No. 14 Marquette Hosts High Point Friday in NCAA First Round

The 14th-seeded and No. 15 Marquette University women's volleyball team is set to host its first NCAA tournament games in program history this weekend at the Al McGuire Center, beginning with a 7 p.m. Central time match-up with High Point on Friday, Nov. 30.

Illinois State and Cincinnati will play at 4:30 p.m. prior to the MU-HPU match and the winner of each contest will square off at the Al McGuire Center on Saturday at 7 p.m.

All three matches will air live on GoMarquette.com, courtesy of the Marquette Wire, MU's student-run media organization.

Marquette (26-6, 15-2 BIG EAST) has recorded its most wins under head coach Ryan Theis and finished as runners-up to Creighton in the BIG EAST Championship for the second straight season. Junior Allie Barber and sophomore Hope Werch were named to the all-tournament team as the duo posted 20 and 14 kills, respectively in the final game.

Barber, a unanimous selection to the All-BIG EAST first team leads Marquette with 4.65 kills per set and a stellar .365 hitting percentage in her junior season.

WHERE TO WATCH/FOLLOW THE ACTION:
LIVE STATS:
Friday, Nov. 30 – First Round
4:30 p.m. (UC-ISU): https://www.ncaa.com/game/volleyball-women/d1/2018/11/30/illinois-st-cincinnati
7 p.m. (MU-HPU): https://www.ncaa.com/game/volleyball-women/d1/2018/11/30/high-point-marquette
Saturday, Dec. 1 – Second Round
7 p.m. (UC/ISU-MU/HPU): TBD
WATCH:
Friday, Nov. 30 – First Round
4:30 p.m. (UC-ISU): https://gomarquette.com/watch/?Live=42&type=Live
7 p.m. (MU-HPU): https://gomarquette.com/watch/?Live=44&type=Live
Saturday, Dec. 1 – Second Round
7 p.m. (UC/ISU-MU/HPU): https://gomarquette.com/watch/?Live=47&type=Live

OPPONENT
HIGH POINT (21-9): High Point is making its third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament and fourth overall and like the Golden Eagles the Panther have picked up a number of sweeps this season with 16 of their 21 wins coming in straight sets.
Senior Molly Livingston was named Big South Player of the Year and First-Team All-Big South. Sophomore Abby Bottomley was the other Panther to take home First-Team All-Big South honors. Senior Katie Tylman was named All-Big South Honorable Mention and All-Academic Team, while senior Jordan Hefner was named All-Big South Second Team. Freshman Madison Smith rounded out the five with All-Big South Freshman Team honors.

HISTORY: This will be the first meeting between High Point and Marquette.

WHAT THE TEAM IS SAYING:
Head coach Ryan Theis met with Milwaukee media members on Thursday before the Golden Eagles first round game. His full comments are below.
bit.ly/2Qo7qQ2

STORYLINES:

Marquette is making its eighth straight NCAA Tournament appearance, but its first as a national seed. At No. 14, the Golden Eagles will host for the first time in program history.
The BIG EAST conference has two nationally seeded team with No. 9 Creighton joining the Golden Eagles. Marquette and the Bluejays have represented the league in the NCAA postseason since 2013.
`
The Golden Eagles fell to Creighton in the BIG EAST Championship game for the second straight season in a 3-1 contest.
The Golden Eagles dropped just seven total sets in conference play this season and just one set in a victory, turning in 14 sweeps in BIG EAST play and 21 total.
Marquette established a new program-best ranking, yet again this week, moving up to No. 15 in the AVCA Coaches Poll. The Golden Eagles entered the poll at No. 25 in week two of the season after being the unofficial 26th team to open the 2018 campaign. MU is ranked for the first time since 2013.
.
BIG EAST ACCOLADES: For the first time since 2016, Marquette has placed four on All-BIG EAST squads. Junior Allie Barber and redshirt senior Jenna Rosenthal earned unanimous All-BIG EAST first team awards for the third straight season, while senior Anna Haak is a selection to the All-BIG EAST first team for the first time. Sophomore libero Martha Konovodoff was named second team All-BIG EAST, marking her first postseason accolade.
A WINNING WAY: Marquette has already amassed 26 victories this season, which marks the most for head coach Ryan Theis at MU and matches the 2013 squad that also earned 26 wins. The program record for victories is 34 set in 1979 and 1984.
This will be the third time in the BIG EAST Championship that the Golden Eagles' first round opponent will be the same team they concluded the regular season against. In 2013 Marquette finished the season with a 3-1 win over Butler and faced the Bulldogs in the first round of the BIG EAST Championship, winning 3-1 and in 2016 MU lost to Xavier ending regular season play and followed with a first round tournament loss to the Musketeers.
Senior Anna Haak reached the 1,000 career kills milestone on Oct. 26 against Creighton, combining her stats from Miami and Marquette. She became the third Golden Eagles to record 1,000 kills joining redshirt senior Jenna Rosenthal and Allie Barber.
Rosenthal became Marquette's all-time leader in assisted blocks in the match against Georgetown on Sept. 28. She owns 465 career assisted blocks and topped the record of 412 that Meghan Nieman set from 2013-2016. Rosenthal is also Marquette's all-time leader in total blocks with 521 currently having recently broken another of Niemann's records.
Allie Barber reached a milestone of 1,000 career kills against Villanova on Saturday, Sept. 29. The junior now owns 1,258 kills. The all-time leader for the Golden Eagles is Theresa Coughlin with 1,733 total kills from 2002-06.
Head coach Ryan Theis picked up his 100th Marquette victory in a 3-0 sweep over Illinois State on September 15. He is in his fifth season at the helm of the Golden Eagles.
Marquette defeated then-No. 10 USC in its home opener in a five-set thriller. It was just the third victory over a top-10 opponent in the program's history, but the fourth straight season that MU defeated a ranked opponent.
The Golden Eagles rank in the top-10 nationally in four categories: Fourth in aces per set (1.80), fifth in kills per set (14.86), fifth in assists per set (13.86) and eighth in hitting percentage at a .285 clip. In all four categories Marquette is the BIG EAST leader.
Rosenthal and Barber boast stellar hitting percentages at .382 and .357, respectively through the 30 games of the season, helping propel the Golden Eagles to its .285 average combined. The duo ranks first and second in the BIG EAST and are 24th and 56th, respectively in the NCAA.
Barber's strong junior season continues as she leads the BIG EAST in kills per set with 4.59, ranking 13^th among NCAA squads with 450 total kills. She is just one of two players in the country hitting above a .350 hitting percentage that also has 400-or more kills on the season. Torrey Van Winden from Cal Poly is hitting .365 and has 466 total kills.
Marquette has had a player record a double-double on 17 occasions this season. Anna Haak leads the squad with seven double-doubles, while Lauren Speckman has recorded five. Sophomores Sarah Rose and Hope Werch have tallied four and two double-doubles this season, respectively.