#11 Marquette Volleyball Preview: at St. John’s & at Seton Hall

Your 11th ranked Marquette Golden Eagles are coming off two sweeps with ease against Villanova and Georgetown after losing a close one to Creighton. The team responded well after the Creighton match and looks to keep the momentum going for the remainder of the Big East slate until the next Creighton match. St. John’s is a good opponent as they are currently tied for third in the Big East with Villanova and Butler. Seton Hall, well, they’re ninth in the conference and they just aren’t very good.

Match #9: at St. John’s Red Storm (13-8, 5-3 Big East)

Date: Friday, October 25, 2019
Time: 6 PM CT
Location: Carnesecca Arena
Streaming: The Big East Digital Network on YouTube
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteVB

St. John’s has looked like the third best team in this conference. They slipped up against Butler and I think they are looking forward to playing them again, considering it could be for the third seed in the tournament.

Unsurprisingly, Efronsi Alexakou leads the Johnnies with 4.10 kills per set, which is great . She has been playing really well all season and has picked the team up as the offense has taken a bit of a dip since the last time these two met. This team looks the most dangerous it has in my three years writing for this site.

Setting for the Johnnies is Erica Di Maulo with 9.81 assists per set. She has been outstanding in her career as a Johnnie. She’s having her best season so far and her pace and control is helping the team stay in these big matches. She was lights out in the win over Oregon, dishing a season high 48 assists.

I think Marquette is still going to be looking for heads after the Creighton match and will come out firing for a three game sweep.

Match #10: at Seton Hall Pirates (7-15, 2-6 Big East)

Date: Saturday, October 26, 2019
Time: 4 PM CT
Location: Walsh Gymnasium
Streaming: SHUPirates.com
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Listen: Pirate Radio
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteVB

Seton Hall is still not very good. I could probably end the preview right there, but nonetheless (I’m so smart using that word) I will talk about how bad the Pirates are at volleyball. I could even mention that they don’t even belong in the same gym as Marquette, but I won’t. Is that good enough to get me to heaven?

Haylee Gasser leads the Pirates in kills per set, with 2.87. She’s one of the few Pirates to play on a regular basis this season (no one has played in every match), so that’s not a great average, all things considered. The senior has had a solid campaign so far, but she needs to get those numbers up if Seton Hall wants to be any successful. Gasser is only hitting .153, which is uhhhh, bad, but hey, it’s better than #2 attacker Julia Wilkins at .134. The Pirates need more weapons on offense, plain and simple.

Maggie Cvelbar and Grace Rosenberg have been setting for the Pirates so far. Cvelbar is averaging 7.78 assists per set, while Rosenberg is averaging 5.61. Both setters have not been the problem this year, as it looks like whoever they set the ball to has trouble getting the ball over the net. Was that mean?

*Yaaaaawwwn* Marquette in three. ”Next,” in my most miserable guy who works at DMV voice.