Yeah, getting those preseason votes is a reason to get a smile from head coach Tom Mendoza. | Credit: Marquette UniversityLate on Monday evening, I said, hey, it is Monday, does that mean the AVCA preseason poll came out today? Lo and behold, it sure did.Okay, lets get a notepad out and figure out whos in here that Marquette volleyball is going to play this season Wait. Whats this? Down here in the receiving votes?MARQUETTE HAS 28 POINTS WORTH OF VOTES. THEY START THE 2026 SEASON AS THE UNOFFICIAL #34 TEAM IN THE COUNTRY!Thats awesome. I legitimately did not expect that. With the loss of so many seniors and three starters departing via transfer, including top attacker Natalie Ring, I presumed that the coaches that have a ballot would just say ah, yes, NCAA tournament in head coach Tom Mendozas first season, but come on, top 25 to start next year? Not so fast my friend. A lot of them did! Nebraska is #1 and they have over 1,500 points! Marquette has only 28! But 28 is more than the two points across two ballots that you need to get mentioned in the Receiving Votes area, and thats great.As for Marquettes schedule, well, Tom Mendoza didnt shy away from anything. MUs first match of the season will be against preseason #2 Texas, as they get the Longhorns at Fiserv Forum in the AVCA First Serve event. Texas snagged one first place vote to sneak past #3 Kentucky and their four first place votes and land right behind the Cornhuskers.Things dont really get easier for Marquette from there. Next on the schedule is a two-match trip to southwest Ohio, and that means facing Dayton and their 22 points in the preseason poll. One week later, Marquette will be out in California for two matches, including one against host and preseason #5 Stanford. One week after that and its a home-and-home two match weekend series against Illinois, who ended up with seven points to be the unofficial #41 team in the country at the start of the season.MU has just three non-conference matches left after that, with all three in Wisconsin. Two are at home against teams not earning votes, but one is in Madison against preseason #6 Wisconsin. If Marquette pulls a stunner along the way somewhere here, this will be a battle of two ranked teams, but Im not going to start holding my breath until after those Illinois contests.According to the AVCA poll, Marquette goes into the season as the second best team in the Big East. Well see how well that holds up, but Creighton is ranked at a well-deserved #13 to start the year and take the title of league favorite in the eyes of the voters. Marquette gets the Bluejays on the road in the fourth match of conference play on October 4th, then hosts them seven matches later on October 29th. Thats not it for Big East teams! Villanova has three points worth of votes, and that makes them the unofficial #43 team in the country. Marquette hosts Nova on October 10th, then visits Jake Nevin Field House on November 6th. I dont know if they can win their way up towards the top 25 in non-conference play, but it would be nice to get at least a votes vs votes game in Big East action.As mentioned, Marquettes first game of the season is against Texas at Fiserv Forum. Thats scheduled for first serve at 7pm Central on August 24th, and FS2 is going to pick up the broadcast on that one.You can check out the entire top 25 right here.Follow Anonymous Eagle on social mediaFacebook:AnonymousEagleInstagram:AnonymousEagleSBNBluesky:AnonymousEagle