<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1UNlvX_0wBS1K4E00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1UNlvX_0wBS1K4E00" width="1210" height="806" ></figure>Sometimes, given the nature of how several of the teams in the Big East treat their volleyball programs, you have to just lean into the kinds of drama and excitement that you can rummage up.Sometimes, no one other than Creighton and Marquette are in the top 65 of the RPI and five of the 11 teams are somewhere at 200 or below. Like, for example, right now. Sometimes, you have a match against one of those sub-200 teams on the slate for a weekend, and so you have to just say “well, what’s interesting about what’s going on here?”And so, that’s why I point out that Friday night’s match against DePaul will decide who is alone in second place in the Big East. Both the Golden Eagles and the Blue Demons come into the contest at 5-1 with the difference being that Marquette lost at #6 Creighton and DePaul lost at home to the Villanova team that Marquette just waded through on Sunday afternoon. Everyone else — except for the undefeated Bluejays, of course — has at least two losses already, so Friday night is a big opportunity for the Golden Eagles to create separation in the standings. There’s also the issue of maintaining the one game gap with Creighton at risk all weekend long.If we squint, we can look at the other match of the weekend and say “hey, that team has won four of their last five matches! They’re on a hot streak!” This means we have to ignore the 2-8 record before that as well as the part where they’re tangling with the aforementioned national title contending Bluejays on Friday before they come to Milwaukee. So, y’know, probably gonna put a dent in that hot streak. But like I said: Gotta build up drama and excitement where you can find it. That fact is why head coach Ryan Theis goes out of his way to schedule up in the non-conference portion of the schedule. 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.<h2>Big East Match #7: vs DePaul Blue Demons (13-5, 5-1 Big East)</h2>Date: Friday, October 18, 2024Time: 7pm CentralLocation: Al McGuire Center, Milwaukee, WisconsinStreaming: FloSportsLive Stats: Sidearm StatsTwitter Updates: @MarquetteVBBluesky Updates: @AnonymousEagleMarquette is 43-29 all time against DePaul, but that’s a little misleading. MU went 2-4 against the Blue Demons before officially becoming a Division 1 program in 1986. So it’s 41-25 in Division 1 since 1986, and even that’s misleading. Marquette is currently on a 26 match winning streak against DePaul dating all the way back to the 2009 season. In fairness to DePaul, things are getting closer, and by closer, I mean the Blue Demons have won at least one set in three of the last five meetings.So far so good this season for DePaul, as they’re currently sitting in a tie for second place in the Big East after being picked to finish fourth in the conference. Sure, it’s six matches into an 18 match schedule, but an early advantage is still an early advantage. In terms of non-conference schedule, they don’t have a top 90 win, and in fact only played two top 90 RPI teams, so that 13-5 record is a little bit built on the back of beating up some sub-200 opponents. In fact, even though they’re rolling along and seem to be ticketed for a conference tournament berth, they have a pair of sub-100 losses and so they’re pretty much guaranteed to not be an NCAA tournament team when it comes to that.Jill Pressly is doing Jill Pressly things like averaging 4.26 kills per set and hitting a very shiny .271 on the season. She’s not going to get you an awful lot else other than the kills, as she only averages 4.65 points per set, but she’s also the only hitter in the league averaging over four kills a set, so you take your wins where you get them. Audrey Klemp is a quality second option for the Blue Demons, racking up 3.22 kills per set and hitting .254.DePaul rotates their setters, going with Ashley Cudiamat as the starter most of the time with Amanda Saeger still picking up four starts this season. They’re both averaging over five assists per set to help push the team to 12.83 per frame, and that’s second in the Big East behind only Creighton. Preseason All-Big East honoree Rachel Krasowski appears to be doing the majority of the libero work with 4.70 digs per set, while Aly Kindelberger is DePaul’s top blocker with 0.94 blocks for a point per set.<h2>Big East Match #8: vs Xavier Musketeers (6-10, 4-2 Big East)</h2>Date: Sunday, October 20, 2024Time: 1pm CentralLocation: Al McGuire Center, Milwaukee, WisconsinStreaming: FloSportsLive Stats: Sidearm StatsTwitter Updates: @MarquetteVBBluesky Updates: @AnonymousEagleMarquette is 20-9 all time against Xavier. The series went 2-2 before MU was officially a part of Division 1 in 1986, so that’s 18-7 since then. Marquette has won 10 straight meetings against the Musketeers, dating back to XU winning in Cincinnati and again in Indianapolis in the 2016 Big East tournament.I’m trying to figure out what happened with Xavier here. They started off the season with four straight losses, although in their defense, two of those are top 100 opponents right now. That ended up turning into six of seven and ultimately nine of 11 after dropping their Big East opener to DePaul. Their top attacker in total kills — Anna Taylor — has played in every set this season, as has #3, Margo Kemp. Emma Grace falls in between the two of them, and she missed just one match this season. You’d expect a team that started off so poorly — six sub-100 losses, two of them sub-200! — to be ravaged by injuries with lots of people missing time, but that really doesn’t seem to be the case here. I don’t know what’s happened to get the Musketeers rolling in their last five matches.I mean, yeah, Georgetown and Seton Hall are not good, but Xavier lost to teams with a worse RPI than them already this season. XU even picked up a home win over that St. John’s team that crushed Marquette in the first set at Carnesecca Arena. I’ve got nothing for you really, other than it kiiiiiiiinda looks like Xavier’s figured something out about themselves? Maybe that makes them more dangerous than you’d expect from that 2-9 start to the season?What if we just look at conference play for Xavier? Emma Grace is the top attacker in the last six contests, averaging 3.23 kills per set, but she’s only hitting .154. Caroline Speelman is back in the last four after missing some time, and she’s hitting .280 and gathering up 3.08 kills per set. Anna Taylor’s right behind her at 3.00 even and a .260 hitting percentage. That’s quality stuff in terms of three options on offense. Logan Flaugh is averaging over 11 assists per set, which is always welcome and helpful. Lucia Corsaro anchors the defense with 3.45 digs, although Grace adds over three herself. Margo Kemp and Sarah Stevens aren’t quite block-per-set at the net, but they’re over 0.80 each in Big East action.</div></body>

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RV Marquette Volleyball Preview: vs DePaul & vs Xavier

Sometimes, given the nature of how several of the teams in the Big East treat their volleyball programs, you have to just lean into the kinds of drama and excitement that you can rummage up. Sometimes, no one other than Creighton and Marquette are in the top 65 of the...