IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Marquette volleyball is alone in first place in the Big East with a record of 7-1.
This is partially because the Golden Eagles have won five straight matches, perhaps mostly because of that. It’s also partially because Georgetown is now 1-24 all time against Creighton, thus dropping the Bluejays to 6-2 in conference play since they also lost at home to Marquette.
We’re only at the midway point of the Big East slate right now with eight matches played, so there’s a lot of ways this can still go. For example, even though Marquette is 7-1 and Seton Hall is 0-8, the Golden Eagles haven’t even clinched finishing in front of the Pirates quite yet. But for now, Marquette is in complete control of their attempt to win a Big East regular season championship, the first time that’s been the situation in this league in I have no idea how long. If Marquette runs the table except for next week’s match at home against Creighton, all the Bluejays can do is tie the Golden Eagles for the regular season title. If Marquette can get through this weekend’s home contests with a pair of wins, they can all but eliminate the Bluejays from title contention when that match rolls around next Thursday.
Things are getting momentous around here, but it’s important to remember that Marquette has been far from a perfect volleyball team this season or even lately. Because head coach Tom Mendoza is relying on a freshman setter, a freshman libero, a freshman #2 and #3 hitter, and a freshman #1 middle blocker right now, there’s inconsistency in the rotation. Heck, even that #3 hitter, Caydence Doolan, is anything but a sure thing as she missed all of MU’s last contest.
Still, Marquette is in position to control the direction of the Big East right now even without getting much of anything from Keira Schmidt and Emma Parks this season. They were two of MU’s only three notable returning players from last year, and due to injuries of various types, they have largely been absent over the past several weeks. But Mendoza’s been pushing the right buttons at the right times, and it’s working. It hasn’t been perfect and it hasn’t been clean, and the seams of “wow, all of these freshmen are controlling this thing right now” keep showing up.
As long as Carson Tyler keeps on Carson Tyler-ing, things are probably going to be fine. She’s the only player in the Big East connecting for more than four kills per set overall this season, and she’s way up at 4.31/set. That gap get even bigger in Big East play, as Tyler averages 4.69/set and #2 is Villanova’s Campbell McKinnon at 3.83/set. Tyler is also the biggest service threat in the Big East, leading conference play in aces per set, and at the end of the day, you can’t ask for more than her .269 overall hitting, much less her .286 hitting percentage against Big East foes, not at the volume of swings she’s taking.
One thing at a time. Beat Butler, then beat Xavier. Walk the path to the title, do what it takes, point by point.
Big East Match #9: vs Butler Bulldogs (10-10, 4-4 Big East)
Date: Saturday, October 24, 2026
Time: 1pm Central
Location: McGuire Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Streaming:ESPN+
Live Stats:Stat Broadcast
Marquette is 24-9 all time against Butler. The series stretches all the way back to 1987, and the Bulldogs were really holding the advantage early, winning each of the first six encounters. Marquette is on a nine match winning streak against Butler dating back to March 2021, and the Golden Eagles have won 20 straight sets over the past seven matches.
Butler has been running on streaks all season. The Bulldogs won their first two and five of their first six, then lost five of their next six including four straight to end non-conference play. They started Big East action with three straight wins, then dropped their next three in a row. They come into the McGuire Center on Saturday with losses in four of their last five, broken up only by a home sweep of Connecticut. And after all of that, precisely .500 on the season, both overall and in the Big East.
There are four women on this roster averaging at least two kills per set, but it’s hard to say that any of them are Butler’s top attacker. Chase Lemming is the official leader at 2.96/set, but she’s missed 17 sets along the way this year even while playing in all 20 matches. Raegan Durbin and Elise Ward have played more sets than Lemming, but they’ve both missed a match and both are hitting under .200. Sawyer Jones is at two kills per set precisely, but she hasn’t played since September 18th against Duke. Durbin and Lemming are the only two hitters with more than 400 attacks this season, so safe to say that they’ll be the top options on Saturday.
Butler has just as many issues at setter. There’s three women averaging at least four assists per set, but no one has played in all 20 matches. Sarah Kempf has the most sets played at 62 out of 73, and the most matches at 18 of 20, but she’s the low average at 4.65 assists/set. She had 20 assists across five sets against Providence, but just eight in three sets against UConn. Ava Hunter has started all eight Big East matches, and she’s averaging 5.60 helpers per set in league play.
At least we can trust in Jersey Loyer. Butler’s libero is the only woman to play in all 73 sets this season, and heck, she’s the only one to play in 68 or more sets. She leads the squad in digs at 4.05/set, and that’s good enough for sixth best in the Big East this season.
Big East Match #10: vs Xavier Musketeers (12-7, 5-3 Big East)
Date: Sunday, October 25, 2026
Time: 3pm Central
Location: McGuire Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Streaming:ESPN+
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Marquette is 23-10 all time against Xavier. This series used to be all over the place, sitting at 10-9 Marquette after the Musketeers won the 2016 Big East semifinal matchup. It is, quite obviously, 13-1 Marquette since then, but the 1 was last year at home in a five set contest before the Golden Eagles won 3-1 in Cincinnati a month later.
It would seem that Xavier’s quest for a second straight NCAA tournament appearance is going to come up short. Since the RPI debuted with the Musketeers at #46, they’ve slipped as high at #75 before settling at #71 as I write this on Tuesday afternoon. It’s not the loss to Creighton in Big East play that’s hurting them, it’s following that up five days later with a home sweep loss to Providence…. after already dropping a road contest to St. John’s. That’s two Quadrant 4 losses in Big East play alone for Xavier, and a 3-5 record against the first three quadrants to this point of the year isn’t going to save them, not when this is their only shot at both Marquette and DePaul this season.
In fact, Xavier’s at risk of missing the Big East tournament. If it was being held this weekend, they’d be on the outside looking in after losing a tiebreaker for fourth place to St. John’s. Facing the teams at #1 and #3 in the standings right now — DePaul loses a head to head tiebreaker with Creighton — isn’t a big help for Xavier in that quest to get into the top four, although it is a massive opportunity to shift the standings for the Musketeers.
Charlotte Moriarty is Xavier’s top attacker, averaging 3.42 kills per set this year, and she’s up to 3.65/set during Big East play. However, hitting .211 against conference foes has only raised her overall hitting percentage to .197 on the season, so there’s a bit of forcefeeding a problem going on here for the Musketeers. Ava Tilden’s been contributing nicely to the Musketeers this season at 2.79 kills/set and .244 hitting, but she played just one set against Creighton two weeks ago and not at all last weekend. Catherine Flaharty had a nice outing against UConn last time out with 11 kills and .409 hitting, but she’s at just 1.92 per set and .193 this year overall.
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