WILMINGTON, North
Carolina - The UNCW volleyball team continues its 10 match road trip
Tuesday with a 7 p.m. contest against rival NC State at Reynolds Coliseum.
Staying Connected
Live
stats are available for Tuesday's match and can be accessed by clicking here
...The match will also be video streamed and can be watched by clicking here ...
Fans can also keep up with the volleyball program by checking out the team's
Facebook (UNCWwomensvolleyball)
and Twitter (@SeahawkVB)
accounts or the department's Facebook (UNCWsports)
and Twitter (@UNCWAthletics)
pages.
Seahawk
Notes
UNCW
holds a 6-4 overall record after a 2-1 result in the Spartan Classic last
weekend at Norfolk State ... The Seahawks opened the tournament with a split of
its Friday matches, sweeping Stetson in the morning before suffering a sweep at
the hands of Rutgers in the evening ... UNCW rallied for a three-set sweep of
Norfolk State in its tournament finale on Saturday ... Senior Jennifer Mallard
and junior Christi Laite were both named to the All-Tournament Team ... Both
players averaged 3.00 kills per set , while Laite chipped in 1.78 digs and 0.56
blocks per frame and Mallard finished with 1.17 digs and 0.67 blocks per set ... Laite,
who leads the team in kills per set (3.26), is ranked fifth in the Colonial
Athletic Association that category ... Laite also sits second among all league
players in points per frame (3.85) ... Sophomore McKenzie Keightley is second in
the league in hitting percentage (.331) and is fourth in blocks per set (1.13) ...
Freshman Victoria Phillips (7.92) and senior Natalie Lahaie (7.68) are sixth and
seventh in the league, respectively, in assists per frame.
Scouting
NC State
NC
State carries an 8-1 record into Tuesday's matchup after sweeping its matches
in the NC State Courtyard
Midtown Invitational last weekend at Reynolds Coliseum ... The Wolfpack's only
loss of the season came in a 3-2 setback to former CAA member VCU during the NC
State Courtyard Midtown Classic Labor Day weekend ... Sophomore Darian Hopper
paces the Wolfpack attack with a 3.10 kills per set average while Meredith
Richardson is second with 2.90 spikes per frame ... Richardson has been the
Wolfpack's most effective attacker, leading the team with a .417 hitting
percentage ... She also paces the squad's frontline with 1.03 blocks per set ... Senior
setter Megan Cyr, named MVP of the Courtyard Midtown Invitational, has averaged
10.50 assists per frame in the early going to go along with 1.81 digs and 1.01
kills per set ... Senior Alexa Minsk highlights the Wolfpack's defensive efforts
with a 3.31 digs per set clip.
Series
Notes
UNCW
trails in the all-time series with NC State by a 4-1 margin ... The Wolfpack has
held the edge in the series of late, winning each of the last four meetings in
straight sets ... The two sides are meeting for the third straight season after
the NCSU has made the trip down I-40 to face the Seahawks during regular-season
tournament play in each of the past two seasons ... The Seahawks lone victory in
the series came in their first meeting, a 3-1 triumph in Raleigh during the
1994 season.
Seahawks Hit On All Cylinders Against Hatters
UNCW turned in one of its best hitting performances in
recent memory in its 3-0 victory versus Stetson in the Spartan Classic on Sept.
7, recording 34 kills and just seven errors in 68 total attempts for a .397
hitting percentage ... That total represented the best single-match hitting
percentage for a UNCW lineup since the start of the 2002 season, eclipsing the
previous single-match high since 2002, a 3-0 victory over Grambling State on
Sept. 12, 2003, that saw UNCW finish with 53 kills and only 15 attack errors in
98 total attempts for a .388 attack clip ... The performance also marked the
second time this season that UNCW has teamed up to hit better than .350 in a
match ... The Seahawks combined for a .372 hitting percentage in a 3-0 victory
over Delaware State in the UNCW Courtyard Wilmington Beach Bash Aug. 25,
combining to record 47 kills and just 15 errors in 86 total attempts.
Laite Named To CAA Preseason Squad
UNCW
junior right side hitter Christi
Laite was named to the Preseason All-CAA Volleyball Team on
Aug. 21 ... A Second-Team All-CAA and NCCSIA All-State Team selection in 2011,
Laite played in 29 matches for the Seahawks last season and ranked sixth in the
league in kills per set (3.28) while pacing the squad in attack percentage
(.233) ... She also pitched 83 total blocks and 27 service aces to finish the
season fifth in the league in points per frame (3.92) ... Defensively, the
Severna Park, Md., product averaged 1.42 digs per set as she recorded three
double-doubles during her sophomore campaign.
Record Watch
Setter
Natalie LaHaie enters Tuesday's matchup versus NC State with 1,162 assists,
good for 10th place on the program's all-time list ... LaHaie, who moved into
10th place on the career list during the Spartan Classic, is now just 46
assists shy of matching former Seahawk setter Ginger Bradbury (2000-01) for
ninth place ... Junior libero Haley Collins heads into Tuesday's contest with 901
career digs, good for 11th place on the program's career chart ... Collins
enters Tuesday's contest just two digs shy of matching Heather Kimble (1987-90)
for 10th place.
Going The Distance
Since the start of the 2010 season, UNCW is 9-4 in matches that have gone five
sets ... The Seahawks posted a perfect 4-0 record in such contests in 2010 and
were 5-3 in five-set matches a season ago ... UNCW has played one five-set
match this season, suffering a 3-2 setback at Wake Forest to open the Deacon
Invitational on Aug. 31.
Making Short Work Of
The Opposition
UNCW
has wasted little time in recording its victories this season as all six of its
wins thus far have come by way of sweep ... The Seahawks have dominated the
opposition in those contests, posting an average margin of victory of 7.4
points with only five of those 18 sets having been decided by five points or
less.
Around The Colonial
Athletic Association
Northeastern
and Towson are tied atop the league standings at 8-3 while Hofstra sits just
back of the duo in second at 8-4 ... James Madison's Lizzy Briones (Offensive),
Towson's Alysha McCreary (Defensive) and William & Mary's Dessi Koleva
(Rookie) received the league's weekly awards on Monday .. Hofstra's Kelsie
Willis continues to pace the league in kills per set (5.05) while teammate
Adama Aja is first in blocks per frame (1.38) ... Northeastern's Natalia Skiba is
first on the circuit in digs per set (5.84).
Up Next
UNCW
completes its road swing this weekend with its final regular-season tournament
appearance in the Spartan Spiketacular at UNC Greensboro ... The Seahawks will
face the host Spartans Friday at 7 p.m. before taking on Morehead State (9:30
a.m.) and Youngstown State (4:30 p.m.) on Saturday.