Iowa State Begins Spring Season at Marquette

Marquette Preview Header

AMES, Iowa - The second chapter of the "2020" Iowa State volleyball season begins this weekend in Milwaukee at Marquette where the Cyclones will play a pair of matches. ISU will take on Saint Louis Friday at 3 p.m. and No. 24 Marquette Saturday at 2 p.m. inside the Al McGuire Center on Marquette's campus.

Follow the Cyclones

Both matches will be streamed for free via Marquette's Golden Eagles All-Access, links can be found on the Iowa State schedule, here. Live stats for both matches will be provided by Marquette, here.

Fall Recap

Come Friday, it will have been 96 days since Iowa State last took the court for volleyball season after the Big 12's decision to play a conference-only schedule in the fall. ISU was able to get in 14 matches (its series against Oklahoma, which was postponed back in October, will be made up later this spring), going 5-9 but finishing on a three-match win streak after picking up a victory over Kansas and sweeping the series at TCU. In the spring, Iowa State was led by 2019 All-Big 12 First Team Eleanor Holthaus, who notched 3.09 kills per set at .305 hitting, both leading the Cyclones. Libero Izzy Enna leads the Big 12 with 4.70 digs per set.

ISU does have some personnel changes from fall to spring that they will have to adjust to. 2019 All-Big 12 First Team middle blocker Candelaria Herrera elected to remain in Argentina during the spring semester to train with the Argentina National Team ahead of this summer's Olympic Games.

About Saint Louis

The Saint Louis Billikens enter this weekend's competition at 5-4 overall and 4-1 in the Atlantic 10 after going 3-0 last weekend against Davidson. SLU setter Kennedy Cordia is the defending A-10 Player of the Week, after she set the SLU offense to .331 hitting across its three matches against Davidson. Freshman middle blocker Jillian Mattingly is among the NCAA's best in hitting percentage at .403, with four matches hitting over .500.

The all-time series between the Cyclones and Billikens is tied 2-2, but this will be the first meeting between the two sides since 1984. The last time Iowa State faced an A-10 opponent was in 2017 when the Cyclones got a 3-0 win at Dayton, and ISU also won its last neutral site match at Marquette, defeating Missouri State 3-0 to close out the 2016 non-conference schedule.

About No. 24 Marquette

No. 24 Marquette are 6-2 on the season and 2-0 in Big East play. The Golden Eagles had last weekend off as their originally scheduled opponent, Creighton, had to go on pause due to Covid-19 protocols. MU are on a run of three-straight wins, all via sweeps after defeating Creighton in a non-con contest and taking both matches off DePaul in straight-sets last weekend. Marquette boast a trio of Preseason All-Big East honorees in seniors Taylor Wolf and Hope Werch and sophomore Hannah Vanden Berg.

Saturday will mark the fifth all-time meeting between Marquette and Iowa State, with that series also tied at 2-2. This series has more of a modern history, with Marquette winning a pair of meetings over Iowa State 3-0 in 2015 (in Ames) and 2016 (in Milwaukee).