Marquette volleyball’s magic number is one.
One win in the final four matches or one Butler loss will send Marquette to its sixth consecutive BIG EAST conference tournament. After that, it could be on to the NCAA Tournament.
“I think we’re a team that can and should be in the tournament as long as we continue to do our job,” Marquette head coach Ryan Theis said.
Marquette should not have a particularly hard time making the first of those postseason goals a reality as they take on the St. John’s Red Storm and the Providence Friars on the road this weekend. St. John’s is 6-8 in BIG EAST play and Providence is a conference-worst 1-13. Both teams lost to Marquette earlier this season in straight sets when they played in the Al McGuire Center.
The Red Storm should be the heartier opponent of the two by far. They rank second in the BIG EAST in blocks per set, with junior middle hitter Danisha Moss leading the entire conference in that category with 1.25 bps.
“You never want to be attacking the strength of someone’s block,” Theis said. “Whether it’s making a blocker move or whether their inside hand is what they’re good at… you want to make sure the hitters understand not to attack their strength.”
It’s hard to imagine that the Friars will offer anywhere near the same level of resistance, though. Providence is on a nine-game losing streak and ranks in the bottom two in the conference in nearly every major statistical category.
Still, Theis remained cautious of a potential trap game.
“Last year, I thought that from match one to match 18 [in league play], they were the most improved team over the course of the year,” Theis said. “They’re getting better and getting stronger from year to year.”
The St. John’s match will get underway at 1 p.m. on Saturday, and the Providence match will be at 11 a.m. on Sunday. Free stat tracking for both matches will be available at gomarquette.com.
