#19 Marquette Volleyball Preview: at Villanova & at Georgetown

The Marquette Golden Eagles moved back one spot in the AVCA polls after losing to Creighton in four sets. The Golden Eagles responded to the loss by obliterating Providence the following day, but that wasn’t enough to hold on to their #18 ranking. The team now heads out east to take on Coach Ryan Theis’ kryptonite Villanova and Georgetown. Kryptonite or not, the important thing to realize for this weekend is that Marquette can clinch one of the four Big East tournament spots with two wins. Both Georgetown and Villanova have six losses in league play already and are tied for fourth place. With a record of 10-2, Marquette’s magic number to clinch a berth is thus just three, but it is three over both teams. Two Marquette wins plus a loss by each gets you all three for both, thus locking in the Golden Eagles with four matches left to go after this weekend.

Big East Match #13: At Villanova Wildcats (13-11, 6-6 Big East)

Date: Friday, November 2, 2018
Time: 7 PM CT
Location: Jake Nevin Field House, Villanova, PA
Stream: Villanova Streaming Services, but you have to pay for it.
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteVB

As I always say when previewing Nova, Coach Josh Steinbach is Ryan Theis’ kryptonite. We all know what happened the last time Marquette went to Villanova as the Golden Eagles dropped the match.

Leading the offense for Nova is Clare Delaplane who is averaging 2.94 kills per set. Villanova has four women all averaging around 2.50 kills per set, which means the ball likes to be spread around and hit by whoever is closest. Blocking schemes should not be an issue for Coach Theis as the Nova front court is not that impressive.

Setting for the Wildcats is Emma Decker who is averaging 9.41 assists per set. Like I said earlier, Decker likes to spread the ball around. It seems like she doesn’t have a favorite hitter so she just gets the ball to whoever is the easiest target, or whoever’s on a hot streak.

Speaking of hot streaks, I am gonna say Marquette in three for this one. I think Marquette will start a new streak of sweeping matches until the Big East tournament hits.

Big East Match #14: at Georgetown Hoyas (13-11, 6-6 Big East)

Date: Saturday, November 3, 2018
Time: 5 PM CT
Location: McDonough Arena, Washington D. C.
Video Streaming: GoHoyas.com, but again, you have to pay for it.
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteVB

As mentioned earlier, Georgetown is tied for fourth in Big East with Villanova. Two out three of their next matches are against Marquette and Creighton, it will be tough for the Hoyas to stay tied with Nova after those matches. Then again, because of the travel partner system, Villanova has the Bluejays coming up quickly, too.

Leading the offense for Georgetown is Iva Vujosevic with 3.28 kills per set. The junior has come out strong this season racking up 28 kills against UNC-Wilmington. The Hoyas also have Alyssa Sinnette who is averaging 3.09 kills on the outside as well. Neither woman is even hitting above .170 on the year, which isn’t what you want, if you’re the Hoyas’ coaching staff. Ryan Theis is probably fine with that continuing.

Setting for the Hoyas is Margo Pivonka who is averaging 8.93 assists per set. Pivonka likes to go to Vujosevic most of the time, but her backups are Sinnette who I mentioned above and Symone Speech who is averaging 2.96 kills per set.

I am gonna say Marquette in three again. The Golden Eagles will continue to sweep teams until the Big East tournament. Let’s kick it to the weekend.