Another year, another Marquette volleyball non-conference gauntlet.
Like clockwork, head coach Ryan Theis once again gave his team a brutally difficult challenge before Big East play.
This year, it’s five matches against teams ranked in the AVCA top 25 preseason poll. Three of those are against teams within the top 5, two of which just happen to be on the road as well.
It’s crazy (again) just how loaded #muvb’s non-con schedule is:
Sep 4: No. 5 Stanford
Sep 6: No. 13 Kansas
Sep 14: No. 22 Dayton (Bowling Green)
Sep 17: at No. 3 Wisconsin
Sep 22: at No. 4 Pitt— Jack Albright (@JackAlbrightMU) August 19, 2024
“The way the system works, to try and be a top 16 seed [in the NCAA tournament], I feel you need to have a large chunk of top 50 matches, some top 25 matches, and maybe even some top 10 matches,” Theis said.
“And if you get a couple of those wins, you got a chance of being at home the first weekend of the NCAA tournament.”
The Golden Eagles’ home-opener is Sept. 4 against No. 5 Stanford, followed by a match against No. 13 Kansas two days later.
Marquette will then face Western Kentucky (the unofficial No. 26 team) and No. 22 Dayton in Bowling Green, Kentucky Sept. 13-14 before playing its annual match against No. 3 Wisconsin in the Kohl Center in Madison.
After that, the Golden Eagles finish their non-con with the second leg of a home-and-home at No. 4 Pitt Sept. 22.
Gauntlet, right?
“[Our schedule] just shows we don’t give up,” graduate student middle blocker Carsen Murray said. “We don’t let up when it’s a person or a team that has a high number in front of their name. I think we can compete with anybody.
“We’ve done it before, and it really sets us up for success later on in the season, just getting these reps and stealing some games against some huge teams. And I think we’re capable of taking some huge wins this year.”
Senior outside hitter Jenna Reitsma is most excited to play against Stanford.
“We haven’t played them yet, which I feel like growing up, that’s always been a team to watch,” Reitsma said. “Especially as a kid, you see them do their back-to-back-to-back national championships, so it’s always fun to do that.
“And I just feel like we get extra competitive in those types of environments, and we bring in more people, and just the energy’s high.”
Last season, Marquette had an equally difficult non-conference slate.
But it didn’t go to plan, as the Golden Eagles went into Big East play 0-7 against ranked teams, also having been swept three times.
However, this season they return six of their seven starters — losing only graduate student libero Sarah Kushner — including four All-Big East Preseason Team honorees in Aubrey Hamilton, Hattie Bray, Yadhira Anchante and Murray.
It’s something the returners talked about in the offseason.
“We’ve gotten to the level together of we’ve had these group goals now,” Reitsma said. “It’s not just like two people had this goal for two years and then they left.
“All (the) big group of us all have the same goals, and I think it allows us to connect on the same idea before we come in. So as we’re all coming back, we all realize how exciting that can be…
“We’re really taking the opportunity to utilize the fact that we’re all coming back.”
The Golden Eagles kick off their season Friday at Eastern Illinois at 6 p.m. CST.
But that’s just the start of long, daunting two-month odyssey that will take Theis and his team to the pinnacle of DI volleyball — all with the goal of bringing the NCAA tournament back to the Al McGuire Center.
This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at jack.albright@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.