2026 Big East Women’s Volleyball: Where Are We Now?
· Yahoo Sports
Coming up on Friday, Marquette volleyball kicks off the Big East portion of the 2026 schedule. With that in mind, it’s probably a good idea to take a tumble around the conference to see what everyone’s getting up to so far this season. Before we get there, let’s deal with the details surrounding this weekend’s matches…..
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Big East Match #1: at Connecticut Huskies (7-6, 0-0 Big East)
Date: Friday, September 25, 2026
Time: 5pm Central
Location: UConn Volleyball Center, Storrs, Connecticut
Streaming:ESPN+
Live Stats:Stat Broadcast
Bluesky Updates:@AnonymousEagle
Marquette is 16-3 all time against UConn. The Golden Eagles have won 13 straight matches against the Huskies dating all the way back to 2010, seeing as the two were in the Big East together for a good long while there. UConn has won six sets off of Marquette in that 13 match stretch, and right now, MU has won three straight matches by sweep for a total of 12 straight sets because UConn took the first in a 3-1 win in 2023.
Big East Match #2: at Providence Friars (8-3, 0-0 Big East)
Date: Saturday, September 26, 2026
Time: 2pm Central
Location: Alumni Hall, Providence, Rhode Island
Streaming: Friars Live, which will cost you $7 for a 24 hour pass.
Live Stats:Stat Broadcast
Bluesky Updates:@AnonymousEagle
Marquette is a perfect 21-0 all time against Providence. The series dates back as far as 1999, but all of the matches except for that 20th century contest have happened since the Friars moved their program into the Big East in 2014. The only time PC has ever taken a set from Marquette is in that 3-2 first ever meeting.
[ASIDE: Why the hell is this match on Friars Live, Providence’s proprietary streaming service, and not on ESPN+? You’re not special, Friars. Your home non-conference matches were on ESPN+. Friday’s DePaul match is on ESPN+. All of your other home matches in Big East play are on ESPN+. Not this one, though. Knock it off.]
With that out of the way, we can get onto taking a peek at the entirety of the Big East to preview league play instead of just focusing on what this weekend’s opponents have been up to so far. We’ll go team by team, and to make it interesting, we’ll sort the teams by their Evollve ranking as of Monday, September 21st. I would use the RPI, but the NCAA hasn’t launched that yet. I get it, there’s all of October and November still left in the season, that’s so much data, may as well go one more week and make it look a little bit nicer. Evollve is a bit more analytical than just measuring up strength of opponent, so there’s a bit more detail to doing it this way anyway.
In addition to their record as of the moment, we’ll also give you the stat leaders for every team to give you some names to know. We’ll also drop in everyone’s best win, based on Evollve’s rankings, and their worst loss as well. That helps draw a picture of how their season is going. BY THE WAY: If anyone at Evollve is reading this, I think it would be VERY helpful if the schedule portion of every team’s page had the opponents’ rankings listed, not just the date and time, location, and the result. SOME OF US, not naming names, had to write out all the non-conference schedules BY HAND, ON PAPER, to figure out best win and worst loss.
Okay, this is already a 6 minute read according to WordPress, and all I’ve done is this preamble and the stat dump for everyone, let’s get a move on. I think you’re going to be surprised as to who comes in first, because I know I was……
Marquette Golden Eagles: #40
Record: 5-5
Kills Leader: Carson Tyler, 4.03/set
Assists Leader: Luanna Markus, 9.15/set, best in the Big East
Digs Leader: Emi Juric, 3.31/set
Blocks Leader: Molly Welge, 1.39/set
Best Evollve Win: vs #21 Illinois, 3-0
Worst Evollve Loss: at #72 Dayton, 3-1
Yep, Marquette is the best team in the Big East right now in the Evollve rankings. We’ll get to precisely why that’s the case when we talk about the next team, but for now, MU is leading the way. That’s kind of a nice sign, since it’s clear that Marquette’s been struggling to get some consistency and coherency on the floor as they smash together a lineup with a couple of returning players, an All-American transfer, and a whole mess of freshmen. To that extent: Markus, Juric, and Welge are all freshmen, and to help draw my point together here, Welge was not a starter at middle blocker in the opening match of the season.
I was actually surprised to see Markus leading the Big East in assists, if for no other reason than usually that goes to someone that’s north of 10 per set. She’s the only setter above 9/set, and one of just five averaging better than 8. If Marquette makes it clear that they’re an NCAA tournament team at least and a Big East title contender, I think that Markus is going to take a run at Big East Freshman of the Year, but the best kills average in the league belongs to a freshman, so we’ll see.
Creighton Bluejays: #52
Record: 5-7
AVCA Ranking: #25
Kills Leader: Trinity Shadd-Ceres, 3.22/set
Assists Leader: Katie Dalton, 7.03/set
Digs Leader: Saige Damrow, 4.39/set
Blocks Leader: Eloise Brandewie, 1.27/set
Best Evollve Win: vs #11 Purdue on a neutral floor, 3-2
Worst Evollve Loss: at #83 Rice, 3-1
Yep, Creighton’s a sub-50 ranked team at the moment, and if we were building an NCAA tournament based on the Evollve rankings, I don’t know if we could actually get the Bluejays into the field of 64. Yes, they’re still ranked in the AVCA top 25 as of Monday, and that’s probably because they have losses to the teams currently ranked #1, #4, #15, and #16 in addition to wins over #10 and #23.
You will notice that I only listed four losses to ranked teams, and the fact of the matter is that Creighton goes into their Big East opener on the road against Seton Hall riding a five match losing streak, and a run of losses in six of their last seven matches. Part of Creighton’s problems right now might stem from the fact that the Bluejays don’t have a set starting lineup. No one has started all 12 matches, and only two women have started 11 times. Katie Dalton is ostensibly their starting setter but 1) she’s missed two matches and 2) even while starting all 10 appearances, she’s had three contests of 10 or fewer assists. Not playing in every set in two of them while starting doesn’t explain eight assists against Minnesota and nine against Northern Iowa, and only coming up with 10 helpers in all three sets against Nebraska is weird, too. The point of the story is that while she’s only averaging seven assists a set, that’s not because head coach Brian Rosen is running a two setter system here.
It’s clearly way too early to write the Bluejays off, as they’ve played the fifth toughest schedule in the country to this point of the season. However, they do have three losses to teams at #50 or lower in the Evollve rankings, two of which have come at home at DJ Sokol Arena. They might still win the Big East, and might win it easily by the time we get to the end of November…. but there are cracks in the foundation, at the very least.
DePaul Blue Demons: #66
Record: 8-3
Kills Leader: Kendall Timme, 3.76/set
Assists Leader: Leonor Polezzi, 8.71/set
Digs Leader: Nora Mannion, 4.13/set
Blocks Leader: Jade Dudley-Epps, 1.13/set
Best Evollve Win: vs #70 South Dakota on a neutral floor, 3-1
Worst Evollve Loss: vs #42 Auburn, 3-1
I don’t know if it means anything, but DePaul has the best Worst Loss in the league. Now, they’ve only played three top 100 opponents, and two of those were kind of gift-wrapped for them because the two Big Ten teams that played in the challenge doubleheader at Wrigley Field against the SEC stopped by to tangle with the Blue Demons. Still, DePaul stuck their foot in the door to get those matches while Nebraska and Penn State were in town, and good for them.
The win over South Dakota is their only top 100 victory so far this season, and it’s one of just two top 150 wins for them as well. Still, showing an ability to beat anyone ranked 50 or below that shows up against them is a thing that could bode well for the Blue Demons here, seeing as everyone except Marquette is 50 or below. DePaul is chasing their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2001 and just the third in program history, but they’re also chasing consistency as a program. Head coach Marie Zidek has rattled off three straight winning seasons in the last three years, but I would presume that she doesn’t think very highly of counting last year’s 14-13 to get there. Can DePaul win at least 12 Big East contests to get to 20 wins for the second time under Zidek and just the second time at all since that 2001 NCAA bid? Feels possible, right?
Xavier Musketeers: #76
Record: 7-4
Kills Leader: Charlotte Moriarty, 3.24/set
Assists Leader: Macy Hatkevich, 6.97/set
Digs Leader: Kelsey Niesen, 4.63/set
Blocks Leader: McKinley Boehm, 1.26/set
Best Evollve Win: vs #92 Bowling Green, 3-0
Worst Evollve Loss: vs #53 Ball State on a neutral floor, 3-1
I should make this point: Xavier has won seven of their last nine contests, and both losses were to top 40 opponents, and one of those was on the road. The Ball State loss was their second match of the year, and the first match was a loss to Pitt, the top ranked team in Evollve, as part of the Big East-themed doubleheader in the AVCA First Serve event. All in all, I think this is a solid non-conference showing one season after making the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2007. Three sub-200 wins aren’t going to help them get back there as an at-large bid, but #225 Austin Peay as the lowest ranked opponent isn’t exactly the worst thing either.
It’s probably a little bit more impressive of a non-conference performance when I mix in the note that Xavier has just one woman — Charlotte Moriarty — that has started all 11 matches. That’s probably not 100% true since Kelsey Niesen is the only other woman to play in all 41 sets and the only other one to play in more than 36 sets, but that’s where we get into dealing with the statkeeping rules about whether or not your libero is a starter more than anything about anything Xavier is doing. XU does have six women who have appeared in all 11 contests, but three of them have played in fewer sets than Macy Hatkevich, who missed their 3-1 win over Notre Dame completely. The point is that head coach Christy Pfeffenberger has been stapling together a lineup to make it work, and for the most part, it would appear that it’s going pretty well for Xavier. They don’t really have any missteps, they’ve stuck their neck out a little bit but just didn’t have those matches go their way. They’re probably a little bit underrated going into Big East play.
Okay, let’s draw a little line here because this is the cutoff between Top 100 and Not Top 100. This is relevant for NCAA tournament resume building reasons.
Villanova Wildcats: #103
Record: 7-4
Kills Leader: Abby Harrell, 3.29/set
Assists Leader: Alyssa Nelson, 6.59/set
Digs Leader: Cat Young, 2.16/set
Blocks Leader: Campbell McKinnon, 1.02/set
Best Evollve Win: at #115 American, 3-0
Worst Evollve Loss: vs #86 Iowa State on a neutral floor, 3-0
Show of hands: Who remembers when Villanova was earning preseason top 25 votes? That went straight out the door in match #1 and to a certain extent set #1 when the Wildcats fell behind 1-0 on their way to a 3-1 season opening loss to Pepperdine. That’s not a knock on the Waves, they’re actually a top 50 team in the Evollve rankings right now, but you can’t earn a tiny bit of national attention going into the season and then immediately lose your opener. That’s no way to keep earning votes.
To Nova’s credit, they won their next three and five of the next six, with the loss in there coming on a neutral floor against the Arizona State squad that’s currently #9 in the country in the AVCA top 25. They went through most of that with Abby Harrell, the Big East Preseason Player of the Year, who only played three of the four sets against Pepperdine then missed the next four matches. That unfortunately means that Harrell was on the floor for the loss to Iowa State in Washington, D.C., where she had just eight kills on a season low .182 hitting percentage. Only 22 swings for her there, but that’s not a great way to go, especially since that was the day after beating American for what is currently VU’s best win of the season.
It looks like Alyssa Nelson is splitting time at setter, but it’s not always the same secondary setter working with her, and even then, Nelson hasn’t started every match. Ava Harris has started the two that Nelson hasn’t, but Harris has only played in 24 sets. The other 20 of the year have gone to Selah O’Connor, and both she and Harris are averaging over four assists a set. Generally speaking, I think the common thought process on setting is it’s best for your hitters to be used to one, at most two setters passing them the ball, but it’s mostly working for Villanova here. Three of their four losses are to top 50 opponents, and sometimes you’re just going to lose to NCAA tournament caliber opponents. You’d like to beat NCAA tournament caliber opponents as well, which is something that they haven’t done yet this year.
Georgetown Hoyas: #109
Record: 8-3
Kills Leader: Kamryn Lee-Caracci, 3.05/set
Assists Leader: Juleigh Urbina, 8.45/set
Digs Leader: Dionna Mitchell, 2.66/set
Blocks Leader: Berkeley Ploder, 1.16/set
Best Evollve Win: at #115 American, 3-1
Worst Evollve Loss: at #160 UMBC, 3-1
Some context for Georgetown’s worst loss: Their other two losses are both top 70 opponents, so no shame for those. The problem for the Hoyas — and then for the rest of the Big East in the long term — is that those two are Georgetown’s only top 110 opponents of the entire season so far. That win over American that sits as their best win of the season? Match #1 of the year, and that was after American took the first set 25-16 because they put the Hoyas in a 7-0 hole to start the match, and thus the season. Not sayin’, just sayin’.
I want to parse Georgetown’s stats leaders for a moment. Kamryn Lee-Caracci is going to give up that kills lead eventually. All due respect to what she’s done so far this season, but she’s not going to hit .500 the reset of the year. She’s actually fourth on the Hoyas roster in terms of total attacks, and while it’s great to press an advantage, eventually that’s going to start winding back on them. Dionna Mitchell is the total attacks leader and she’s only 0.05 kills/set behind Lee-Caracci, it’s just that she’s hitting .201. You’ll notice that Mitchell is listed as the digs leader as well, but that’s a judgement call from me. Bella McGirr is officially leading the team there with 4.36/set, but she’s only played in 22 of 38 sets AND she hasn’t played since September 6th, missing the last five matches.
This is where I’ll also point out that Mitchell missed the match against Howard on September 17th. GU won mostly easily (the first set took extra points) so it’s not a big deal, especially since she played the next night against George Washington. Mitchell had 12 kills on 21 swings in that match, so she was clearly okay, but if the roster is pinning a lot of things on her and she’s working through a nagging injury… well, that could be trouble.
St. John’s Red Storm: #135
Record: 10-3
Kills Leader: Carola Tesoro, 4.49/set, best in the Big East
Assists Leader: Amanda Caputi, 6.67/set
Digs Leader: Rashanny Solano Smith, 5.81/set, best in the Big East
Blocks Leader: Teodora Stamenkovic, 1.11/set
Best Evollve Win: vs #127 Penn, 3-1
Worst Evollve Loss: at #275 Old Dominion, 3-2
At a glance: Oh, 10-3, there’s Joanne Persico, putting together yet another interesting and competitive St. John’s team, watch out for the Red Storm!
After one glance under the hood: Oh, no, they have TWO sub-225 losses and only one top 100 match played and that was their other loss? They blew a 2-1 lead in that awful loss to Old Dominion? They have no top 80 opponents and only two above #180? They have four sub-300 wins?
Carola Tesoro is the hitter I mentioned waaaaay back in the Marquette section as obvious competition for Freshman of the Year in the league. I stand by that, because if you lead any team in kills and hit .300 as a freshman, you have a shot to win. If you lead the league in kills like she is right now and hit .300, you should almost be a shoo-in for the trophy. But if you go winless against the top 120 teams in the Big East and end up taking surprise losses to teams worse off than you like that ODU loss or their East Texas A&M (#228!) loss, then BOOM: You’re under .500 and the other coaches don’t have to take Tesoro seriously as the best freshman in the league. That’s without entertaining the possibility that she just won’t hit .300 when the level of competition goes through the roof in Big East play.
Providence Friars: #148
Record: 8-3
Kills Leader: Sophia Adkins, 2.77/set
Assists Leader: Miller McDonald, 5.15/set
Digs Leader: Ava Dyer, 4.16/set
Blocks Leader: Aubrey Easterwood, 1.51/set, best in the Big East
Best Evollve Win: vs #232 Brown on a neutral floor, 3-2
Worst Evollve Loss: vs #229 Sacred Heart on a neutral floor, 3-2
FUN FACT: That Sacred Heart loss was PC’s most recent match! They also have losses to #134 Harvard — which was their second most recent match!) and a loss to #183 New Hampshire! They don’t have any top 125 opponents, and seven of their 11 matches are against sub-230 foes!
And they have the TEMERITY to hide Saturday’s match against Marquette — their only game against Marquette of the year, they don’t come to Milwaukee because of the 16 game conference schedule — behind an internal paywall instead of putting it on ESPN+. FUN FACT #2: They don’t host Creighton this year — again, 16 game schedule — so they can’t hide that one back there, too.
Please do not put in the paper that I am mad.
Connecticut Huskies: #153
Record: 7-6
Kills Leader: Sydney Borowy, 2.70/set
Assists Leader: Isabella Sohl, 8.17/set
Digs Leader: Hazuna Akishige, 3.14/set
Blocks Leader: Courtney Grayson, 1.04/set
Best Evollve Win: vs #133 Coastal Carolina on a neutral floor, 3-2
Worst Evollve Loss: vs #304 Florida A&M on a neutral floor, 3-2
Congrats to Connecticut, they have the worst loss in the entire Big East. Technically, they have the only sub-300 loss in the entire league, as someone else has a loss to the team that’s exactly #300, and that’s not below 300, now is it?
A fun note: The Florida A&M loss was scheduled for 5.5 hours after the Coastal Carolina win. Not sure if it went off on time in their neutral site event hosted by Jacksonville, but that’s the listed timing on the schedule. After holding off a Coastal push with the Chanticleers winning the fourth set and then needing to fend off match point after a service error by Isabella Sohl, the Huskies couldn’t hold onto ripping the Rattlers apart 25-10 in the first set. Sets 3, 4, and 5 all went to extra points with A&M winning 3 and 5. UConn was up 24-23 in the third. UConn was up 24-20 in the fourth and nearly blew it before forcing the fifth frame in extras. UConn was up 13-12 in the fifth.
Are three of their other losses to top 100 competition and thus respectable? Sure. They also lost to #172 Coppin State at home.
Moving on.
Butler Bulldogs: #166
Record: 6-6
Kills Leader: Chase Lemming, 3.04/set
Assists Leader: Kaylee Finnegan, 5.14/set
Digs Leader: Jersey Loyer, 4.31/set
Blocks Leader: Carly Slusser, 1.29/set
Best Evollve Win: vs #175 Akron, 3-0
Worst Evollve Loss: vs #246 Charleston Southern on a neutral floor, 3-2
On one hand, the Charleston Southern loss was the third match of the season, and it’s been a minute since that happened.
On the other hand, Butler lost to #238 Bellarmine and #220 IU Indy, both on the road, to start off the four match losing streak they carry into Big East play, and that means they’re coming off a home loss to #216 LIU.
I don’t have to pretend here.
Were you counting along at home? Did you keep track of how many Big East squads we’ve talked about here? Did we get all 11?
NO, WE DID NOT. PLEASE NOTE THE RANKING YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE. THERE ARE 348 DIVISION 1 VOLLEYBALL TEAMS.
Seton Hall Pirates: #273
Record: 8-4
Kills Leader: Daria Safian, 2.95/set
Assists Leader: Gwen Adler, 6.65/set
Digs Leader: Rylee Nelson, 3.59/set
Blocks Leader: Mia Clyburn, 0.84/set
Best Evollve Win: vs #156 Illinois State, 3-0
Worst Evollve Loss: vs #300 New Haven on a neutral floor, 3-1
Seton Hall was 4-0 at one point this year, kicking off the campaign with that Illinois State win. They are, of course, 4-4 since then, and we will forgive them their road loss to #34 Maryland. That’s 4-3 against sub-200 teams, capped off with that loss to New Haven last Saturday afternoon. Oh, and three of the wins right after the ISU win were sub-300 competition.
You’re not even trying, Seton Hall.
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