The Golden Eagles didn’t give the voters anything to sink their teeth into this past week.
Losing seven straight matches against ranked opponents in non-conference play had an immediate impact on Marquette volleyball. Not just the 4-7 record, but it slipped the Golden Eagles down from their perch as the #12 team in the country in the AVCA preseason top 25.
Now Marquette is stacking up victories but it’s not helping them gain some of those lost votes. Heck, it’s apparently actually causing the Golden Eagles to lose votes. After 23 points a week ago, Marquette snagged just 10 points in Monday’s brand new top 25 poll. That makes MU the unofficial #32 team in the country, tied with Rice at that mark and falling in between NC State’s 11 points and 8 for Texas A&M.
It was a mostly positive week for the ranked teams on Marquette’s schedule this season. Wisconsin stays at #1, earning 60 of the 64 first place votes. Oregon and Pitt are both up one spot to #5 and #7 respectively. Tennessee breaks up the run of improvement by merely staying steady at #12 this week, but Creighton, at #15 here, gets the run started again after rising one spot from last week. Kansas is the biggest positive mover on the schedule, jumping up two spots to #17. Last week’s #17 team was Purdue, and the Boilermakers are down two spots to #19 in a little do-si-do with Kansas. Dayton, Marquette’s best win on the year relative to the top 25 poll, is up to #20 this week, a one spot improvement from last week.
Western Kentucky is just outside the top 25, at least technically. The Hilltoppers are the top team in the Receiving Votes area of things, but yet once again this season, there’s a tie for #25. This time, it is between Auburn and Iowa State, both with 110 points, 29 points ahead of WKU.
Marquette returns to action on Wednesday morning when they host DePaul at the McGuire Center for an 11am Field Trip Day event. After that, on Friday, it’s the big showdown with Creighton, again at the McGuire Center, on Friday at 7pm Central.
You can check out the entire top 25 right here.