The Marquette University Women’s Volleyball team is encouraging fans to wear gold for the home opener tonight against Stanford. The “gold out” game is in honor of the University’s late president, Dr. Michael Lovell.
After serving at Marquette for 10 years and becoming a staple in the Greater Milwaukee community, Dr. Lovell passed away following a battle with a form of bone cancer this past June.
TMJ4’s Sydni Eure spoke with volleyball student-athletes Hattie Bray and Molly Berezowitz about what this game means for Marquette.
Both Hattie and Molly said it’ll be a big night for the team. Not only will they be playing the first ranked game of the season, they’ll also host one of the first “gold out” game this fall.
“I’m so excited,” said Molly Berezowitz, Sophomore Libero. “I’ve just seen so many people on campus and friends and family, everyone is just looking forward to us playing Stanford and Stanford being here which is super fun. And then obviously gold out for president Lovell.”
“He was just such a great person for athletics,” said Hattie Bray, Senior Middle Blocker. “He was the most supportive president I've ever met. I’ve only ever been to Marquette University and I already know he’s the best one I’ll ever get.”
All year long, we’ll see teams at Marquette honoring Lovell with a “Lovell 24” patch on each of their uniforms. The Women’s Volleyball team will wear their patch Wednesday night over the right shoulder on a special gold jersey.
Hattie and Molly said it’s an honor to wear the “Lovell 24” patch. They said the sense of togetherness they have going into the season opener is strong and tonight it’ll be a game of both grit and passion.
“It just represent the community that he has built and just his support in athletics,” said Molly. “I mean, I’ve only been here a year but it was just like evident. Her knew. Who I was which was so cool as a Freshman, for the president of the university to know you is really just a cool thing. So we appreciate him and we think about him and his family and pray for them a lot.”
Watch: Students prepare for Gold Out game in honor of Michael Lovell.
“I think it just means a lot for all of us to wear gold for him and his family and hopefully we can pack this [gym] and show how much we appreciate him and the love that we have for our president,” said Hattie.
In addition to wearing gold to the game Wednesday night, the Golden Eagles will be collecting donations for the American Cancer Society and fans can also donate to support sarcoma research or the University’s Lovell Fund.
The First 100 students who arrive to the game will receive a free gold Marquette Volleyball t-shirt.
Opening serve is at 7p inside of the Al McGuire Center on Wednesday.
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