Sept. 12, 2012

2012 Marquette Invitational
Iowa, Marquette, Milwaukee, Pacific
September 14-15, 2012
Al McGuire Center
Milwaukee, Wis.

Marquette Notes (PDF) 

MILWAUKEE - The Marquette University women's volleyball team hosts its final tournament of the non-conference season when it welcomes Iowa, Milwaukee and Pacific to the Al McGuire Center for the Marquette Invitational on Sept. 14-15.

All matches will feature live statistics through GameTracker, while Marquette's matches will have live, streaming video through GoMarquette.com's multimedia platform, MUTube.

The Golden Eagles (7-2) will face Pacific at 7 p.m. Friday before returning to action Saturday against Iowa at 1:30 p.m. and Milwaukee at 7 p.m. The Milwaukee match is "Bust Out Your Blue" night with free navy pom-poms for the first 250 fans, while all fans wearing blue will receive $2 admission and be entered to win a Marquette volleyball prize pack.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION:
PACIFIC [8-1 (0-0 Big West) | PacificTigers.com | @PacificVball]: Pacific comes to Milwaukee after earning runner-up honors at the Stanford Invitational while dropping its only match of the season on Sept. 8 to No. 8 Stanford. The Tigers claimed tournament titles the first two weekends of the season at the Idaho Nike Invitational (Aug. 24-25) and their own Community Bankers Classic (Aug. 31-Sept. 1). Marquette last faced Pacific on Sept. 8, 2006 in the Michigan/Pepsi Challenge. Series history: Tied 1-1.

IOWA [7-3 (0-0 B1G) | HawkeyeSports.com | @IowaVolleyball]: Iowa went 2-1 last weekend at the Iowa State Challenge with wins over Syracuse (3-2) and Eastern Washington (3-0) and a close loss to No. 18 Iowa State (3-2). Sophomore Alex Lovell's 3.29 kills per set leads the Hawkeyes, who fell to Marquette 3-1 in last year's Hawkeye Challenge on Aug. 27 in Iowa City. Bond Shymansky will face his alma mater for the third time since taking over at Marquette, where he is 1-1 against Iowa. Series history: Tied 2-2.

MILWAUKEE [5-5 (0-0 Horizon) | UWMPanthers.com | @UWMVolleyball]: Milwaukee went 1-2 last weekend at Wisconsin's InnTowner Invitational with a sweep of Drake and losses to North Dakota State and the host Badgers. Sophomore Julie Kolinske earned all-tournament honors after averaging 4.45 kills and 3.27 digs on the weekend. The Golden Eagles will face the Panthers for the 74th time in program history, the most against any one opponent, and make a return trip to UWM's Klotsche Center on Tuesday, Oct. 30. Former Marquette AVCA All-American Nikki Klingsporn is in her first year as a Panther assistant coach after serving as a volunteer assistant at MU in 2011. Series history: UWM leads 46-26-1.

Schedule:
Friday, Sept. 14
11 a.m. - Iowa vs. Pacific
GameTracker 

4:30 p.m. - Milwaukee vs. Iowa
GameTracker

7 p.m. - Pacific at Marquette
GameTracker | Watch Live

Saturday, Sept. 15
11 a.m. - Pacific vs. Milwaukee
GameTracker

1:30 p.m. - Iowa at Marquette 
GameTracker | Watch Live

7 p.m. - Milwaukee at Marquette
GameTracker | Watch Live

MU TOPS NO. 23 MICHIGAN; WINS AMBASSADOR HOTEL GOLDEN EAGLE CLASSIC: Marquette claimed its second tournament title in as many weeks by topping then-No. 23 Michigan on Sept. 7 in the Ambassador Hotel Golden Eagle Classic. Senior middle hitter Danielle Carlson earned MVP honors after hitting .449 with only a pair of errors in four matches. Carlson recorded 12 kills in MU's 3-1 victory over the Wolverines, the highest-ranked foe MU has ever defeated, and landed 14 kills on 31 error-free swings against No. 25 Northern Iowa.

MU CLAIMS XAVIER INVITE CROWN; KOBERSTEIN MVP: Junior setter Elizabeth Koberstein of the Marquette University women's volleyball team was named to the BIG EAST Conference Weekly Honor Roll Monday after earning most valuable player honors at the Xavier Invitational. Koberstein helped the Golden Eagles (4-1) defeat Mississippi, Tennessee Tech and Xavier in Cincinnati for the tournament crown. Marquette won all nine sets on Friday and Saturday and Koberstein recorded her first double-double of the season with 37 assists and 12 digs against Xavier in the title match. Danielle Carlson and Lindsey Gosh also earned all-tournament honors.

NEWCOMERS SHINE AT MARQUETTE CHALLENGE: Senior middle Danielle Carlson earned all-tournament honors for the fourth time in her career at the Marquette Challenge, while freshman outside hitter Erin Lehman earned her first career recognition after leading MU with 3.71 kills per set. The Green Bay native notched 12 kills in her debut against Bowling Green and 14 in the title match vs. Northwestern. Fellow freshman Ellie Rauch added 17 digs vs. the Wildcats and Koberstein assisted on 40 kills against the Falcons and 43 vs. NU.

ALL HOME MATCHES STREAMED FOR THIRD-STRAIGHT YEAR: All Marquette volleyball home matches this fall will be streamed live on GoMarquette.com's multimedia platform, MUTube (GoMarquette.com/allaccess/). Play-by-Play duties will be shared during the campaign by Kyle Dlabay (Comm, `06), Armen Saryan (620 WTMJ/Comm, `06) and Eric Brooks (620 WTMJ). They will be joined throughout the season by special guests, including former Marquette AVCA All-American Ciara Jones (Comm, `12).

FOLLOW MARQUETTE VOLLEYBALL ON TWITTER AND FACEBOOK: Be sure to follow Marquette volleyball on Twitter (@MarquetteVB) and "like" us on Facebook (/MarquetteVolleyball) for updates throughout the year. In addition to live stats and video links found on GoMarquette.com, @MarquetteVB on Twitter will provide live in-match updates during all matches. 

QUICK HITS/RECENT PROGRAM HISTORY:
• The Al McGuire Center will host the 2012 BIG EAST Women's Volleyball Championship on Nov. 16-18.

• Marquette is receiving eight points in the Sept. 10 AVCA Top-25 Coaches' Poll.

• Setter Elizabeth Koberstein ranks second in the BIG EAST and 19th in the nation with 11.58 assists per set, while outside hitter Lindsey Gosh's 0.61 service aces per set rank second in the league and ninth in the ntaion. MU leads the conference as a team with 14.48 kills and 13.26 assists per set and ranks second in hitting percentage (.262).

• Marquette was picked second in the BIG EAST Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll. Seniors Danielle Carlson and Holly Mertens were both All-BIG EAST Preseason Team selections

• Six Marquette players have earned AVCA All-America honors over the last two years, while three of those players have gone on to play professionally. Carlson could become MU's first two-time AA.

• Head coach Bond Shymansky earned BIG EAST Conference and AVCA Northeast Region Coach of the Year honors in 2011, his second such awards after earning ACC and AVCA East Region honors in 2004.

• Head coach Bond Shymansky begins his fourth year with Marquette and 11th season as an NCAA Division I head coach. Shymansky has led the Golden Eagles to consecutive 20-win campaigns and has helped MU reach the BIG EAST Championship semifinals during both of those years. MU is a combined 51-22 (23-5 BIG EAST) since 2010 and made its first NCAA Championship appearance in 2011.

• Through his first 10 seasons as head coach, Shymansky had accumulated 237 career victories and a winning percentage of .712, placing him in the top 25 all-time among NCAA Division I head coaches and first among active BIG EAST head coaches.

UP NEXT: Marquette begins its eighth season of competition in the BIG EAST Conference when it hosts Syracuse on Saturday, Sept. 22 at the Al McGuire Center. Syracuse, which defeated No. 18 Iowa State on Sept. 8, is led by former Louisville head coach Leonid Yelin.