When it comes to women's volleyball at Marquette, you can take a few things for granted. The offense is going to be tough and the kill count's going to be high. The defense is going to get digs and take advantage of errors.
In short, the competition's going to be tough. That's not bothering the Lady Tigers though, as Marquette marches into Elma Roane Fieldhouse tonight.
"We're an evenly matched set of teams," said Nancy Nellans, junior outside hitter, "but we always pull it out and we always win. They talked some smack last year and said they could beat us."
"I'm not undermining their team, but I do think that we're a better team this year and we can definitely beat them."
Memphis' last meeting with the Golden Eagles was long and drawn out. The quick win that the Lady Tigers were accustomed to turned into five games and a victory. The key to the win was the defense in the fifth game, where Memphis out-blocked Marquette 4-1 and took the edge out of their game.
The offense attacked Marquette's defense with returning players Tiara Gilkey (20 kills) and Nancy Nellans (23 kills). This year, with the same offensive key players and the same hot defense, Memphis isn't sweating it.
"Win" was the word that came to head coach Carrie Yerty's mind."Because we're going to," said Yerty. "Which team plays better -- plays the best offensively as well as defensively with the least amount of errors -- is what it's going to come down to. This is a critical weekend. If we can sweep at home we can position ourselves for the tournament."
Today's game has some extra heat with the third place conference title up in the air. There's also the idea of the loser having to play St. Louis in the first round of conference -- something that Yerty has no desire to do. With that on the line, Yerty is keeping track of the Golden Eagles' strength.
"They're a great competing team," she said during Thursday's practice. "They've got a senior setter running the game. (Theresa) Coughlin is leading them from the back line. I think (coach) Pati Rolf has done an awesome job getting them ready for their conference play."
Marquette returns from a game against TCU with a 3-0 win Saturday. Their strength was digging 58 TCU attacks and taking advantage of their offensive errors. Leading the defensive line was Caitie O'Brien, who had four of the seventeen digs Saturday.
Coughlin, a junior outside hitter, anchored the net defense and made half of Marquette's total blocks for the match. Several players contributed to the offense, but senior middle blocker, Erica Heisser led them all with nine kills. The balanced team against Memphis' rounded team is going to make for a long battle.
"Definitely going to be another see-saw," said senior outside hitter, Tiara Gilkey. "We're just planning on pulling ahead. We're just going to play our game and we're not going to worry about them. When we play our caliber of game, nobody can really stop us."
The match is free to attend for any costume-wearing fans. The game is 7 p.m tonight.
