The results of Monday’s brand new AVCA top 25 poll where it pertains to YOUR Marquette Golden Eagles were obvious as soon as their five set loss to Ball State on Friday went final. Marquette has gone from floating just outside-ish of the top 25 for the first few weeks of the season to not appearing on at least two ballots and therefore not being listed as Receiving Votes. It’s possible, I suppose, that one voter still has the Golden Eagles in their top 25, but that’s hard to believe after MU lost
to a Ball State team that went 1-2 in Milwaukee this weekend 1) with the other win coming against 0-9 Milwaukee and 2) to improve 4-5 overall.
Elsewhere in the voting, Wisconsin is still the top ranked team on Marquette’s schedule this season, even though they slipped one spot from #6 to #7. Minnesota bumped up one spot to #12, and Florida tumbled four spots to #15 after losing a road game against then-#25 North Carolina. FUN FACT: Marquette plays all three of those teams between now and when the next top 25 poll comes out!
The only other ranked team on Marquette’s schedule this season is Creighton. The favorites in the Big East this season are sitting at #18 in the country, same as last week, and thus extending their program record for consecutive weeks in the top 25. There are a pair of familiar names down in the Receiving Votes area in Western Kentucky and San Diego. The Hilltoppers picked up eight points worth of votes, even though they have a loss to Marquette on the books, while the Toreros snagged two points. Since you have to appear on at least two ballots in order to be listed, I think it’s safe to say that San Diego picked up two 25th place votes at one point each.
As alluded to earlier, Marquette’s next match is coming up this Wednesday. They’ll host #7 Wisconsin at Fiserv Forum, not the McGuire Center, with first serve set for 8pm Central on Big Ten Network. If you’re local, I would like to point out that there are lots of tickets still available when I last checked on Sunday afternoon. Probably because of that whole “8pm start on a school night” thing. Kinda limiting on the ability for slightly further out high school and club teams to make the drive in and back out again, but such is life when national TV wants to broadcast your game. After that, MU hosts #15 Florida (and head coach Ryan Theis!) on Friday followed by #12 Minnesota on Sunday.
I’m not gonna lay bets on it, but a 3-0 record would probably force the voters to rank Marquette no matter what, right?
You can check out the entire top 25 right here.
