Marquette Volleyball Is Earning Preseason AVCA Top 25 Votes!

The Golden Eagles snagged 94 points worth of votes to start the season, which is tremendous. That has them as the unofficial #29 team in the country before a single ball goes over a net. Why is this great/surprising news? Because Marquette returns just one starter from last season in middle blocker Hattie Bray. If you want to say two returning starters because Natalie Ring was starting more often than not later in the season, I won’t argue with you, but you see my point here. Mix in the coaching change, and I would have figured that the coaches voting in the poll would have generally speaking stayed away from Marquette. I should note that MU is much closer to unofficial #28 North Carolina’s 113 points than they are to unofficial #30 Western Kentucky’s 40 points, which is also pretty good news for the Golden Eagles.

Marquette’s non-conference schedule is stocked up with opportunities to push their way into the top 25 this season, and those start right away. MU’s first two matches of the season are against teams behind them in the Receiving Votes department, with Hawaii at #36 and 20 points while San Diego is at #37 and 18 points. Those matches will be out in Hawaii and will come on back-to-back days on August 29th and 30th.

After closing out their trip to Hawaii against Utah State, Marquette opens up the home slate one week later against that Western Kentucky team that’s starting the year one spot behind them. The very next day, MU hosts preseason #24 Dayton. Five matches into the year, and Marquette will have played four teams earning top 25 votes.

Once they get through that run, it’ll be a week and a half before the Golden Eagles get another chance to show out. In a stretch of five days, Marquette will face, in order, #8 Wisconsin, #16 Florida, and #11 Minnesota. All three of those matches will be in Milwaukee, with the Badgers meeting up with MU at Fiserv Forum and the Gators and Gophers going to the McGuire Center. All three of those matches will be on television, with Big Ten Network getting the UW match and FS1 snagging the other two, and remember: The Florida match is Ryan Theis’ return to the Al after taking their job in the offseason.

Speaking of FS1, Marquette’s home game against Creighton on October 2nd is getting picked up by that network, too. The Bluejays are the favorite to win the Big East this season according to the AVCA voters, as Creighton — even after their own coaching change — starts the year at #12 in the country. That gives Marquette an opponent that’s at least earning preseason top 25 votes in eight of their first 15 matches of the year, and their ninth match against a preseason top 25 squad comes in the November 1st rematch against Creighton in Omaha.

That opening match against Hawaii is scheduled for August 29th local time on the islands, which does mean it’s set to start at midnight Central as we move into August 30th. It’ll be a late night for match #2 as well, as the San Diego contest is scheduled for 9:45 Central time on the 30th.

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