It wasn’t the homecoming Marquette volleyball envisioned.
After opening the season with a road sweep over Eastern Illinois, the Golden Eagles dropped three-straight matches at the Al McGuire Center last week, which included a surprising 3-1 defeat to unranked Western Michigan (their first non-conference home loss against an unranked opponent since 2015) on Sunday.
The skid dropped Marquette (1-3) from No. 24 in the AVCA top 25 poll to the unofficial No. 29 team, receiving just 39 votes. It’s a continuation of what has become somewhat of an issue for the program in the poll in the last two years.
In 2023, the Golden Eagles went into the year as the preseason No. 12 team before dropping — to No. 19 to No. 24 to unranked — in three straight weeks. After that, they wouldn’t be a top 25 team again until week 10, when they became No. 25; but that ranking, too, only lasted seven days.
This year Marquette maintained its preseason ranking through week one, but lost votes in the process (233 to 182).
The Golden Eagles will now travel on the road for its final five non-conference games, starting with a showcase this weekend against Western Kentucky (Friday) and No. 24 Dayton (Saturday) in Bowling Green.
“It’s gonna take some belief,” head coach Ryan Theis said about bouncing back from the 0-3 week. “Gotta start believing a little bit.”
Ella Foti still recovering from preseason injury
Two weeks ago senior primary right side Ella Foti landed on a teammate in a preseason practice and sprained her ankle.
“They’re just trying to work me back in and I’m trying to do the best that I can with what I got going right now,” Foti said, “because I’m obviously not 100% but just trying to be a positive, encouraging teammate out there.”
Foti didn’t only start this season hurt, though, as she also finished last year on the sidelines after breaking her pinky finger in the Golden Eagles’ second-to-last conference game. Her recovery process involved two surgeries and having four pins put in, meaning she wasn’t fully healthy until February, a full three months after the original injury.
While the ankle injury only kept Foti out of this year’s season-opener at Eastern Illinois — she’s come off the bench in every game since — she hasn’t started a match since Nov. 17, 2023.
Foti said while she hopes to be 100% in two weeks time, she also wants to be able to consistently contribute to the rotation by next weekend.
“[Ankle sprains] can be a little bit chronic, but I’m working a lot on trying to make it as strong and healthy as possible,” she said.
But her main goal is to be in her best shape for the end of the season.
“Being very healthy and ready to go for the end of year,” she said, “because I missed it last year.”
Molly Berezowitz utilized as primary libero
After spending her first year primarily as a serving specialist, sophomore defensive specialist Molly Berezowitz has seen a large uptick in playing time this season as Marquette’s main libero.
She finished last year with a total 52 digs — averaging .58 digs per set — and one assist across 28 matches. This year, she’s already tied that number digs — averaging 3.71 per set — in just four games.
“It’s been definitely a positive change,” Berezowitz said. “I feel really calm on the court, just having the maturity and seniors that we have right now.”
As a first-year, Berezowitz was a raw talent.
In order to help her better adapt to the collegiate game, she spent a lot of time this offseason working with assistant coach Ryan Walthall.
“[Walthall] helped me a lot with just picking up on the speed of the game,” Berezowitz said. “And different tips and techniques to help me just get better at defense and everything overall — more of an aggressive serve, and out of system setting. Everything.”
The drills paid off, and Theis had no second guesses about starting her in the first game of the season.
“She had a great spring,” Theis said. “Came out a little bit slow in the preseason, but had really come on right before — about a week before we started playing — we saw her game pick up a lot. It’s back to where we saw at the end of spring, we thought she was playing really well.”
This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at jack.albright@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.