Marquette volleyball started Big East play with two sweeps.
The unofficial 29th-ranked Golden Eagles (6-5, 2-0 Big East) beat the then-undefeated UConn Huskies Friday night before downing the Providence Friars Sunday.
Here are some notes from the week:
1. Over the weekend we saw the first iteration of head coach Ryan Theis’ libero musical chairs.
Up until this point, Theis’ two liberos have been sophomore Molly Berezowitz and junior Adriana Studer — with Berezowitz playing the majority of the share.
Friday, however, Theis decided to move Berezowitz to defensive specialist in place of senior Samantha Naber.
It’s Sam Naber’s first start in the Libero jersey this season. She’s in the off-colored jersey with Adriana Studer, and Molly Berezowitz is a DS. #muvb pic.twitter.com/kAw4eOu5PE
— Jack Albright (@JackAlbrightMU) September 27, 2024
Sunday, Theis reverted back to his usual libero combination of Berezowitz and Studer.
“We’re trying to evaluate [the position] as we go through Big East play,” Theis said after the game. “We’re gonna try and make some kind of decision for a final season push.”
2. Naber got the start Friday because of her recent performances when coming off the bench, Theis said.
“Sam has been playing really well, and we’ve been using her as (Ella) Foti has returned from injury, so she’s been taking a lot of the load off of Foti and playing really, really well,” Theis said Friday. “We thought it warranted a start.”
Naber played as the Golden Eagles’ top libero, recording a match-high 15 digs along with five assists and her first kill of the year. Sunday — back to coming off the bench — she tied a team-most 11 digs.
This season, the Burlington, Wisconsin native has averaged a career-most 2.03 digs per set.
3. Marquette’s roster experience, coupled with its brutally difficult non-conference schedule, means it mostly operates with little lineup deviation.
So, naturally, it can become difficult for a lot of people to get playing time — especially in the non-con.
But once conference play starts, given how much better the Golden Eagles are than most of their Big East counterparts, that changes. Marquette’s opening conference play weekend showed that.
“Sometimes (in non-con play) it was maybe hard to [spread a lot of playing time],” Theis said Friday, “but we have a lot of players that deserve minutes, and when we give them to we want to give them…”
In both matches, senior Jadyn Garrison, and juniors Sienna Ifill and Morgan Daugherty — all bench pieces — saw the court for extended periods of time. Against the Friars, Ifill posted a season-high five kills hitting .400 and Daugherty earned a season-most four kills on a .250 hitting percentage.
But not playing in a lot matches also has its downsides, too.
“I thought I saw some really nice plays out of our bench,” Theis said Sunday. “I thought I saw some where, they’re probably a little bit nervous, or in an environment outside of our practice gym.
“So I saw some positives, and a couple of things I think they could do better.”
4. The Golden Eagles’ first road game of Big East play comes Tuesday at 6 p.m. CST in a nationally-televised match against No. 6 Creighton.
“We only got about a 90-minute practice in Omaha to get prepared for them, so it’s a quick turnaround,” Theis said. “I’m sure it’ll be a tough environment.”
This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.
