Hattie Bray used to play volleyball in front of 100 people. Now she hopes to help Marquette win in the NCAA Tournament at a rocking Al McGuire Center.

The population of Hattie Bray's hometown could fit many times over inside the Al McGuire Center for a Marquette volleyball match.

"Definitely," the MU middle blocker said with a laugh when asked about Hancock, which is just south of Stevens Point. "It's unincorporated. There's like 100 people."

It's a tad surreal for Bray to be playing in front of so many fans. In the regular-season finale against Creighton, in which the Golden Eagles clinched a share of the Big East title, there were well over 3,000 spectators packed inside the intimate on-campus arena.

MU hopes there will be another rocking crowd when it hosts Ball State in an NCAA Tournament first-round match Thursday at the Al McGuire Center.

"It was crazy," Bray said of the Creighton match. "I kind of stopped and looked around for a second during the game and I saw everyone like waving the rally rags. And I just got chills.

"I've never experienced anything like this. Of me playing on the court. I've been at games and I've seen people play. But I've never been the one that people have been watching."

It took some adjusting after playing in front of, in Bray's estimation, 100 people at most when she was a honorable mention all-state player at Wautoma High School.

"I just take a deep breath and remember what's going on on the court and just know that I'm playing my game," Bray said.

MU coach Ryan Theis pinpointed the potential in Bray, but knew the small-town kid needed some time to get ready for big-time college volleyball.

"Sometimes with those kids, you ask the question, 'How many sports are they playing? How long have they been playing volleyball year round? What are their habits?' " Theis said. "In Hattie's case, it's a two-hour drive to club practice two days a week and there's things she can't be at because she's playing multiple sports.

"And so we just thought with just the physical things she's capable of doing, that if she took some time and was a decent learner that she could be pretty good.

"And sure enough, we redshirted her last year. And it didn't come right away, it wasn't October and she was ready to go ... and then even through non-conference, her numbers weren't great through non-conference, but by the time we got to conference play she was 10 matches in and more and more comfortable and just started to excel."

In her first season on the court, Bray made the all-Big East team and also the conference's all-freshman team. Her hitting percentage of .350 in the regular season was second in the league behind teammate Carsen Murray's .427. Bray also averaged 2.10 kills and 0.77 blocks per set.

"Point scoring from the middle position is huge," Theis said. "We got two of them doing it. So we got to ask teams, what are you going to stop? If you take away our outsides, Hattie and Carsen will try to get you."

MU last hosted NCAA Tournament matches in 2018, and the Golden Eagles rode two home victories to the Sweet 16. The Golden Eagles' postseason hopes since then have been foiled by injuries to key players and the pandemic.

"Really the last time we've been playing in this thing at full force is 2018," Theis said. "And other teams deal with injuries, too, it's not just, 'Oh, we're the only one, poor us.' But we've had a couple unlucky breaks through the last couple seasons.

"Right now we're in pretty good shape. We're not 100%, but we're in pretty good shape, so hopefully we can make a run."

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Marquette volleyball hosting NCAA Tournament at Al McGuire Center