Marquette volleyball goes road tripping to Pittsburgh

(MARQUETTE COMMUNICATIONS) MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University women’s volleyball team concludes the early non-conference portion of the schedule this weekend in Pittsburgh with matches against East Carolina and No. 1 Pitt at Fitzgerald Field House.

The Golden Eagles open play with a 1 p.m. Central time matchup with ECU t0day and face the top-ranked Panthers at noon CT on Sunday. Live statistics are available for both matches courtesy of Pitt Athletics, while Sunday’s contest airs live on ACCNX through ESPN+ with Josh Rowntree and Kelsey Bonk on the call.

Following this weekend’s action, MU begins BIG EAST Conference play at home against UConn on Friday, Sept. 27.

MARQUETTE (3-4)

• MU captured the first set, 25-22, but fell in four frames at No. 7 Wisconsin on Tuesday evening in the Kohl Center Classic in Madison. Middle blocker Carsen Murray led MU with 12 kills and four blocks on .632 hitting, while five players notched double-digit digs.
• The Golden Eagles went 2-0 last weekend with wins at Western Kentucky and over then-No. 24 Dayton to win the Hyatt Place Invitational at E.A. Diddle Arena.
• Saturday’s win over the Flyers was the first for MU over a ranked foe since a sweep of then-No. 15 Creighton on Oct. 6, 2023.
• It is also MU’s first win over a ranked non-conference foe since it swept the-No. 13 Georgia Tech in the 2022 NCAA Second Round at the Al McGuire Center. MU’s last road win over a ranked squad came in the 2022 season opener at then-No. 11 Kentucky and MU’s last victory over a top-10 team came in 2019.
• MU setter Yadhira Anchante earned most valuable player honors at the Hyatt Place Invitational and is the BIG EAST Conference Setter of the Week after averaging 10.56 assists and 3.00 digs per set. She notched a season-best 55 assists and 11 digs in Friday’s five-set win over WKU and recorded 40 assists, a season-high 16 digs, three blocks and three kills against the Flyers on Saturday.
• Murray earned BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll mention after hitting .452 (21-2-42) with 2.33 kills and 1.11 blocks per set against UD and WKU and followed that up with a .632 hitting line (12-0-19) against Wisconsin. Against Dayton, she helped shut down the Flyers offense and force Preseason A-10 Player of the Year Lexie Almodovar into 12 hitting errors. Dayton entered the weekend fifth nationally with a .322 hitting percentage and hit just .168 on Saturday.
• Outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton leads the Golden Eagles with 3.30 kills per set, while fellow outside Jenna Reitsma has posted 2.48 kills per set and a hitting percentage of .183 with 12 aces, 3.19 digs per set and seven blocks.
• The Golden Eagles are hitting .224 (373-137-1054) this year against seven opponents that all competed in the 2023 NCAA tournament.
• Sophomore Molly Berezowitz has served as MU’s libero in all seven matches and leads the squad with 98 digs for an average of 3.63 per frame.

EAST CAROLINA (7-1)

• The Pirates began the season with seven wins but were swept at South Carolina on Tuesday, scoring just nine points against the Gamecocks in both the second and third sets.
• Right-side hitter Fran McBride hits .373 to lead ECU with 2.82 kills per set, while outside hitters Angeles Alderete (2.57) and Ellie Pate (2.63) each average over two-and-a-half per frame.
• East Carolina is hitting a combined .248 (352-128-904) this season and averages 1.71 service aces and 2.02 blocks per set.
• Alderete was an All-AAC First Team selection last fall and was chosen as the league’s preseason player of the year in August. ECU is picked to finish fourth out of 13 teams in the AAC this year.
• The Pirates are led by fifth-year head coach Adler Augustin, who has increased ECU’s win total each season on the job. He led the team to 21 wins in 2023, its first 20-win campaign since 2017.

SERIES HISTORY WITH ECU:

• The two programs met each season from 2001-04 as members of Conference USA and MU has dropped just one set in the series, which came in the last meeting at ECU in 2004.
• Former MU head coach Pati Rolf (2002-08) was on the Marquette sideline for three of those meetings and coached four seasons at ECU (2009-12) after leaving MU.

No. 1 PITTSBURGH (7-0)

• Pitt remained undefeated with a 25-22, 25-19, 25-18 sweep of No. 3 Penn State on Wednesday evening at Fitzgerald Field House.
• Sophomores Torrey Stafford and Olivia Babcock led Pittsburgh against the Nittany Lions with 17 and 15 kills, respectively, while Ryla Jones hit .733 (11-0-15) with seven blocks. Pitt hit a combined .379 in the victory and posted at least 18 kills in each frame with a match-best 23 in the opening set.
• The Panthers are the only team in the country to have not lost a set this season.
• Babcock was the 2023 AVCA National Freshman of the Year, while setter Rachel Fairbanks was an AVCA First Team All-American and the ACC Setter of the Year. Those two, along with Stafford, were chosen to the Preseason All-ACC Team and Pitt was selected to post a third consecutive league title with 13 first place votes.
• The Panthers are led by 12th-year head coach Dan Fisher, who has led the squad to NCAA Final Four appearances in each of the last three seasons and a total of five ACC titles.
• Pitt’s 169 victories from 2018-23 lead the nation and are 10 more than any other power conference team over that time.

SERIES HISTORY WITH PITT:

• The Panthers own a slim 7-6 advantage in the all-time series, which dates to a 2003 neutral site match at Duke.
• Then-No. 9 Pitt defeated Marquette, 25-15, 25-13, 25-20, on Sept. 8, 2023, in MU’s home opener at the Al McGuire Center. The loss was MU’s first to the Panthers since 2009, as the Golden Eagles entered the contest as winners of five straight in the series.
• Torrey Stafford posted 17 kills last season for Pitt, which hit .333 and had 12.0 blocks in the sweep. Hattie Bray led MU with seven kills and four blocks.
• MU and Pitt met every season from 2005-12 as members of the BIG EAST Conference and the Golden Eagles defeated the Panthers in the 2006, 2010 and 2012 BIG EAST tournament quarterfinals.
• Marquette’s 3-1 win in the 2012 league quarterfinals was Pitt’s last match ever as a member of the BIG EAST.