The Marquette women’s volleyball team looks to right the ship as it welcomes Seton Hall and Rutgers to the Al McGuire Center this weekend.
“At home you just have that natural fan base with everybody supporting you and cheering you on,” senior Hailey Viola said. “When you’re on the road you have no one.”
The Golden Eagles will try to use this home court advantage to get their first Big East victory and get back in the race for a conference championship.
“This is a crucial, crucial weekend for us to try and get back to .500 in conference play,” coach Bond Shymansky said.
“We have spent a lot of time every week preparing for our first opponent, but this week we really feel we need to prepare us. We need to focus on Marquette and make sure we’re taking care of the ball on our side of the net.”
The team intends on showing the home crowd it is capable of being a contender.
“We hate losing,” junior Nikki Klingsporn said. “We want to prove how hard we have been working, so we’re looking to come out in front of our home crowd and prove to them that we are a good team.”
This will entail being more tenacious as a team and showing less fear while hitting and blocking.
“I think just having that home court advantage and playing in front of our home crowd, trying to respond to a tough weekend is where we’re really going to see what we’re made of,” Shymansky said. “We need to be reminded that volleyball is an explosive sport. It’s an aggressive sport and sometimes you need to go after the blocker on the other side.”
Seton Hall will be Marquette’s first opponent Friday at 7 p.m. The Pirates come in with a 1-1 record in conference and a 7-11 record overall. They are 1-4 on the road but have beaten Marquette in back-to-back years. They are led by sophomore Meghan Matusiak who has 35 kills in conference play and was named to the Big East Honor Roll last week.
The Golden Eagles will then take on Rutgers Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Scarlet Knights also come in to the match 1-1 in the Big East with its only victory coming against Georgetown. Rutgers is 7-8 on the season and 2-2 in road action.
The match against Rutgers will take on special significance for Marquette, which will be sponsoring a Dig Pink program to benefit breast cancer research.
“Dig Pink is a cancer awareness initiative and it’s become a big initiative across Division I volleyball, so we’re happy to be a part of that,” said Shymansky. “Our team and our staff is going out and getting pledge donations per dig.”
The team is hoping to raise thousands of dollars through the pledges, shirt sales and change jars located throughout the dorms until Oct. 4.
“I think its a significant thing when you start thinking about the stats and how likely it is that a third or a quarter of these women will graduate from Marquette and someday have to battle with breast cancer,” said Shymansky. “So I think its good for them to be aware, especially at a young age, and get involved in a cause like that.”
