As you can see from the headline, it’s time to get things started on the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational Big East play for women’s volleyball. We’re not going to do a big rundown of the league
outside of Marquette as things get started, but we did do a small-ish rundown of the league . Short version: Ugh, that’s a lot of sub-100 teams in the Evollve rankings.
Marquette goes into conference play with a record of 6-4. The four losses are against San Diego out in Hawaii, against Ball State, against #7 Wisconsin, and against #12 Minnesota. Three of those results are somwehere in between “yeah, well, that’s life” and “hard fought game against a quality team.” The other one is “wait, what?” That’s the Ball State loss. It’s not quite ruining Marquette’s life yet — maybe slightly because the RPI isn’t officially out yet — but safe to say things might be going better heading into conference action of the Golden Eagles didn’t have that defeat at the hands of the Cardinals sitting in their history.
As the small-ish rundown of the Big East indicates, Marquette doesn’t really have a lot of margin for errors against conference opponents if they want to be an NCAA tournament team in 8 weeks. If the Marquette team that just beat #15 Florida and was competitive against #12 Minnesota shows up for 18 Big East contests, then they’ll be fine. If the team that lost in five sets to Ball State shows up at any point between now and Thanksgiving…… well, things might not end up in a place that the Golden Eagles want it to go.
We know that Marquette’s margins are diminishing, and not purely on the matter of wins and losses. This past Sunday, sophomore Calli Kenny was on crutches with a hip to ankle brace, which usually indicates a torn knee ligament. Sienna Ifill was wearing a walking boot, although a slightly softer one than the usual gray plastic monstrosities that you see. Add that to Ella Holmstrom missing some time and Ally Eckel yet to appear for the Golden Eagles since transferring in at semester break last winter, and Marquette’s depth is pretty much non-existent at this point. Perhaps MU is rounding into form and they’ve got their rotations solved with so many new faces and a new coaching staff in place. Maybe the MASH unit building on the Marquette bench won’t matter.
A 2-0 start to Big East play would definitely go a bit of the way towards alleviating a little bit of worry.
Big East Match #1: vs Providence Friars (9-4, 0-0 Big East)
Date: Friday, September 26, 2025
Time: 7pm Central
Location: Al McGuire Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteVB
Marquette is 20-0 all time against Providence. The only time Providence has ever won a set from Marquette came back in the first ever meeting in 1999. Every other encounter has come by way of Big East action after the Friars joined the volleyball part of the league starting with the 2014 campaign.
Providence comes into Friday night’s Big East opener fresh off a 3-1 victory over New Orleans on Saturday afternoon. That win was the sixth in the last seven matches for the Friars, and 6-1 is a nice little turnaround for them after starting 3-3. The catch, of course, is that none of PC’s wins or losses are particularly interesting or notable. They couldn’t even close the box on an in-state tournament that they hosted, sweeping Rhode Island and Brown before losing in five sets to Bryant in the finale.
Sophia Adkins has been one of the most productive hitters in the Big East to this point of the year. Her team high 3.89 kills/set is good enough for fourth best in the conference as we head into league play. However, she’s only hitting .224, which doesn’t come anywhere close to the top 10 in that department. Taylor Macy and Audrey Kocon are PC’s next two best attackers and the only other two averaging more than two kills per set, but we have to note that neither of them played against New Orleans, which was Providence’s most recent match.
It seems that Providence has been going with a two-setter rotation this season, although not a traditional one. Miller McDonald leads the team in assists with 5.68/set and she’s played in all 47 sets this season. The #2? Audrey Kocon at 4.15 assists/set. It seems that Kelsey Holmes stepped up for that match against New Orleans to appear in all four sets and add 11 assists. She’s only played in eight total sets this season, so it’s worth watching to see what head coach Margot Royer-Johnson does with her roster with time to plan if Kocon is actually out for this weekend.
Hadley Pride is presumably very proud (I won’t apologize) of her work on Providence’s defensive end, as she leads the team with 5.68 digs per set. That’s the best in the Big East and one of just two defensive specialists averaging more than 4.75/set this season. Lyric Berry matches Pride in the other major component of defense with a Big East best 1.41 blocks per set. Berry is the only player in the conference with more than 1.20/per set, and Kaia Easterbrook, her partner in net crime, isn’t too bad either at 0.87/set.
Big East Match #2: vs Connecticut Huskies (11-1, 0-0 Big East)
Date: Saturday, September 27, 2025
Time: 6pm Central
Location: Al McGuire Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteVB
Marquette is 15-3 all time against UConn. All three losses happened in a row back in 2007, 2008, and 2009. The series took a break on a three match MU winning streak in 2013 when the Huskies got shoved into the American Athletic Conference, and the Golden Eagles have won nine more since. That includes a pair of Big East tournament encounters in 2021 and 2022 and a 3-0 sweep last season.
Well, you can’t knock 11-1, that’s for sure. UConn comes in with five straight victories, as their one loss was over in New Haven in a Friday night road trip against Yale. The Huskies had a 2-1 lead and only lost the second set in extra points after getting it 24-23 in their favor in a tightly contested frame. They had a 22-20 lead in the fourth set before Yale pushed forward and won, 25-23, and that late flub might have contributed to the Bulldogs going up 6-0 in the fifth set and cruising to a 15-7 win.
It’s not like UConn hasn’t had close calls elsewhere on the schedule as well. They went to five sets with Binghamton, winning 2, 3, and 5, and then had to fend off a reverse sweep attempt by Fairfield when they visited the Stags the day after losing to Yale. They have also dropped sets to South Dakota, Colgate, and Ball State — yes, the same Ball State that beat Marquette — but the Huskies have won their last four matches on 3-0 sweeps before visiting DePaul to open up Big East play on Friday.
Emma Werkmeister leads the way on UConn’s offense as the only attacker north of 2.50 kills per set. She’s way up there at 3.53/set, and that’s good enough for eighth best in the Big East right now. Grace Maria is second best at 2.36 and second best in total attacks as the only other hitter with more than 190 swings this season. Maria is the more accurate attacker at the moment, hitting .271 to Werkmeister’s .256. Marquette should probably watch out for 6’3” senior middle blocker Audrey Rome, who has the third best hitting percentage in the Big East at .402.
Doga Kutlu is UConn’s primary setter, but they’ve clearly got some weirdness going on in that department. She’s started every match, but she averages just 8.98 assists while the team is at 11.33 assists/set. Part of this is that Kutlu is also #2 on the team in digs at 2.29/set, trailing only McKenna Brand’s 3.62. The aforementioned Audrey Rome is the best blocker amongst regulars in the Huskies’ rotation at 0.87/set, although there are two players with limited playing time doing better than that.
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