When the dust settled from a hectic offseason and first-year head coach Tom Mendoza finally got comfortable in his office at the Al McGuire Center, there were only six players players on the roster that had played a collegiate set.
But that wasn’t all Marquette had. First-years were already on campus. Mari King, Isabela Haggard and Keira Schmidt had arrived a semester early because they were academically eligible to do so. Although Marquette brought in four transfers, it was the extra time on campus that allowed the three first-years to get comfortable within the Golden Eagles’ offense.
“I think it helped them tremendously,” Mendoza said. “It helped with Mari in serve-receive, and then obviously with (Isabela) running the offense, that’s a huge deal for getting used to the hitters… and communicating with staff throughout the game on what we need out of our offense.”
Help them it did, as all three players have been significant reasons as to why Marquette is off to an 8-4 start with six sweeps.
Haggard has been running the offense from the jump while adjusting to the speed of the collegiate game on the fly. She’s tallied 450 total assists through 12 games this season, while also averaging 10.23 assists per set — a number that would’ve ranked her 24th in the country as of Friday morning.
“I think we get better as a team every game,” Haggard said. “I think my teammates really have my back when I make the risky sets and the risk is worth the reward plays. Even if I error, I think everyone knows I have the next ball.”
You wouldn’t know Haggard was a first-year player by watching her leadership and play on the Taraflex throughout, something she credits to extra time she got in Milwaukee during the spring.
“When I came here in January and didn’t have any confidence in myself or my skill whatsoever,” Haggard said. “Even when I left in the spring, I wasn’t really my full confident self. Now that (Mendoza’s) put that full trust in me, it’s made me feel more confident.”
Schmidt, a 6-foot-3 middle blocker from Eagan, Minnesota, has been one of Marquette’s premier defenders at the net this season with 44 total blocks. That ranks second on the team, just one behind graduate middle blocker Hattie Bray’s 55. Both Haggard and Schmidt have started all 12 matches.
“Kiera came in during the spring and couldn’t even do a pushup,” Haggard said. “When she came back after summer, now she can do like 10 in-a-row. Clearly, it’s helping her game a lot.”
King arrived with maybe the biggest accolade of the three — as her 2,299 kills made her the Florida High School Athletic Association’s all-time kills leader. Despite being an all-time dangerous kill threat in high school, King’s role in her first season in the blue & gold has been vastly different.
The Jacksonville, Florida native has just three total kills on the season, and has been primarily used in the back row for defensive and serving purposes. King ranks sixth on the team with 44 digs and has a pair of service aces on the season.
Even though they didn’t spend the spring with the Golden Eagles, the other first-years — outside hitter Emma Parks and defensive specialist/libero Avery Helms have contributed positively at times.
Parks didn’t see the taraflex until Marquette’s fifth game of the season against Ball State. Although she spent a lot of time on the bench early, Parks said that she found ways to remain positive through it all.
“This is such a team sport, so focusing on the success of the team has been a really big part of it for me,” Parks said. “I think the upperclassmen have done a really good job of supporting me and reminding me of things on the court.”
She is fourth on the team with two kills per set.
Similar to Parks, defensive specialist Avery Helms has progressively stepped into a bigger role as the season has gone on, ranking fourth on the team with 67 digs.
“They’re playing fearless,” Mendoza said of his first-years. “They’ve never seemed overwhelmed with the amount of feedback…
“It takes work to go out there and be successful, and they’ve been putting the work in, it’s been a lot of fun to watch.”
This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at matthew.baltz@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @MatthewBaltzMU.