It didn’t take long for Marquette volleyball to dust off its offseason cobwebs.

After their eight month break, the No. 24 ranked Golden Eagles kicked off the 2024 campaign with a 3-0 sweep (25-23, 27-25, 25-13) over Northwestern in a preseason exhibition Friday at the Al McGuire Center.

“I thought that we learned some things, which was great. I thought we came out and served really tentative (but) passed really, really well,” head coach Ryan Theis said.

“And a lot of it could be nerves or just, again, playing somebody else, right? Does it mean something more? Are we a little bit more tense, distressed? So hopefully we worked some of that out today.”

Here are five takeaways from the exhibition:

Four different liberos

The libero position was always going to a big question for Marquette this year.

Last year, the Golden Eagles’ libero was graduate student transfer Sarah Kushner. Before Kushner was back court anchor Carly Skrabak, who transferred to Cincinnati for her final year of eligibility.

All this means that for the third time in three seasons, Marquette has a new starting libero.

But the position is also of heightened importance this year thanks to a new NCAA rule, which allows teams to field two liberos at once. Friday, Theis used all four liberos: Adriana Studer, Samantha Naber, Molly Berezowitz and Jadyn Garrison.

“It allows you some opportunities to help a player out if they’re struggling, right?” Theis said. “Or, hey, this team’s favorite thing is to attack here, and Sam’s really good at defending that. Or this player’s serve is really aggressive in the one-zone, Adriana is really good at passing that.

“So we could just use it a little bit, right now to hopefully an advantage, and we’ll see we’re learning it as well. This is new for them and for us.”

Studer was the sole Golden Eagle to play the entire game as libero, but Theis said not to read too far into that.

“She will definitely see some time at libero,” he said.

Experience is priceless

All four of the Golden Eagles’ 2023 All-Big East Team honorees (Yadhira Anchante, Carsen Murray, Hattie Bray and Aubrey Hamilton) came back for their final years — and all again made the 2024 conference preseason team.

This collection of experience made its presence felt in the sweep, with all of the upper-level students dominating.

Outside hitter Hamilton had a game-high 11 kills, while Bray and Murray both grabbed six kills and Anchante finished with 35 assists.

“[Returning a lot of players] just makes systems a little bit easier, when they know pace and tempo right off the bat,” Theis said. “The veteran part helps right now, and it helps catch the younger players up, because they just get to see it everyday.”

Seniors Jenna Reitsma and Ella Foti also bagged nine and eight kills respectively.

Natalie Ring makes first career start

Junior outside hitter Natalie Ring spent last season redshirting.

Friday, she made her first career start — and racked up six kills, also getting two service aces.

“She’s still got to learn, in an environment of games to 25, when to ramp up and when to pull back, and where to play small balls and how to be engaged defensively, and she’s still learning that, but she can score,” Theis said.

“She was our leading point scorer in the spring, and has had a pretty good last week of practice. So when you need points, if you need somebody who can get a kill, you want a big arm out there to give it a go.”

All three first-years see the court

Marquette fans got to see all three first-years play.

6-foot-3 middle blocker Meghan Clifford got started right away, grabbing two blocks on her first two collegiate points.

“Meghan Clifford is just a presence at the net,” Theis said. “She is going to have a phenomenal career here. We’d like to redshirt her this year, if we can stay healthy enough to do that.”

Setter/defensive specialist Calli Kenny was the earliest first-year to get playing time, coming in during the third set and finishing with three assists and a service ace. Setter Malayah Long subbed in during the unofficial fourth set.

“Calli and Malaya both started nervous and ended up flinging some pretty good sets around as the match went on,” Theis said.

Serving stays aggressive

Marquette served exactly like Theis wants: aggressively.

Despite a slower start behind the service line, the Golden Eagles warmed up by the third set and finished with 11 aces to the Wildcats’ zero.

“Just gives you such easier opportunities to score,” Theis said. “When they passed it well in those first two sets with their setter near the net. She’s a big kid and very physical offensively. That makes it hard, so you’ve got to get pressure on and get that setter away from the net. I thought we did a better job of that later.”

This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.