MILWAUKEE, Wis. – A week off from competition gave the IUPUI volleyball team some time off to focus on its final non-conference tournament of the season that begins this Friday when the Jaguars head north for the Marquette Invitational.
 
In Milwaukee, the Jags open the tournament against Albany at 5 p.m. ET on Friday (Sept. 18), before taking on Wichita State and Marquette at 11 a.m. ET and 8 p.m. ET, respectively, on Saturday. Both Wichita State and Marquette are receiving votes in the AVCA Top 25 Poll.
 
"We have had a tough preseason schedule so far and that continues this weekend against three good teams," head coach Steve Payne said. "It's been nice to have a little time off this week to focus on getting better and finishing off our non-conference schedule on a high note before conference play begins next week." 
 
IUPUI enters the weekend with a 7-4 record following a 3-1 week that featured a road win at Indiana State and neutral site wins against Toledo and Youngstown State. Kaitlyn Hickey led the Jaguars in kills for the week, but Logan Walling averaged 2.4 kps for the week and hit above .330 resulting in being named to the Redbird Classic All-Tournament Team and Summit League Offensive Player of the Week. Courtney Halter also had a great week defensively leading to a Redbird Classic All-Tournament Team nod by posting 4.7 dps.
 
Albany comes into the tournament with a 5-4 record, while Wichita State is 7-4 and Marquette is 6-3. Marquette owns the top attacker in the tournament in Taylor Louis, who averages 5.53 kps. She has accumulated 483 attempts on the season with her attack total ranking 11th nationally.
 
The Jags defense, which ranks in the Top 120 nationally in both blocks and digs, will face a pair of top offenses this weekend in Marquette and Wichita State with both ranking in the Top 85 nationally in kills per set. Statistically, Albany is last among all four teams in this weekend's field in kills, but they are tops amongst the four teams in digs averaging 16.56 (32nd nationally).
 
IUPUI is 0-1 all-time against Marquette dropping a four-set match to the Golden Eagles during the 2005 season. Contests against Wichita State and Albany will be the first for IUPUI against those institutions.