No. 18 Marquette hosts No. 10 Creighton at Al McGuire Center on Friday
NEW YORK – No. 10 Creighton and No. 18 Marquette will face each other in a battle of the top two teams in BIG EAST volleyball standings Friday evening in Milwaukee. The match will be streamed live on the BIG EAST Digital Network at 8 p.m. ET.
The Bluejays, who are ranked No. 10 nationally for a seventh consecutive week in the AVCA Coaches Poll, have won 10 straight matches. The Golden Eagles are on a nine-match winning streak and are at No. 18 for a second consecutive week, which is the highest ever for the program. Marquette has not lost since their last meeting with Creighton in Omaha on Sept. 23 when the Bluejays swept the Golden Eagles.
Creighton leads the all-time series 14-4 against Marquette, including a 10-1 mark in the past five seasons. Since the reconfiguration of the conference in the summer of 2013, Creighton and Marquette are the only teams to win any sort of BIG EAST Volleyball title. The Bluejays defeated the Golden Eagles in five sets to claim the 2017 BIG EAST Championship. Marquette was picked to finish first with 78 points in the 2018 BIG EAST Volleyball Preseason Coaches’ Poll, two points ahead of Creighton. The Golden Eagles received six first place votes to the Bluejays’ four.
Marquette junior Allie Barber, 2018 BIG EAST Volleyball Preseason Player of the Year, leads the league per set in kills with 4.49 and points with 4.70. Senior Taryn Kloth guides the Bluejays with 4.06 kills per set and 4.53 points, right behind Barber in both categories. She was named Most Valuable Player of the 2017 BIG EAST Volleyball Championship. Creighton senior Jaali Winters is currently third in the conference in kills and points per set, averaging 3.71 and 4.12, respectively.
Villanova (12-11, 5-6 BIG EAST) and Georgetown (13-10, 6-5) will get things started on Friday as the Wildcats visit the Hoyas at 5 p.m. St. John’s (18-8, 7-4) will head to Butler (7-16, 4-7) for a 6 p.m. start time. At 7 p.m. Xavier (7-15, 5-6) will host Seton Hall (8-16, 3-8) in Cincinnati before Creighton (18-4, 10-0) and Marquette (19-4, 9-1) meet up at 8 p.m.
On Saturday, Xavier will welcome St. John’s at 6 p.m, while Seton Hall visits Butler also at 6 p.m. Creighton travels down to DePaul (5-16, 3-7) and Providence (7-14, 1-9) heads to Marquette both beginning at 7 p.m.
For live stats and any live video, visit the BIG EAST volleyball schedule page.
#BIGEASTvb Weekend Schedule
Friday, Oct. 26
VILLANOVA at GEORGETOWN at 5 p.m.
ST. JOHN’S at BUTLER at 6 p.m.
SETON HALL at XAVIER at 7 p.m.
No. 10 CREIGHTON at No. 18 MARQUETTE at 8 p.m. (
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Saturday, Oct. 27
ST. JOHN’S at XAVIER at 6 p.m.
SETON HALL at BUTLER at 6 p.m.
No. 10 CREIGHTON at DEPAUL at 7 p.m.
PROVIDENCE at No. 18 MARQUETTE at 7 p.m.
All times are Eastern.