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Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

Marquette gears up for huge weekend series

Trib File Photo
Trib File Photo

The Marquette women’s volleyball team is firmly in the middle of a tight race for first place in the Big East. The Golden Eagles (17-6, 8-3) are part of a three-way tie for second with Butler and Seton Hall, and all three teams are just two games behind the Creighton Bluejays (10-1). Lurking close behind is Xavier (7-4), just one game out of second place.

Marquette hosts Butler Friday, followed by Xavier Saturday. The two games have heavy implications for how the final standings shake out, as there is less than a month left in the regular season.

In Marquette’s first match-up of the season against Butler Oct. 15 in Indianapolis, Ind., the two teams went the full five sets to determine a winner. Despite a career-high 30 kills from sophomore Autumn Bailey, the most by any Big East player in a match this season, the Golden Eagles lost, 22-25, 25-22, 25-18, 22-25, 11-15. After dropping the first set, Marquette took the next two, and had a 17-14 lead in the fourth. Butler went on a 6-0 tear and established a lead it held on to for the remainder of the game. The Golden Eagles went on to drop the fifth set and the match, 11-15. After the match, Marquette coach Ryan Theis pointed to that crucial fourth set as the difference in the game.

“We needed to finish in game four,” Theis told GoMarquette.com after the game. “We were up 17-14 and didn’t finish it. We got stuck and didn’t execute certain things. We didn’t execute great to begin with, but 17-14 in the fourth and we weren’t able to stop them.”

Butler leads the conference in digs per game, with three players in the top 10 in the category for the conference, and the Bulldogs sit in second in hitting percentage, assists, kills and blocks.

Saturday evening, the Golden Eagles will take on Xavier, a team they beat in four sets in Cincinnati, 22-25, 25-18, 25-14, 25-19. Again, Marquette lost the first set, but took over the game from there, winning the next three. Bailey led the team in kills with 20 and was one of four players who had 11 kills or more, including senior Lindsey Gosh (14), sophomore Nele Barber (13) and redshirt sophomore Meghan Niemann (11). Marquette hit .358 as a team, including a red-hot .571 in the third set.

Xavier has three players in the top 10 in the conference for hitting percentage, so the Golden Eagles will have to be tough defensively.

Niemann is coming off a career-best nine blocks in a win over Georgetown and was named to the Big East Conference Weekly Honor Roll for her performance. Her presence at the net this weekend will be vital, and Bailey will need to perform at the level she’s capable of in order for the Golden Eagles to come out on top. Theis said after the Georgetown match that his team was already looking forward to this weekend.

“We know it’s a big weekend coming up and we already talked about it after today’s match,” Theis told GoMarquette.com. “We are going to be back at home to play two good teams and we will be prepared for a fight. Hopefully, we will play well with energy and come out with some wins.”

Marquette will take on Butler at 7 p.m. Friday at the Al and will wrap up the weekend against Xavier at 6 p.m Saturday. The match against Xavier will air on the Big East Digital Network. Friday’s match will also have a costume contest, with the grand prize of a $100 gift card to the Marquette Spirit Shop, and a Marquette pillow case giveaway.

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