Marquette women’s volleyball will travel to Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, to take on No. 3-seeded University of Illinois Friday in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Here are three keys for the Golden Eagles in attempting to topple the powerful Illini:
Defend the middle of the court
Early on in the season, the middle part of the court was Marquette’s kryptonite. As the year has progressed, the Golden Eagles have vastly improved their defensive efforts, thanks in part to sophomore libero Martha Konovodoff, but against Illinois, that may not be enough.
“(Illinois is) trying to be pretty fast offensively, so we just have to be prepared for that,” head coach Ryan Theis said.