In less than seven hours, No. 16 Marquette will square up with No. 21 Creighton inside the D. J. Sokol Arena looking look to end a four-game losing streak to the Blue Jays.
The victor of the match will also take sole possession of first place in the Big East.
Marquette enters Friday’s matchup on a 13-game winning streak and a 15-1 record with their only loss coming to then-No. 6 Wisconsin on the road. It’s the best start to a season in program history.
The Golden Eagles are currently 6-0 in Big East play and most recently swept St. John’s and Seton Hall on the road. Following those two matches, Marquette moved up from No. 18 to No. 16 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association rankings on Monday. Creighton stayed put at No. 21 after wins against UConn and Providence.
In the all-time series Marquette is 5-24 against Creighton and is 1-9 in the past 10 matchups.
Last season Marquette and Creighton shared the title as Big East regular season champions with Creighton also going home as Big East Tournament Champs after beating Marquette in the championship.
A look at the Blue Jays
Creighton comes into Friday’s match on a six-game win streak and an overall record of 14-3. Their losses have come to then-No. 16 Kentucky, then-No. 2 Nebraska and Rice University. Across its losses, Creighton won a total of five combined sets.
One of the areas that Creighton excels is receiving its opponents attacks. This season, the Blue Jays are averaging 17.09 digs per set which ranks first in the Big East and eighth in the country through games Oct. 11.
The Blue Jays came in first in the Big East Preseason Coaches Poll with nine of the 11 first place votes. Sophomore outside hitter Norah Sis was named BIG EAST Preseason Player of the year while sophomore setter Kendra Wait and senior outside hitter Jaela Zimmerman joined Sis on the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team.
In the Big East, Creighton ranks second in hitting percentage, opponent hitting percentage, assists per set and kills per set, trailing Marquette in all of those categories.
Key Players
- Sis was most recently named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week after averaging 4.62 kills per set in their past two matches. On the season Sis is averaging 3.91 kills per set to lead the Big East while hitting .209 and averages 2.55 digs per set.
- Senior outside hitter Keely Davis is second on the team in kills per set with 2.73 and also has 29 service aces on the year. Davis also averages 3.03 digs per set which is the third most on the team.
- Junior middle blocker Carsen Murray leads the Big East in hitting percentage with a percentage of .415 and also in blocks per set, averaging 1.13. Murray also averages 2.25 kills per set which is the third most for the Golden Eagles.
- Sophomore outside hitter Jenna Reitsma is the reigning BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week after having an all around weekend for the Golden Eagles. Reitsma is second in the Big East in service aces per set with .45 and also averages 2.66 kills per set which is the second most on the team, just trailing junior outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton who’s averaging 3.27.
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This story was written by Ben Schultz. He can be reached at b[email protected] or on Twitter @benschultz52.
