The Golden Eagles have to beat the Eagles in Utah to get to the second round for the third straight season.
2024 NCAA Volleyball Tournament
First Round
#5 Marquette Golden Eagles (23-8, 16-2 Big East) vs Florida Gulf Coast Eagles (27-4, 15-1 ASUN)
Date: Thursday, December 5, 2024
Time: 5:30pm Central
Location: Jon M. Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: Maybe NCAA.com if you behave yourself, because the NCAA is a bag of psychos about live stats for the tournaments
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteVB
Bluesky Updates: @AnonymousEagle (eventually)
All Time Series: Marquette leads 1-0 after a 3-0 sweep at FGCU in September 2013.
Marquette’s 2024 season has been defined by one thing, and it depends at how you look at it. It’s either their inability to beat one of the tippity top teams in the country, or the ability of the tippity top teams in the country to engage fully with the idea that they need to take Marquette extremely seriously.
As a result, Marquette is 0-6 against teams in the top 12 of the RPI, but 22-1 against teams ranked below 40 in the RPI. By definition, this means Marquette is not an elite team because they haven’t shown an ability to beat elite teams….. but it means they’re pretty damn good when everything’s clicking for them. They get there by being a dynamic team. Aubrey Hamilton is the top hitter on the squad, but she’s only averaging 3.68 kills per set this season. When the top five hitters in the country are averaging over five, and the top 50 are all over four, you get the idea that Marquette isn’t reliant on Hamilton to get things done.
And they don’t. Natalie Ring has come on as the season has progressed to be a legitimate option for Marquette at 2.51/set and a .286 hitting percentage. Marquette gets over four kills per set from their pair of middle blockers with Carsen Murray taking advantage of lazy balls across the net and Hattie Bray sliding out to the pin to swing. Both women hit over .350, so that’s a potent option to have. If need be, Marquette can go to Jenna Reitsma as an option, but she’s been shifted to a utility player role with the advent of Ring swinging at the net.
That diversity of attack will be pointed at Florida Gulf Coast on Thursday, as the Golden Eagles attempt to reach the second round of the NCAA tournament for the third consecutive season. If they do that, it will mark the first time in program history that MU has won a first round NCAA tourney match in three straight seasons. Even in a season that maybe has a slightest tinge of disappointment after missing on a fourth straight Big East regular season title, there’s still accomplishments and history to be achieved and made.
As for the other Eagles in the match, they went 27-4 this season with just one loss in ASUN action. That means they come in on a 14 match winning streak with that lone ASUN loss coming back on October 13th on the road against Eastern Kentucky. Their other three losses this season? 3-2 at home against Illinois-Chicago, 3-2 on the road against Ole Miss, and 3-1 at home to the #24 ranked Dayton team that Marquette beat in Kentucky earlier this season. All three of those losses came in FGCU’s first 11 matches of the season, so yes, that means they’re 19-1 since then.
It also means that Florida Gulf Coast has a record of 4-3 against top 100 opponents this season and it means they have gone 6-4 against RPI top 150 opponents. They have some quality wins to be sure, but they haven’t seen the kind of tippity top opposition that Marquette has seen this season. It’s a good volleyball team, but if Marquette treats FGCU the way that, say, Pitt treated the Golden Eagles — deathly seriously — then this should mean a victory for Marquette.
Shelby Kent is one of those top 50 attackers with more than four kills per set. The 6’1” senior is at 4.48/set this season, and her .278 hitting percentage is pretty good considering that she’s being asked to be over 31% of FGCU’s offense. Skylar English, a 5’11” outside hitter from Naples, Florida, provides the Eagles with a second option, as she averages more than 3.30 kills per set and hits .265. Those two have combined to take over 57% of Florida Gulf Coast’s swings this season, so if MU can force the Eagles to start looking at other options, things may unravel quickly for them.
FGCU will use a setter rotation, as Shanelle Puetz and Raegan Richardson are at 6.34 and 4.39 assists per set this season. Richardson missed one set somewhere along the way this season, but other than that, they’ve both been out there every single night with Puetz getting the start in 28 of 31 matches.
It will be interesting to see how Florida Gulf Coast presents themselves on defense, as Kent and English lead the team in digs. Claire Ertel is the only other woman averaging over two digs per set, so she’s your likely primary libero here. Evollve has FGCU at #96 in the country in Receiving Rating, which is their probability of scoring a point when the other team is serving. That’s potentially a spot where Marquette can strike, as the Golden Eagles have a focus on serving themselves into advantageous spots and average nearly 1.5 aces per set.
Ella Chapman and Oreva Evivie provide an interesting combination of blockers. The 6’4” Chapman is just over a block per set, while the 6’0” Evivie is just a bit under it. Much like Murray and Bray don’t usually partner with each other on blocks, I presume the same is true for FGCU. That still gives them a pretty potent option to shut things down as they come across the net.