Women's Volleyball Weekly Release #10

Oct. 23, 2006

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Leanne Felsing

UW-Milwaukee

Junior, Setter/Outside Hitter, Hartland, Wis.

Felsing sparked the Panthers to three wins this past week as a setter and as an outside hitter. Her best performance came Friday at Cleveland State, recording the seventh triple-double of her career with 12 kills, 20 digs and 24 assists against the Vikings. She also hit .393 in the match while adding two aces and four blocks. This is the first time Felsing has recorded a triple-double in a League match and she is also the school record holder for triple-doubles. Felsing then collected six digs to go with 12 kills and 21 assists against Youngstown State on Saturday. 

Defensive Player of the Week

Michelle DeGeeter

Butler

Junior, Middle Hitter, Warsaw, Ind.

DeGeeter began the weekend with one of the finest performances of her career, notching a triple-double with a career-high 21 kills, 11 digs and 12 total blocks to lead the Bulldogs past visiting Loyola on Friday (Oct. 20). She followed up that showing with her sixth double-double of the season against UIC on Saturday with 12 kills and 18 digs. Her 33 total kills and 16 total blocks led the team for the week, while she committed only one error in 36 reception attempts for a .972 reception percentage.

Other Top Performances for the Week

Becky Peters

UW-Milwaukee

So., Libero, Germantown, Wis.

Peters put together another strong defensive week in the back row. She collected 13 digs in a three-game win over Oral Roberts Wednesday, snapping 15-match winning streak by the Golden Eagles. Then in League play this past weekend, Peters had 23 digs against Cleveland State and 17 digs versus Youngstown State. For the week, Peters averaged 5.3 digs per game, including 5.7 digs per game in League contests.

Tara Geegan

Wright State

Jr., Middle Blocker, Algonquin, Ill.

Geegan hit .310 with 13 kills and seven blocks in a five-game win over UIC on Friday, and then hit .318 with 11 kills and six blocks in a four-game victory over Loyola.

Katie Kozak

UIC

Sr., Setter, Oak Forest, Ill.

In two matches last weekend, Kozak recorded a team-high .378 attack percentage with 17 kills, 113 assists, three service aces, 32 digs and two blocks. Kozak earned the top spot in the UIC career record books after notching 55 assists against Wright State. Kozak also posted her third triple-double versus Wright State with ten kills, 55 assists and a team-high 19 digs. Kozak led UIC in a four-game win over Butler on Saturday, recording a .467 attack percentage with 58 assists, seven kills, one service ace, one block and 13 digs.

Betty Slinger

UW-Green Bay

Jr., Setter, Faribault, Minn.

Slinger's amazing run continued last week as she posted two more triple-doubles to bring her nation-leading total to seven including five in the last seven matches. Both of last week's triple-doubles came in three-game League matches. In Friday's win over Youngstown State, Slinger put down 13 kills with just one error in posting a .444 hitting percentage to go along with 21 assists and 16 digs. She guided the Phoenix to a .255 hitting percentage as a team in the victory which ran the team's League winning streak to three. The following day against Cleveland State, Slinger went for 12 kills, 23 assists and 12 digs.

Jordan Bateman

Cleveland State

So., Libero, Nelsonville, Ohio

Bateman posted her fifth 20+ dig effort of the season, tallying a match-high 28 digs on Friday against UW-Milwaukee. In addition, she made just one reception error in 43 attempts against the Panthers. The next day in a sweep of UW-Green Bay, she led the Vikings with 12 digs. For the week, she averaged 5.71 digs and was aced just once in 52 attempts.

Karla Everhart

Youngstown State

So., Setter, Elyria, Ohio

Everhart turned in an outstanding all-around weekend averaging 2.33 kills, 9.83 assists and an impressive 6.00 digs per game. Everhart just missed a triple-double with eight kills, 25 assists and 13 digs against UW-Milwaukee on Saturday. She also posted a double-double of 34 assists and 23 digs against UW-Green Bay on Friday. She also tallied six kills against the Phoenix.

Ann Deelo

Loyola

Sr., Libero, St. Louis, Mo.

Deelo wrote her name in the Loyola record book yet again, digging 46 balls over the weekend to break her own single-season digs record. Deelo, who now possesses the top three single-season spots on Loyola's digs chart, dug 27 balls in a five-game setback at Butler on Friday night before posting 19 digs at Wright State on Saturday to set the new mark. She now sits at 460 digs, which surpasses her 2005 total of 445, and continues to the lead the Horizon League in digs.

News From Around the League

UW-Milwaukee (16-5, 8-1 HL)

UW-Milwaukee has continued its trend of dominating matches offensively, capping off another strong week with a season-high .373 hitting percentage. On the season UWM is now hitting .241. And, during its current seven-match winning streak, the Panthers have 441 kills while its opponents have just 320, giving UWM an advantage of nearly five kills per game.

Milwaukee's three wins this past week extended the Panthers' winning streak to seven matches in a row. That means they have now had a winning streak of at least seven matches in each of the last 10 seasons. Next up is trying to extend the streak to 10-straight, which would give the Panthers a winning streak of at least 10 matches in each of the last four seasons.

The Panthers' recent winning streak has pushed them closer to the 20-win mark. If UWM can get there, it would mark the ninth time in the last 10 seasons the Panthers have reached the 20-win plateau. UWM has averaged more than 22 wins per season since 1997 and has won 25 matches three times.

Wright State (12-12, 6-3 HL)

With the win over Loyola Saturday, the Raiders equaled their entire win total of 2005, which included three wins in the Horizon League Tournament. The win also gave WSU six in the Horizon League, one more than last season. Wright State has won more than six League contests only twice since joining the circuit in 1994 (9-5 in 1995, 11-3 in 2001).

With the two wins over UIC and Loyola, Wright State improved its home mark to 8-1 on the season, with the only setback being a five-game decision to Denver in the final match of the Raider Challenge.  Wright State has won more than eight home matches in a season only twice since joining the Horizon League  (13-3 in 1995, 9-3 in 2001). 

Senior outside hitter Jenny Schultz recorded a pair of double-doubles this week as she had 16 kills and 23 digs Friday against UIC and 12 kills and 17 digs Saturday versus Loyola. Schultz has 13 double-doubles overall on the season and has posted a double-double in eight of the last nine matches.

Blocking was a key to both Raider wins last week as WSU had a 26-13 advantage in the two matches combined, including a 15-5 margin against Loyola. With 11 blocks versus UIC on Friday, it marked the first time this season that Wright State reached double figures in blocks in consecutive matches.

Freshman opposite hitter Becca Awaa had her best weekend as a Raider as she posted 10 kills and four blocks against UIC and tied a season high with 11 kills in hitting .333 with three blocks and three aces versus Loyola.

Wright State has a light week ahead as the Raiders visit Butler Friday in their only action of the week.

UIC (14-12, 7-2 HL)

UIC dropped a five-game heartbreaker to Wright State on Friday, but fired back on Saturday with a 3-1 win over Butler on the road.

Senior Katie Kozak earned the top spot in the UIC career record books after notching 55 assists against the Raiders. Kozak was only 19 assists away from capturing first-place heading into the weekend. Kozak also notched her third triple-double versus Wright State with ten kills, 55 assists and a team-high 19 digs. Juniors Katarina Nedeljkovic and Amanda Kenny, and freshman Katerina Hanackova each posted double-doubles against WSU with Kenny leading the pack with 20 kills and 22 digs.

Kenny picked up her tenth double-double in a four-game victory against Butler with 15 kills and a team-high 19 digs. She also notched five blocks and three service aces in the win. Katie Kozak recorded a .467 attack percentage with 58 assists versus the Bulldogs, grabbing seven kills, one service ace, one block and 13 digs.

UIC returns home to host Cleveland State on Oct. 27 and Youngstown State in a Senior Day celebration on Oct. 28.

Butler (7-16, 2-7 HL)

Junior Michelle DeGeeter notched the Bulldogs' second triple-double of the season against Loyola on Friday, a career-high 21 kills, 11 digs and 12 total blocks in helping the Bulldogs to a 3-2 win over the Ramblers. Sophomore Dana Daprile recorded a triple-double of her own against Army on Sept. 2 with 11 kills, 30 assists and 17 digs.

Sophomore Nina Inic registered 32 digs against Loyola, the second time in three matches she has finished with 30 or more.  Her 35 digs last weekend against UW-Green Bay (Oct. 13) were a career-high and tied for the fifth-highest match total in school history.

Senior Krystal Hendrix touts 389 career block assists and stands just 24 block assists away from reaching the Butler career record of 413.

UW-Green Bay (10-11, 4-5 HL)

UW-Green Bay had five players reach double figures in kills in last Friday's victory over Youngstown State. It marked the first time five Phoenix players had 10 kills or more in the same match since the Horizon League tournament championship match against UW-Milwaukee on Nov. 23, 2003. What made the accomplishment even more impressive is the fact that UW-Green Bay accomplished the feat in just three games against the Penguins Friday.

This Friday's matchup against in-state rival UW-Milwaukee will feature one of the League's top offenses against one of the League's top defenses. The Phoenix ranks first in Horizon League play with an average of 20.42 digs per game, while the Panthers are first in League games with a norm of 17.06 kills per game.

The Phoenix steps outside of Horizon League play Tuesday when it travels to Marquette. UW-Green Bay is 1-0 against Big East opponents this year, topping DePaul in five games Oct. 3.

Cleveland State (15-6, 5-4 HL)

Cleveland State heads to Chicago for its last road trip of the regular season. The Vikings will square off against UIC and Loyola having alternated wins and losses in their nine Horizon League contests to stand in a tie for fourth at 5-4.

The Vikings recorded their 13th sweep of the season on Saturday -- one more than last year's squad posted. Five of those whitewashings have come in League play, matching the school record set last year.

On Friday, senior middle hitter Danielle Siefker became just the second player in school history to record 500 career blocks. She now has 511 total blocks, trailing only Jamie Bouyer (2001-04) who finished her career with a school and League record 558 stuffs.

Loyola (11-13, 4-5 HL)

Junior attacker Keily Zins recorded the first 20-20 performance of her career - a first by a Loyola player this season - by setting career-highs with 22 kills and 24 digs on Friday night at Butler. Sophomore Maria Schmitt also had a career-best night against the Bulldogs, slamming a personal-best 16 kills.

Both matches this weekend bucked statistical trends for the Ramblers. LU dropped both matches despite having a sizeable edge in kills for the match (82-62 versus Butler, 65-56 versus Wright State) and also dropped both matches after winning the first game. Prior to this weekend, the Ramblers were 9-1 when taking game one.

Youngstown State (9-17, 0-9 HL)

With nine wins this season, YSU has surpassed its win total from last season. Ruth Boscaljon needs just five more blocks to move into the single-season top-10 chart. She currently has 112 total blocks and needs to reach 117 to move into a tie with Dina Hartman (1989). Sophomore Karla Everhart needs 69 more assists to reach the 1,000 assist mark for the season. She would become the seventh player in school history to reach at least 1,000 assists in a single-season.