The No. 3 seed Marquette University women's volleyball team will make its return to the BIG EAST Conference Championship for the first time since 2006 Friday against tournament host and No. 6-seed Pittsburgh at 5 p.m. CT at the Fitzgerald Field House in Pittsburgh, Pa.
The Golden Eagles (21-8, 11-3 BIG EAST) have recorded their second 20-win season as a member of NCAA Division I and their 11 BIG EAST Conference wins are the most in school history. MU has also won 14 of its last 15 matches overall.
Marquette is 1-2 all-time in the BIG EAST Championship with its lone victory coming over Pittsburgh on Nov. 17, 2006. MU set a championship record in that match with 25 blocks, while middle blocker Jenn Brown recorded 19 of her own.
The Golden Eagles own a 2-6 all-time record against the Panthers (13-17, 7-7 BIG EAST) with its two wins coming in the 2006 tournament and in a 25-16, 25-7, 25-18 sweep on Oct. 31 of this season.
Should MU win, it would face the winner of No. 2 Louisville/No. 7 Seton Hall on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT in the semifinals. The Golden Eagles defeated both Louisville (18-7, 12-2 BIG EAST) and Seton Hall (13-17, 7-7 BIG EAST) this season in hard-fought five-set matches. Its win over Louisville on Nov. 12 helped MU stretch its school-record winning streak to 14 matches and gave MU its first win over the Cardinals since 2001. Louisville has accounted for both of MU's losses in BIG EAST Championship play in both 2005 and 2006. The Cardinals also knocked Marquette out of the post-season in 2004 with a sweep in the Conference USA Finals.
All matches will be streamed live on BIG EAST.tv, while Sunday's championship match at 2:30 p.m. CT will be aired live on ESPNU. A live blog and statistics, courtesy of the BIG EAST Conference, will also be available on BIGEAST.org.
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