#14 Creighton Hosts (RV) Marquette Atop Big East Table; Nov. 4 Preview

Every day at VolleyMob we will preview several of the most notable and interesting matches in NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball. We will offer an inside look at some of those top matchups each day as we carry along through the 2017 season.

*Note: The VolleyMob Top 25 Power Rankings are utilized for a team’s ranking

*The entire week’s schedule can be seen here.

THE BIG MATCH:

(RV) Marquette (17-7, 11-2) at #14 Creighton (18-5, 11-1) – 2 pm ET

How to follow: Fox Sports Go/Live Stats

Two teams have separated themselves atop the Big East standings, as besides Marquette and Creighton every other team has four or more losses in conference play. With that in mind, this matchup could determine who ends up winning the conference, as the winner will own the lead after the day.

Marquette will be looking for the regular season sweep of Creighton – of course they could meet in the Big East Tournament as well. It wasn’t necessarily surprising that Marquette upended Creighton in Milwaukee back on October 5, but what was surprising was the fact in came in straight sets as they scored 75 points to the BlueJays’ 52. They’ll need Allie Barber to be on her ‘A’-game once again after she totaled 21 kills while hitting .541 in that match.

For Creighton, it’s an opportunity to garner a two-plus match lead on everyone else in the Big East with just five more regular season matches after this one. It’s also an opportunity to exact revenge after that three-set Marquette win when Creighton hit just .093. The offense was out of sync and the Marquette block stood tall to stifle the BlueJays offense, but with so much balance it’ll be tough to do again. Look for more from Lydia Dimke after a season-low 19 assists in that last go-around.

OTHER NOTABLE MATCHES:

#19 Iowa State (17-4, 7-3) at #18 Baylor (19-5, 9-2) – 3 pm ET

How to follow: Baylor Video & Radio/Game Tracker

The battle for second in the Big 12 is fierce right now, as Baylor and Kansas each have two losses with Iowa State right behind. The Cyclones contributed to the Jayhawks’ record last week giving them their second loss, as now they can give Baylor a third. That didn’t go so smoothly in the first meeting though, as the Bears swept the Cyclones in Ames on October 4.

#8 Washington (18-6, 8-5) at #16 Utah (18-6, 9-4) – 9 pm ET

How to follow: Pac-12 Networks/Live Stats

Speaking of tight races for second place in a conference that has an undefeated team in first, the Pac-12 has one going on with a plethora of teams. Two of the front-runners in that regard are in this one, as beyond an opportunity for that in the Pac-12, this presents a ranked meeting with a pair of teams that have sights on hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.