Marquette put the volleyball world on notice last weekend with three statement victories. Now the degree of difficulty moves up a notch.
After a surprising 3-0 performance in the Cyclone Invitational, the Golden Eagles will look to continue their winning ways this weekend. Ryan Theis’ squad will travel to Springfield, Mo. to compete with three other schools in the Mary Jo Wynn Invitational.
The Golden Eagles are flying high after their stellar performance this past weekend. Middle hitter Meghan Niemann earned Big East Player of the Week honors for her efforts in Iowa. The redshirt junior amassed 32 kills and just four errors on a meager 52 attack attempts in Marquette’s three games. She currently leads the Big East in hitting percentage.
The Big East Conference also recognized outside hitter Taylor Louis. She won Big East Freshman of the Week after recording double-figure kill totals in each of Marquette’s three matches.
Marquette will have to deal with Oral Roberts University, Miami and Missouri State this weekend. Both Missouri State and Miami are 3-0, while Oral Roberts is 2-1 after suffering a loss to Ole Miss in their season opener. Of Marquette’s three upcoming opponents, only Miami earned an NCAA Tournament bid last year.
Miami will most likely be Marquette’s most difficult opposition this weekend. The Hurricanes return five out of seven starters from the 2014 team that made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament. A pair of sophomore All-ACC selections — setter Haley Templeton and outside hitter Olga Strantzali — will lead the talented Canes in their effort to end Marquette’s unbeaten streak.
Despite their recent successes, Marquette runs the risk of falling victim to a trap game. All of the Golden Eagles’ opponents this weekend are competent, and overconfidence is always a danger with a young team coming off of unexpected successes. In order to be successful this weekend, Marquette needs to pay extra attention to limiting their unforced errors.
Last weekend, the Golden Eagles were inconsistent on that front. They logged 19 and 18 attack errors against North Dakota State and Iowa State, respectively, yet managed to keep their error count to 11 against Dayton.
Marquette’s game against Oral Roberts is at 4 p.m. on Friday, while the fixtures with Miami and Missouri State are scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. respectively.
