Some notes after a 1-1 week for Marquette volleyball (18-7, 12-2 Big East):
Bye Bye Big East title
Marquette volleyball understands what Sunday’s loss to 5th ranked Creighton means: its hopes of winning a fourth-straight Big East regular season title are all but dead.
The Golden Eagles now sit an arm’s length away from first place in the conference — at two games back with only four matches remaining before the tournament starts Nov. 27.
Marquette’s issue lies in the fact it no longer has any say in the matter because it lost to Creighton (14-0 Big East) twice.
While it likely will win out the remaining four matches of the regular season, it’s not going to be enough on its own.
The undefeated Bluejays control their own destiny, and given their remaining matches — against the same teams as the Golden Eagles — they are almost guaranteed to win out, forget dropping two entire games for the first time in Big East play.
Creighton has been so dominant against conference foes it has only lost two sets through 14 games — both coming against Marquette.
“I don’t perceive Creighton dropping many along the way. It would be great if that happens and we get in contention,” head coach Ryan Theis said after Sunday’s loss.
“But we understood what happened today.”
Handling the reality of second place
Every year the volleyball players emphasize their want to achieve something no other Marquette team ever has.
This pretty much means two things: winning the Big East tournament and/or reaching the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament.
The Golden Eagles have made it a habit to win the regular season championship, so while winning it again would be nice, they also want more postseason success. That’s what is pushing the entire team on despite an early end to the title race.
Marquette has made it to the Big East tournament championship before under Theis, but it hasn’t broken through to be crowned victors. The Golden Eagles have won the tournament once though in 2013, one year before Theis arrived. In the NCAA tournament, Marquette has made it to the Sweet 16 twice (2019 and 2022) but never further.
So checking off one or both of those boxes would make up for its second place finish and then some.
“We can decide now that our season’s over and pout, or we can show up at practice tomorrow morning, engaged and playing for something,” Theis said. “We’ve got seven seniors who would love to make an NCAA tournament run or a Big East tournament championship.
“We have a lot that we can still have go right. And so it’s up to them now to decide, are you showing up tomorrow morning engaged? If not, then don’t show up.”
This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.
