Every successful team has an identity. It has something in its style of play or demeanor on the field that sets it apart from every other team.

In college basketball, Big Ten teams like Wisconsin are known for their deliberate, half court, defensive game. In the NFL, the Chicago Bears are known for their stingy defense and punishing ground game.

There are many other examples, but the point is that successful teams have a style of their own. An identity that makes the team unique. Something to set it apart.

As the Marquette women’s volleyball team gets set to kick off the Big East season in Pittsburgh this weekend, the Golden Eagles are still in search of an identity to call their own.

“One of the questions we asked the team this weekend is what does the scouting report on Marquette look like, and we weren’t really quite sure yet,” coach Bond Shymansky said. “We’re still trying to discover what are we, who are we as a team and how do our opponents describe us when they’re preparing for us.”

Marquette came a long way in the soul-searching process this past weekend, rebounding from back-to-back losses against Michigan and Oregon State to defeat Dayton.

“For our team, I think it’s really the next step forward in just believing that we won’t just compete with teams like that, but that we can beat them,” Shymansky said.

There is definitely no sense of complacency in the Golden Eagle camp, where the players realize the toughest part is yet to come.

“As well as we’ve done this season so far, we know that we are going to do much better in the rest of the season,” sophomore Ashley Beyer said.

Beyer, the team’s leader in kills, added that the team is very energized and knows the hard work needed to keep succeeding.

Junior Nikki Klingsporn echoed those sentiments.

“We’re fired up. We’ve been working hard all preseason, and now is our time to show how hard we have been working,” the setter said.

Marquette will travel to Pittsburgh Saturday to open conference play against the Panthers before heading to West Virginia to battle the Mountaineers Sunday.

While the road trip does add an element of difficulty to the matches, Shymansky doesn’t seem to mind it

“Going on the road really eliminates a lot of distractions that you have here on campus like school or social things,” Shymansky said. “We get to escape into our own little bubble as a team.”

Pittsburgh currently stands at 8-6 and comes in riding a three-match win streak. They are led by senior Megan Dooley, who was just named the Big East Player of the Week.

“We have to take care of first contact, serve and pass, especially passing,” Klingsporn said. “They’re a very middle-based team, and we need to get them out of their offense with our serving.”

Shymansky expects a victory from this game as well as the next one.

“We want to get a good start to Big East play,” he said, “and we feel like our team is positioned well to do that.”