Okay, well, there’s no way around it: It’s probably going to be a little bit weird for Marquette volleyball to take the court on Friday night. The Golden Eagles were scheduled to go into this coming weekend with six matches under their belts, but instead, they have just four. Last weekend’s contests against Dayton and Buffalo were canceled in the wake of the tragic death of two MU men’s lacrosse players, so by default, merely suiting up to play once again has to, on some level, remind the Golden Eagles as to why
they didn’t play last Saturday and Sunday.
With that said, we have to say that the last time that we did see Marquette in action, they looked great. The Golden Eagles looked comfortable and in control of the first two sets of a match against a Western Kentucky team that was earning top 25 votes last week and was picked to win Conference USA this season. The third set started out with a little bit of adversity, but Marquette bounced back from it and then ripped off a big run to close out the set and the match to get their first sweep of the year and end a match without going to a fifth set for the first time all year as well.
So that’s good news.
The good news about this coming weekend is that at a glance, Marquette has a lineup of three teams that aren’t on the same level as Hawaii or San Diego or Utah State or Western Kentucky. In theory, if Tom Mendoza’s team views themselves as an NCAA tournament contender, this should be a weekend where they stack three wins and prove that’s the case. Whatever bugs remain in the system relative to a roster with a lot of new faces and a new head coach to boot will get at least nine sets worth of activity to shake their way out.
That’s important for Marquette, as next week hands them three matches against top 15 opponents. All three are at home — as long as you consider Wisconsin at Fiserv Forum to be a home match no matter the possible discord between the sound of the fans and the logos on the court on the floor — so that’s a big advantage for MU. They’ll still have to play their best possible volleyball to get the wins, and that’s where the lineup this weekend works in their favor. By the time we hit sunset on Sunday, we should be pretty close to seeing a fully coherent Marquette squad on the floor.
Match #5: vs Ball State Cardinals (2-4)
Date: Friday, September 12, 2025
Time: 7pm Central
Location: Al McGuire Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteVB
Marquette is 1-1 all time against Ball State. The loss was in the first meeting, which was a 3-0 sweep in an event hosted by Western Illinois back in 1990. The win was a much different situation, as the two teams met in the first round of the 2022 NCAA tournament at the McGuire Center, and the Golden Eagles got the 3-0 sweep.
Ball State went 1-2 in each of their first two weekends of action this season. They won their opener in a sweep of St. Thomas, but they’ve lost four of five since then. Some of that is just the fact of scheduling, as they were swept by #11 Minnesota. Some of it is not, as the Cardinals blew a 2-0 lead against Cal Poly and got reverse swept as the Mustangs won sets #3 and #4 in extra points. In a comparison of how the team picked to finish second in the MAC did against other Big East foes, we have Ball State losing 3-1 to UConn up in Storrs last Friday in the Cardinals’ second match of the day. Ball State won the third set to prolong things, but that’s about it.
Through six matches, Carson Tyler is the top attacker on the BSU roster. The 5’10” sophomore is averaging 4.12 kills per set….. but she’s also hitting only .191. Noelle Van Oort isn’t that far behind Tyler in terms of total swings, and the 5’9” NAIA transfer is adding 3.52 kills on a .314 hitting percentage. It looks like Ball State’s going with a setter rotation with Lindsey Green starting and Reese Axness subbing in. Both women have played in all six matches with Axness appearing in 24 of 25 sets. Combined, they average 10.55 assists per set, and anytime you’re getting more than 10 from your setter, that’s working out pretty well for you.
Sophie Ledbetter has a commanding lead in the team digs chart at 4.04 per set this season. Ball State doesn’t have a middle blocker that’s commanding a lead in rejections for points with Camryn Wise’s 0.48/set leading players who have appeared in all 25 sets. Gwen Crull and Christyn Ashby are averaging more than Wise, but they’ve played in 15 and 20 sets respectively.
Match #6: vs James Madison Dukes (2-4)
Date: Saturday, September 13, 2025
Time: 6pm Central
Location: Al McGuire Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteVB
Marquette is 1-0 all time against James Madison. The only meeting came back in 2014 when MU hosted the Dukes for a September event and picked up a 3-0 sweep.
James Madison got off to an 0-3 start to the year, so rallying back with a 2-1 home weekend seven days ago is a solid way to change things up. They did open the year with a 3-0 loss to #17 Missouri, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Falling in four and then five sets in back to back days at Florida Gulf Coast? Not ideal, and the same goes for losing in four sets to Lehigh back on Sunday. That won saw JMU win in extra points in the first set, but lose 30-28 in the third before dropping the fourth frame for the loss.
It looks like the Dukes are heavily reliant on Kennedy Louisell to produce offense. She’s averaging 5.70 points per set, nearly three more than any other JMU player, and she’s getting 5.30 of those by way of kills. You can’t argue with the decision as long as the 6’0” outside hitter from Michigan is hitting .347 as she is right now, but eventually, James Madison is going to need a second pitch to win matches.
Grace Wenrich is James Madison’s starting setter, but they’re clearly using a rotation. Wenrich is averaging 5.74 assists while starting all six matches and playing in all 23 sets. JMU started with Jordan Smart as the #2 setter, but she hasn’t appeared for the Dukes since the second match of the year. Rebecca Watkins has been taking over that role since, and over the last four matches, she’s averaging 5.19 assists/set.
“Digs by Committee” appears to be the name of the game for James Madison, as Julia McNeley leads the team with just 3.61/set even though she’s played in every frame so far this year. Ayen Nhial is racking up blocks to the tune of 1.32/set, and at 6’2”, she’s not even taking advantage of a major height advantage to get there.
Match #7: vs Milwaukee Panthers (0-6)
Date: Sunday, September 14, 2025
Time: 3pm Central
Location: Al McGuire Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteVB
Marquette is, somehow, 35-46-1 all time against Milwaukee. The series dates all the way back to 1975, the first ever year of competitive volleyball at Marquette. 41 of those 80 matches happened before Marquette made the move to Division 1 in 1986, and since then the series stands at 23-16 in MU’s favor. Marquette has won the last 14 meetings with UWM’s most recent victory coming back in 2007. This is the fourth straight year that the two sides have met after restarting a series that went dormant after 2017.
It took until Match #5 of the season for Milwaukee to win a set this season. Four straight sweeps with a pair on the road against Nebraska-Omaha and then Iowa State and Central Michigan at home before they beat South Alabama 25-21 in the first set back on Sunday. That was the only set they took from the Jaguars before losing 3-1, and then in their most recent contest, the Panthers mustered just 33 total points across three sets against #6 Wisconsin. Marquette tangles with the Badgers next Wednesday at Fiserv Forum, so that’s an interesting measuring stick for the Golden Eagles.
Milwaukee is hitting just .145 as a team so far this season after being picked to finish second in the Horizon League. Natalie Schmitz is their top attacker at 2.89 kills/set, while Sam Vanda is the only other attacker averaging north of two kills a set. Schmitz is only connecting at a .206 clip so far this year, and Vanda’s not even up to .170 right now, so things could start getting dire early for the Panthers if Marquette is on their game. The offensive woes continue, as Milwaukee’s setter rotation of Josie Johnson and Milica Tomic are combining for less than nine assists per set. Some of that’s not their fault, as they can only get an assist when their hitters are putting the ball on the floor on the other side or the court.
Kara Erdmann is doing what she can with Milwaukee’s defense, leading the team with 4.42 digs per set. Josie Noble is averaging a block per set even though she missed three of the four frames against South Alabama, so the Golden Eagles attackers will have to be on the lookout for the 6’2” freshman from Michigan.
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