Marquette volleyball is on the verge of passing the most difficult test on their schedule with flying colors. However, one obstacle stands between the Golden Eagles and their first slate of home games.
This upcoming weekend, the team will travel to Laramie, Wyoming, for Pistol Pete’s Showdown. Coached by Ryan Theis, the plucky Golden Eagles will square off with Wyoming on Friday afternoon and Big Sky stalwart Northern Colorado on Friday night before wrapping up their weekend with a match against No. 22 Kansas on Saturday afternoon.
“It’ll be our third road trip in a row against three good teams, and it’s at a high elevation,” Theis said. “We’re going to try to get acclimated as quickly as possible.”
All three opponents that Marquette will encounter this weekend have proven themselves to be formidable. Wyoming is currently 5-1 and started the season with a straight-sets victory over No. 14 Ohio State. Northern Colorado, despite what their 2-3 record would suggest, is a solid program that has made the NCAA tournament in three of the last four seasons. This year’s Bears feature a pair of All-Big Sky players: senior Kendra Cunningham and junior Ashley Guthrie.
Those two fixtures, though, are merely the undercards to the biggest game of the weekend: Marquette vs. Kansas. The Jayhawks enter Pistol Pete’s Showdown with an immaculate 6-0 record. If that isn’t impressive enough, Kansas has only lost one set all year. Kelsie Payne and Tiana Dockery, both of whom average over three kills per set, pace a Jayhawk offense that is hitting a blistering .334 on the season.
“Kansas will be very physical and very skilled,” Theis said. “They have multiple people that can kill the ball, they defend well, and their hitting and serving numbers are through the roof right now. They’ll put pressure on us in every situation.”
In response, Marquette will most likely turn to their offensive breadwinner Taylor Louis. The redshirt freshman submitted another sterling performance at the Mary Jo Wynn Invitational this past weekend, averaging over six kills per set. She has been ruthlessly efficient, hitting .275 in MU’s first six games despite having well over 300 attack attempts.
All of Marquette’s games will feature live stats updates courtesy of GoMarquette.com. In addition, the Golden Eagles’ game against Wyoming will stream live on the Mountain West Network.
