Some notes after Marquette volleyball (17-6, 11-1 Big East) earned its 11th win in a row:

Natalie Ring changing Reitsma’s role

Graduate outside hitter Jenna Reitsma has spent most of this season playing a role which limits how much she can hit. Instead, she’s been holding a passer spot in the rotation.

Theis only needs two words to explain why.

“Natalie’s offense,” he said, referencing outside hitter Natalie Ring’s breakout season.

He’s right. It’s one of the maybe more overlooked aspects of Ring’s career year, but having her arm consistently produce what it does allows him more freedom to tinker with the lineup.

This took the form of lowering Reitsma’s attacking numbers, instead making her a primary passer.

Through the non-con, Reitsma averaged 25.3 total attacks per game. That number has dropped all the way to 11.3 since the start of Big East play. She’s finished 10 of the Golden Eagles’ 12 conference matches with single-digit attacks, with the Big East opener against UConn being the first time since 2021 she didn’t eclipse 10 attacks in a game.

As a sophomore and junior, Reitsma was Marquette’s clear-cut No. 2 attacker behind Aubrey Hamilton. She finished those two seasons with 2.70 and 2.49 kills per set respectively. Now, in her graduate year, Reitsma is averaging a career-low 1.56 k/s — worse than the 1.68 she averaged as a first-year.

But while her hitting has gone down, her passing has gone drastically up volume.

With six games still left to play, Reitsma has 30 serve receives, compared to the 38 in total she had as a junior and 37 as a sophomore.

“I would say from sophomore year on, she has been one of the best passers on our team,” Theis said. “She’s just really comfortable back there, and it’s really valuable for us.”

Anchante’s historic achievement

Yadhira Anchante surprised even herself.

She knew that she was a talented setter when she transferred to Marquette, but to hit the 3,000 career-assist mark she did Sunday was an achievement she never imagined reaching upon becoming a Golden Eagle.

“I had no idea that I was gonna get to that amount of assists, but I think it is cool,” Anchante said. “And I feel it’s like a teamwork because without my hitters, I couldn’t get there.”

Anchante is the 4th player in program history to hit 3,000 assists, sitting now with 3,007 to her name.

Yadhira Anchante had 34 assists in Sunday’s sweep of St. John’s to become the fourth player in @marquetteu history to reach 3,000-career assist the mark. #WeAreMarquette pic.twitter.com/fJMcEVnIUh

— Marquette Volleyball (@MarquetteVB) November 4, 2024

“We knew she had abilities,” head coach Ryan Theis said. “We just didn’t know, coming from junior college, how quickly that would translate, and that translated fast, and she’s a special setter.”

Anchante is in her final season of eligibility, so 2024-25 was her last chance to put her name in the Marquette history books — and she did it in only 2 1/2 years.

Just imagine how many she’d finish with if she had four years to do it instead of three?

Anchante’s defense best its ever been

Anchante isn’t having only a historically good offensive season, she’s also playing the best defense of her career.

The graduate student is averaging a career-best 3.31 digs per set on the year, leading to a team-best 268 total. So far, she’s finished 17 games with 10 or more digs, which also makes her the Golden Eagle with the most double-doubles at 17.

“I feel like every year the coaches have asked me to improve my defense,” she said. “And I feel like this year, I’m getting there.”

Because English isn’t the Lima, Peru’s native tongue, Theis has come up with a way to emphasize how important her defense is.

“We joke, ‘Yadhi, no balls hit the floor in your area,'” he said. “So she’ll, after a match, be like ‘No balls hit the floor in my area’ if she has a good one.”

Her 3.31 digs per set average places her 9th in the Big East.

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