Weekend Schedule:
Friday, October 10 (All times ET)
7:00 p.m. - Valparaiso (16-2, 3-1) at Oakland (11-7, 3-0) - HLN | Live Stats
7:00 p.m. - Milwaukee (8-8, 3-0) at Cleveland State (9-8, 2-2) - HLN | Live Stats
7:00 p.m. - Green Bay (2-12, 0-3) at Youngstown State (11-8, 2-2) - HLN | Live Stats
7:00 p.m. - UIC (7-12, 1-3) at Wright State (3-14, 0-3) - ESPN3 | HLN | Live Stats
Saturday, October 11 (All times ET)
2:00 p.m. - Milwaukee at Youngstown State - HLN | Live Stats
4:00 p.m. - Valparaiso at Wright State - ESPN3 | HLN | Live Stats
4:00 p.m. - UIC at Oakland - HLN | Live Stats
4:00 p.m. - Green Bay at Cleveland State - Live Stats
News and Notes from around the League:
-- The Vikings have been close to perfect at home so far this season, owning a 5-1 record in Woodling Gymnasium. Entering the weekend, Cleveland State leads the league in blocks per set (2.38), while the Vikings rank second in digs per set (17.13) and aces per set (1.27).
-- Junior leader Taylor Kasal has been counted on this season for production in numerous areas for Green Bay, including kills, service aces and digs. The versatile Kasal ranks first or second on the Phoenix in each of those categories, tallying a team-high 128 kills and 11 service aces and sitting second with 137 digs.
-- Milwaukee carries an impressive all-time series records against both of their opponents this week. The Panthers have gone 42-10 against the Vikings and 26-6 heads-up against the Penguins. Sophomore Myanna Ruiz finished with 12 kills, 24 assists and picked up her 10th dig near the end of the fourth set in the 3-1 win over Green Bay to become just the second player to have three-or-more triple-doubles in a UWM career. She added four blocks and also become the second-ever UWM player with back-to-back triple-doubles (Leanne Felsing in 2007).
-- Oakland enters this weekend's matches winners of nine of their last 11 contests. For the year, Oakland leads the Horizon League in aces (1.45 aces per set). Individually, Sammy Condon is second in the league in hitting percentage (.331), Allia Knight is third in service aces (0.32 aps) and Ciara Schultz is fourth overall in assists (10.03 aps).
-- Senior Maggie Strus compiled 31 digs over the weekend to become UIC’s all-time dig leader at 1,533. She is on pace to finish her career with over 1,690 career digs, which would rank tenth in the Horizon League’s history. Junior Stephenee Yancy leads the Horizon League with a .351 attack percentage and ranks second with 4.19 kills per set. She has put down double-digit kills in all 19 matches, owns three 20-plus kill performances and has been named to three all-tournament teams.
-- A season which has already seen Valparaiso set new program bests for most victories before their second and third losses of the season, saw a new individual record set on Saturday. Senior Morgan Beil ended the win over Cleveland State with 15 kills and just one attack error on 19 swings, good for a .737 hitting percentage. That shattered the previous Crusader record for hitting percentage in a four-set match, which had stood for nearly 30 years at .632. The Crusader volleyball team had never gone as deep into a season before sustaining its second loss as they did this season, winning 14 of its first 15 matches before suffering the loss at Milwaukee on Saturday. This also marks the most wins Valpo has had in a season before losing for the third time (16-2), as the 2010 squad previously held the best mark at 13-2 before losing its third match.
-- Wright State freshman Jessie Thornton leads the Horizon League in digs in her rookie campaign, pacing the League with an average of 5.26 per set and 321 overall.
-- Senior outside hitter Lexi Egler registered both the 1,000th kill and 1,000th dig of her career in Friday's match against Valparaiso, becoming the fifth player in program history to join the exclusive club. Egler ranks fifth in the Horizon League with 3.17 kills per set, and she's posting career highs in kills per set, hitting percentage, digs per set and blocks per set.
