WASHINGTON - Georgetown University's volleyball team returns to the friendly confines of McDonough Arena as it hosts a pair of BIG EAST foes in the conference home-opening weekend. The Hoyas welcome Butler to the Hilltop on Friday before taking on Xavier on Saturday.

Both weekend matches are slated for a 6 p.m. first serve. Live stats and a paid video stream will be available for both games at www.GUHoyas.com with Monika Moore calling the action.

Georgetown is coming off a tough 0-2 weekend to open BIG EAST play. The Blue & Gray dropped a 3-1 decision at defending league champion Creighton before falling 3-2 to Providence in a five-set thriller.

Symone Speech (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park-River Forest) continues to lead the Hoya offense with 3.56 kills per set while hitting at a .426 clip. She ranks first in the BIG EAST and 16th in the nation in hitting percentage. Alyssa Sinnette (Pearland, Texas/Dawson) and Olivia King (Ardmore, Pa./Lower Merion) add 2.43 and 2.00 kps, respectively, while Aima Eichie (Castle Rock, Colo./Rock Canyon/UC Davis), Riley Wertzberger (Dallas, Texas/Richardson) and Madison Smith (Elk Grove, Calif./Elk Grove) all chip in more than a kill a frame. Paige McKnight (Atlanta, Ga./Dunwoody paces the offense with 9.24 assists per game.

Defensively, Kenzie Higareda (Woodbridge, Va./Forest Park) is fourth in the league with 4.11 digs per set and third with 95 total digs while McKnight averages 2.44 a frame. At the net, Speech is averaging just shy of a block a frame with 46 total rejections in 14 matches.

Butler is coming off back-to-back wins over Xavier and DePaul following a league-opening loss to Marquette. Whitney Beck leads the Bulldogs with 3.75 kills per set while Natalie Ravenell and Brooke Gregory add at least two a frame as well. Makayla Ferguson averages 10.44 assists per stanza. Defensively, Rachel Klitzing and Bri Lilly average just shy of 1.50 blocks per set while Taylor Takeda hauls in 4.70 digs a frame.

Xavier had dropped consecutive BIG EAST matches to Butler and Marquette after a conference-opening victory at DePaul. Kristen Massa leads the Musketeers with 3.36 kills per set while Laura Grossman adds 2.37 a frame. Alexis Newsome protects the net with 1.12 blocks per frame and Meredith Klare anchors the back row with 4.28 digs per set.

Following the weekend homestand, the Hoyas hit the road to take on Seton Hall in South Orange, N.J., on Wednesday, October 4, in BIG EAST action.