With six matches on tap for this weekend, the 2014 Horizon League volleyball regular season will officially reach its halfway point as all eight teams will have played seven League matches by the conclusion of Saturday.
Weekend Schedule:
Friday, October 17 (All times ET)
7:00 p.m. - Youngstown State (13-8, 4-2) at Cleveland State (10-9, 3-3) - HLN | Live Stats
8:00 p.m. - UIC (9-12, 3-3) at Valparaiso (17-3, 4-2) - HLN | Live Stats
8:00 p.m. - Wright State (3-16, 0-5) at Milwaukee (10-9, 4-1) - HLN | Live Stats
8:00 p.m. - Oakland (12-8, 4-1) at Green Bay (2-14, 0-5) - HLN | Live Stats
Saturday, October 18 (All times ET)
5:00 p.m. - Oakland at Milwaukee - HLN | Live Stats
5:00 p.m. - Wright State at Green Bay - HLN | Live Stats
News and Notes from around the League:
-- This will be the 68th meeting between the two teams, with Cleveland State owning a 52-15 record in the overall series. Under head coach Chuck Voss, the Vikings own a 26-3 record against the Penguins.Senior Maggie Hannon had her best offensive weekend of the season last time out, combining for 21 kills on a .528 hitting percentage against Milwaukee and Green Bay. Hannon recorded above a .500 hitting percentage against both opponents (Milwaukee - .533, Green Bay - .524), leading the Viking offense in both matches.
-- The Phoenix offense has been led by junior Taylor Kasal (Westmont, Ill.) this season. Kasal has accumulated 151 kills in her 16 matches and has a 2.6 kills per set average, good for a 10th-place ranking in the Horizon League. On the defensive side of the net, the Phoenix is led by junior Jillian Bauer (Verona, Wis.). Bauer has commanded the defense all season, tallying 266 digs in the process with a 4.59 digs per set average, ranking her third in the Horizon League.
-- Milwaukee enters this weekend having won six of its last eight contests and have won all seven of their home games this season.
-- The Golden Grizzlies enter this weekend's matches winners of 10 of their last 13 matches. For the year, Oakland leads the Horizon League in aces (1.48 aces per set). Individually, Sammy Condon is second in the league in hitting percentage (.313), Allia Knight is third in service aces (0.31 aps) and Ciara Schultz is fifth overall in assists (10.12 aps).
-- Redshirt freshman Nicole Johnson has put up historic numbers in her first season as UIC's setter. She leads the nation with 936 assists and ranks fifth with 11.56 assists per set. Johnson is on pace to finish the season with over 1,330 assists, which would rank in the program’s top 10 single-season efforts. Johnson leads the Horizon League in assists and owns the League’s top five assist performances.
-- Senior Morgan Beil, just one weekend removed from a record-setting performance [highest hitting percentage for a four-set match], reached a big milestone last Friday night at Oakland. With her third kill of the match, Beil registered the 1,000th kill of her Crusader career, making her just the 14th player in Valpo volleyball history to reach four figures in kills. Beil enters this week with 1,011 career kills, just 66 terminations shy of the Crusaders’ all-time top-10 in the category, while she is also tied for Valpo’s all-time hitting percentage record currently (.280).
-- Wright State reshman Jessie Thornton continues to lead the Horizon League in digs with an average of 5.21 per set. She has 349 digs on the year.
-- YSU has a player ranking in the top five in the Horizon League in all six major statistics. Freshman Sam Brown is the leader in aces per set, and Shannon Watson is the leader in blocks per set. Jeffery is second in assists per set, Aly Ryan is third in hitting percentage, Thompson is fourth in digs per set and Lexi Egler is fifth in kills per set. Egler became the fifth player in program history to record both 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs on Oct. 3.
