Marquette volleyball finished off its five-game, three-week road trip to end non-conference play over the weekend in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The Golden Eagles beat East Carolina before falling to No. 1 Pitt Sunday. The weekend invitational came just days after they lost 3-1 to No. 7 Wisconsin in the Kohl Center Classic game on Tuesday.
The 1-2 stint sent Marquette (4-5) down to the unofficial No. 29 team in the AVCA poll.
Here are some notes from the week:
1. Yadhira Anchante became the seventh player in program history to reach 2,500 career assists. She now has 2,522 in her Division I career — 340 of which have come this season.
2️⃣5️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ AND COUNTING!
Yadhi notched her 2,500th assist in 💙💛 at No. 1 Pitt. #WeAreMarquette pic.twitter.com/3ExU4XpWiM
— Marquette Volleyball (@MarquetteVB) September 22, 2024
If she earns 284 more digs this season — she’s currently at 107 on the year — she will become the first Marquette player ever to have 2,500 assists and 1,000 digs.
2. Anchante’s double-double streak came to an end on Sunday.
After posting her sixth consecutive double-double in Saturday’s sweep over East Carolina (34 assists, 12 digs), the reigning Big East setter of the week fell three digs short of making it seven in a row in Marquette’s loss to Pitt.
Her six double-doubles on the year is a team-most.
3. Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Natalie Ring scored as many kills last week (13) as she had in the first six games of the season.
Ring, who hails from Madison, posted six kills in her homecoming game against the Badgers, along with earning her first career solo block.
Natalie denies Smrek up front, but Franklin answers with a pair of kills for UW and MU calls its final timeout in the fourth. pic.twitter.com/zClJQMV3I3
— Marquette Volleyball (@MarquetteVB) September 18, 2024
In Pittsburgh, she got one kill against the Pirates before her second six-kill performance of the week versus the Panthers, also hitting a season-high .500.
4. Marquette’s annual match against Wisconsin has garnered record interest in recent years.
Last season, the Golden Eagles took on the Badgers at Fiserv Forum, pulling a regular season indoor volleyball match record crowd of 17,037. The two in-state rivals’ match last Tuesday — which took place inside the 17,000-seat Kohl Center instead of the smaller UW-Fieldhouse — had an official attendance of 15,084, making it the fourth-most attended regular season game in Division I history.
5. Marquette will aim to get its first home win of the season — the Golden Eagles are currently 0-3 in the Al McGuire Center — in its Big East opener against UConn Friday at 7 p.m. CST. It will be MU’s first home match since Sept. 8. The Huskies’ 12-0 record is their best start to a season in program history.
This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.
