The Marquette Mustangs are taking a road trip to take on the Incarnate Word Academy Red Knights at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Marquette is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Missouri's top teams: St. Dominic, who was ranked 11th at the time (Marquette was ranked 14th). The Mustangs blew past the Crusaders 3-0 on Monday. The win was a breath of fresh air for the Mustangs as it put an end to their four-match losing streak.
Marquette never let St. Dominic on the board, but things got pretty close in the first set. The final score came out to 27-25, 25-15, 25-19.
Cor Jesu Academy came into Thursday's match looking for another win against Incarnate Word Academy, but Abbi Koelling wouldn't allow it. The Red Knights narrowly escaped with a victory as the squad sidled past the Chargers 3-2 for which the team can thank Koelling, who had 12 digs and one assist. She has been hot recently, having posted ten or more digs the last three times she's played.
Incarnate Word Academy had a slow start but a hot finish: after dropping the first two sets, they turned around to win the next three. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 22-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-22, 16-14.
Incarnate Word Academy's win came from a few key players Marquette will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Audrey Schaeffer, who had 21 digs and four aces. The dominant performance also gave her a new career-high in assists (eight).
Incarnate Word Academy was lethal from the service line and finished the match with ten aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least six aces in three consecutive contests.
Incarnate Word Academy's record now sits at 19-11. As for Marquette, they now have a winning record of 16-15.
Marquette came up short against Incarnate Word Academy in their previous meeting back in October of 2024, falling 3-1. Can the Mustangs avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
