Volleyball opens 2024 season at Eastern Illinois - Marquette University Athletics (2024)

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MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University women's volleyball team kicks off its 50th season of competition on Friday, Aug. 30 in Charleston, Illinois against Eastern Illinois University.

The match at Groniger Arena is slated for a 6 p.m. Central time first serve and airs live on ESPN+ with Lane Blickem on the call. Live statistics will be available through a link on GoMarquette.com, courtesy of EIU Athletics.

The contest is a rematch of the first round of the 2023 NCAA tournament in West Lafayette, Indiana, a match the Golden Eagles swept to advance to the NCAA Second Round for the seventh time. MU hit a combined .362 in last season's meeting with 11 total blocks and nine aces in just three sets. Outside hitters Jenna Reitsma (.423; 13-2-26; 3 aces) and Aubrey Hamilton (.346; 10-1-26; 6 digs) paced MU offensively, while middle blocker Carsen Murray notched nine blocks.

Following Friday's match, the Golden Eagles are off for the rest of Labor Day Weekend before hosting No. 5 Stanford on Wednesday, Sept. 4 at the Al McGuire Center. MU also hosts No. 13 Kansas and Western Michigan over the weekend of Sept. 6-8.

MARQUETTE (0-0)

• The Golden Eagles were picked to finish second in the BIG EAST Conference preseason coaches' poll and four MU student-athletes were named to the league's preseason team, led by outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton, a unanimous selection. Setter Yadhira Anchante and middle blockers Hattie Bray and Carsen Murray also received preseason recognition.
• Marquette is a three-time reigning BIG EAST regular season champion and made its 12th NCAA tournament appearance in the last 13 seasons last fall (MU's lone NCAA miss during 2020-21 was due to the tightened tournament field).
• MU went 21-11 overall in 2023 and notched a league record of 16-2.
• Hamilton led MU last season with 434 kills (3.77 per set) on .274 hitting. She ranked second in BIG EAST play with 3.82 kills and 4.83 points per set while hitting .312.
• Murray hit a BIG EAST-best .420 in conference play and .374 overall. She also averaged a team-best 1.00 blocks per set in league action.
• A key to Marquette's success in the final month of the regular season was the play of junior outside hitter Jenna Reitsma. Over the final 10 regular season matches (beginning with the Oct. 20 contest at Butler), Reitsma averaged a team-best 3.56 kills per set while hitting .317 (114-23-287) with 2.38 digs per set and a team-high 21 service aces. That Butler match coincided with a five-match stretch for Ella Foti as MU's setter in place of Yadhira Anchante, who dealt with an illness.
• MU was without Foti, its starting right-side hitter, for the final four matches after suffering a hand injury against St. John's on Nov. 17.

EASTERN ILLINOIS (0-0)

• EIU is picked to finish second in the OVC Preseason poll and setter Catalina Rochaix was selected to the OVC Preseason Team. Senior outside hitter Kaitlyn Flynn was listed as an OVC Player to Watch.
• The Panthers lost Giovana Larregui Lopez, the 2022 and 2023 OVC Player of the Year to graduation in addition to 2023 All-OVC First Team selections Natalie Mitchem and Christina Martinez Mundo.
• Eastern Illinois led the OVC in all offensive categories in 2023 and ranked as high as fifth nationally with 2.01 service aces per set. Rochaix, the 2023 OVC Setter of the Year, was seventh nationally entering last season's NCAA tournament with 11.10 assists per frame and Martinez Mundo was fifth in NCAA Division I with 5.63 digs per frame.
• Flynn was a teammate of MU sophom*ore Ella Holmstrom at Guilford High School in Rockford, Illinois.
• The Panthers are led by fifth-year head coach Sara Thomas, who played collegiately at Missouri State and was the MVC Defensive Player of the Year in 2007.
• Last fall, the Panthers (28-5, 15-3 OVC) won the Ohio Valley Conference tournament to claim the league's automatic berth to the NCAA tournament and their 28 wins is their highest mark since 1982. The outright OVC regular season title was its first since 1998.
• EIU made its first NCAAA appearance since 2001 when current MU head coach Ryan Theis was its top assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. Theis began his coaching career at EIU and spent two seasons with the Panthers before earning his master's degree in 2002 in athletic administration/sport management.

SERIES HISTORY WITH EASTERN ILLINOIS:

• Marquette is 3-11 all-time against the Panthers, though the two programs have played just twice since 2000.
• The two teams met nearly every season from 1981-92 and Eastern Illinois won all 10 meetings during that time.
• MU has won three of the last four meetings in the series and the most recent match was a Marquette sweep in the 2023 NCAA First Round at Holloway Gymnasium in West Lafayette, Indiana.

2024 MARKS MU'S 50TH SEASON

• The 2024 campaign marks MU's 50th season of competition and 20th season in the BIG EAST Conference.
• The first season of women's volleyball at Marquette was played during the 1975-76 academic year and MU has grown into a perennial NCAA tournament participant and four-time BIG EAST champion.
• The Golden Eagles have qualified for each of the last 12 NCAA tournaments with full 64-team fields and have advanced to the NCAA Second Round seven times and own a pair of NCAA Regional Semifinal appearances.

GOLD OUT FOR LOVELL IS SEPT. 4 AGAINST STANFORD

• MU will honor the memory of the University's late President Dr. Michael R. Lovell with patches on its uniforms this season and requests that fans wear gold to the home opener against No. 5 Stanford on Wednesday, Sept. 4.
• The Golden Eagles will collect donations for The American Cancer Society at the match to support the fight against sarcoma and other forms of cancer.
• Dr. Lovell passed away in June after a courageous battle with a form of bone cancer and was a tremendous champion of the University and greater Milwaukee community. He served at Marquette for 10 years and was a strong supporter of its student-athletes.
• The first 100 MU students at the Sept. 4 opener against the Cardinal will receive free gold MU Volleyball t-shirts in addition to Qdoba burritos.

SEASON TICKETS ON SALE FOR $40

• Season tickets for Marquette's full 14-match regular season schedule are available to purchase for just $40. They can be boughtonlineor by calling the Marquette Ticket Office at 414-288-GOMU (4668).
• New this fall is a Coaches' Corner pre-match talk for season ticket members with head coach Ryan Theis and other members of the MU staff. These sessions will be held on Sept. 6 (Kansas), Sept. 27 (UConn) and Nov. 10 (Creighton). The events begin at a quarter-after the hour prior to each match and cost $20, which includes refreshments and light snacks. More information and a registration link will be communicated with season ticket members prior to each contest.

MU ON MILESTONE WATCH

• Outside hitters Aubrey Hamilton and Jenna Reitsma each reached career statistical milestones last fall with 1,000 kills and 100 service aces, respectively, and other Golden Eagles are approaching elite marks themselves.
• Milestone Watch:
  • Kills (1,000): Hamilton at 824 in MU career, Reitsma at 730
  • Digs (1,000): Reitsma at 648, Anchante at 609
  • Assists (2,500): Anchante at 2,182
  • Blocks (400): Murray at 326
  • Aces (100): Foti at 61

Keep up with the Marquette University women's volleyball program through social media by following on X (@MarquetteVB) and Instagram (@MarquetteVB) and 'liking' on Facebook (/MarquetteVolleyball).