off, and we get to go to that postseason means a lot. Even after experiencing it four times now, it still means a lot for us.”
Marquette (23-8, 16-2 Big East) earned an at-large bid after falling to Creighton in the Big East tournament championship. The Golden Eagles are in the Penn State quarter of the bracket, and if they win their first round matchup, they’ll play the winner of No. 4 seed Utah vs. Charleston.
“I haven’t seen those guys play,” Theis said. “We haven’t had a common opponent with either one of those teams in a while. So (assistant coach Ryan Walthall) is already in the office looking it all up now.”
Preparing for the unknown
Last year, the top four seeds in the Golden Eagles’ sector were all opponents they played at some point during the season, so they had a foundation off which they could prepare.
This year, because they don’t know much about anyone in their region, is a different challenge, something Murray enjoys.
“That’s what makes the tournament fun too,” she said. “You get to go out and you see new type of competition that you’re not used to playing. And so you don’t have anything to worry or stress about, because it’s the same thing [for the opponent].
“They don’t know as much about us as the same thing for us to them. So that makes it interesting.”
In order to learn as much as possible in such a small window, Marquette has to prepare for all possibilities.
“What we try and do, typically, is guess a second round opponent and maybe do 30 minutes of practice of that on Monday,” Theis said. “And then by Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, we’re 100% focused on that first opponent.”
The benefit of a gauntlet non-conference schedule
Marquette played yet another brutally difficult non-conference schedule this season.
The Golden Eagles faced seven teams who made the NCAA Tournament, including the No. 1 overall seed in Pitt, and two No. 2 seeds (Stanford and Wisconsin).
They also faced No. 2 seed Creighton three times, No. 3 seed Kansas and No. 5 seed Dayton, along with Western Kentucky and Western Michigan. They went 2-7 in those matches, with wins coming over the Flyers and Hilltoppers.
“We’ve seen most things. I mean, from Pitt’s, number one offense in the country, to Wisconsin, the biggest team in the country, to the Stanford setter (Kami Miner), who was so impressive to me to three bouts against Creighton,” Theis said. “So we’ve seen a lot of stuff…
“I’m sure they bring different challenges and different good things, but we certainly have experienced a lot over the course of the year.”
Marquette’s slate was so tough that all but two of its non-conference opponents (Eastern Illinois and East Carolina) are dancing.
“It’ll just help us understand what to expect from these really good teams, having played them before,” Murray said. “Especially now at this point in the season, we’re a lot more established. We’re a lot better than we were at the beginning of the year, which I think makes us scarier.”
This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at jack.albright@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.