#13 Creighton & (RV) Marquette Meet for Top of Big East Standings; Oct. 5 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.

After an action-packed Wednesday, Thursday continues the season with 33 matches. All of those feature mid-majors and in those 33, four ranked and another ‘on the cusp’ team continue their season, including a meeting of two of those five in our match of the day.

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

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

THE BIG MATCH:

#13 Creighton (11-4, 4-0) at (RV) Marquette (11-5, 5-0) – 8 pm ET

How to follow: Spectrum Sports/Live Stats/Game Tracker

Only two teams remain undefeated in Big East play: Creighton and Marquette. Not only that, but everyone else has at least two losses. It seems these two could be in a two-team race for the conference title, making this one (especially since it’s being played at the home of the underdog) one of the most vital Big East matches of the year.

Since leaving the Missouri Valley Conference for the Big East, Creighton has dominated the conference in women’s volleyball. Now, they have a real threat on their hands as they look to flex their muscle in Big East play again. Creighton’s kill-leader, Jaali Winters, did have 11 attack errors at Marquette last year, but was asked to do a lot and performed with 22 kills and 15 digs.

The Golden Eagles have won six straight matches and were battle-tested early on, winning matches at Hawaii and against Miami (OH) and taking sets from UCLA, Kentucky and Wichita State. They’ve also won 18 of their last 19 sets in those six matches. Allie Barber logged nine kills (.240), four blocks and three digs in a four-set home loss to Creighton last year, but has risen her play in 2017 to the tune of 4.75 kills per set while hitting .359.

OTHER NOTABLE MATCHES:

#22 Colorado State (14-2, 4-0) at Boise State (11-5, 4-0) – 9:30 pm ET

How to follow: Mountain West Network/Game Tracker

Similar to our match of the day in the Big East, Colorado State and Boise State are the lone unbeaten teams in the Mountain West as well. Not only that, but the Rams haven’t dropped a set in Mountain West action while the Broncos have won 12 of 13 sets. If Boise State can’t win the conference, they could really use this win to bolster their NCAA Tournament at-large chances.

North Dakota (19-2, 4-0) at Sacramento State (13-7, 4-0) – 10 pm ET

How to follow: Big Sky Video/Live Stats

You may see a theme here and it’s very true with another meeting of the only perfect teams in conference play. This one occurs in the Big Sky with added intrigue being that the conference is split into divisions and of course North Dakota is leading the North with Sacramento State on top of the South. North Dakota will look to be the first team in the country to 20 wins while Sacramento State could grow closer to cracking the top 100 of the RPI with a win.

BEST OF THE REST:

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (8-8, 5-0) at Central Arkansas (14-2, 3-1) – 7 pm ET