Marquette Volleyball Inks Three Recruits For 2016

On Thursday morning, Marquette volleyball and head coach Ryan Theis announced the signing of three recruits.  All three women are top 100 recruits, and all three will arrive on campus next summer with four years of eligibility remaining.

Let's get to what the official Marquette press release says about the three signees, starting with Allie Barber, a 6'5" middle blocker from Cedarburg, Wisconsin.

Barber hails from Cedarburg, Wisconsin and is PrepVolleyball.com's No. 45 Senior Ace. The 6-5 middle blocker was most recently named a 2015 All-State selection and is a three-time All-Conference honoree. In 2014, she helped lead her club squad to the national championship match of the 16 American Division and was an AAU Volleyball National All-American. A dual-sport athlete, Barber also played basketball and helped Cedarburg to three regional titles.

"Allie comes with a giant upside and the ability to score points," Theis said. "She was a little late to volleyball, but has really come on in the last two years. We think she will have a big role out of the middle position for the future of Marquette volleyball."

Next up, 6-foot outside hitter Madeline Mosher, who hails from Waterloo, Wisconsin:

Also native to Wisconsin, Mosher is PrepVolleyball.com's No. 85 Senior Ace and led Waterloo High School to back-to-back Wisconsin Division 3 State Championships and earned First Team All-State honors. She set a Wisconsin State Championship record with a .478 hitting percentage and totaled 80 kills through two matches, including 41 in the state semifinals. The 6-0 outside hitter is a three-time First Team All-Conference selection and has earned three Capital South Conference Player of the Year awards. Mosher can play all six rotations and is Barber's teammate at Milwaukee Sting Volleyball Club where she was named a PrepVolleyball Club All-American. Mosher holds the Waterloo record in kills with 1,854.

"Madeline is a dynamic athlete with a fast arm. She is coming off back to back state championships and a lot of winning at the AAU/Club level and we are excited to have her in our program," Theis said.

We'll wrap up with the lone non-Wisconsinite on the list.  That's Lauren Speckman, who is a 5'9" setter coming to Milwaukee from San Jose, California.

Speckman will join MU from Archbishop Mitty in San Jose, California, and played for Vision at the club level. She is PrepVolleyball's No. 75 Senior Ace and a WCAL All-League First Team honoree as a senior. As a junior, the 5-9 setter was selected to the All-Mercury News First Team and was on the MaxPrep 2014 CA Volleyball All-State Division II Team. Speckman helped lead Archbishop Mitty to three consecutive WCAL, CCS, NorCal and CIF State Championships. She is a proven leader and was tabbed as the setter for the 2014 USA Youth National Team.

Lauren is a great blend of maturity, poise and volleyball IQ," said Theis. "These are characteristics that we want out of our setter. She has played with high level club teams and the youth national team so we like the experiences that she will bring and are excited about her running our offense."

Here's what I'm taking away from this signing class:

• Theis is keeping high quality talent in state, and more importantly given that Wisconsin was in the national championship game in 2013, he's got them coming to Marquette.
• Stealing top 100 talent from California is no joke, especially when said recruit has youth national team experience.
• There's a whole lot of experience in winning state titles in both Mosher and Speckman.
• Barber "came to volleyball late" but still was all-conference three times and is the highest ranked recruit of the three.  Yeah.
• Do you realize that even if the state semifinal went to five sets, Mosher averaged OVER EIGHT KILLS PER SET in that match?  HOLY CRAP.