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The Marquette Golden Eagles are rolling. Pretty simple.
They have swept their last five matches with great ease and they do not look like they are starting to slow down at all. They are playing perfect volleyball with a Big East showdown in Omaha looming next week. Senior hitter Allie Barber is on top of her game like always and will break the all time kills record in the match against Georgetown. In fact, her very first kill of Friday night’s match will do it, as she’s already tied with Theresa Coughlin for the program record. This team is hungry to make a deep tournament run and they have their eyes set on winning the Big East, now that they are tied for first with Creighton after the Jays lost to Villanova.
A couple of notes before we get to the previews, though. First: Marquette has already clinched a spot in the Big East tournament. With four matches left to go, the worst they could do is a tie for fourth with St. John’s, and they’ve already secured the season series tiebreaker with the Johnnies. Second: Saturday is Senior Night for Marquette, and the Golden Eagles will be honoring Lauren Speckman, Allie Barber, Madeline Mosher, and Gwyn Jones. It’s not clear whether that’s pre- or post-match, so gamble on pre-match and get to the building early to applaud for the seniors.
Big East Match #15: vs Georgetown Hoyas (13-15, 3-11 Big East)
Date: Friday November 15, 2019
Time: 7 PM CT
Location: Al McGuire Center
Streaming: GoMarquette.com
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteVB
Georgetown is one of those teams where they have beat everyone they’re supposed to and lost to everyone they’re supposed to. The problem there is that they’re just not very good at all.
Iva Vujosevic leads the Hoyas in kills per set with 3.57. That is actually good for fourth in the conference, which is pretty impressive considering Georgetown has not done much this season. Vujosevic has been all around the court this season, being Georgetown’s top target.
Emma Plutnicki is setting for Georgetown and she is averaging 8.10 assists per set, which is good for sixth in the conference. The freshman is taking charge of this young Hoya squad and is doing a really good job at asserting herself in the lineup. Vujosevic is her top target and they seem to have pretty good chemistry going.
Like I said earlier Georgetown has lost to everyone they are supposed to lose to and I think this match will be no different. Marquette in three.
Big East Match #16: vs Villanova Wildcats (20-6, 11-3 Big East)
Date: Saturday, November 16, 2019
Time: 6 PM CT
Location: Al McGuire Center
Stream: GoMarquette.com
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteVB
Villanova is good, like actually good and they are coming off a huge win against Creighton. Well, kind of mostly coming off it. They played Providence after that one last weekend and will visit DePaul on Friday before coming to Milwaukee. You get the idea. VU is most likely going to be the third seed in the Big East tournament and they have proven to be capable of beating anyone. Villanova has been Ryan Theis’ kryptonite during his time at Marquette, so that adds to this match as well.
Kathleen Johnson leads Villanova’s offense with 3.25 kills per set. The Wildcats have four more players after Johnson that have over two kills per set, which is interesting to me. It seems like everyone on the team can hit, which is impressive. Villanova seems to be switching out players left and right, so who knows who we will see come Saturday.
Emma Decker has been an absolute killer on the court this year, averaging 10.14 assists per set so far, which is good for second in the Big East. Decker has done a fantastic job commanding the court for the Wildcats this season. She seems comfortable spreading the ball around, which is great for the team chemistry.
Villanova is good and, as mentioned, has been Marquette’s kryptonite for a little while. They are coming off a huge win and I think they are starting to hit their stride. I am going to say Marquette wins this one in four.