WILMINGTON, North
Carolina - The UNCW volleyball team closes out the non-conference portion
of its 2012 schedule as it hosts North Carolina Central in a 6 p.m. match Tuesday
at Hanover Hall.
Tuesday's match will serve as the program's annual Molly Maid Pink Game, with the team
wearing pink warm up shirts and other apparel in support of breast cancer
awareness. Fans attending the game will be able to purchase pink UNCW t-shirts
for $10, with proceeds going to support the Pretty In Pink Foundation.
Staying Connected
Live stats are available for Tuesday's match and can be accessed by clicking here
... Tuesday's match will also be video streamed and can be viewed by clicking here
... Fans can also keep up with the volleyball program by checking out the
program's Facebook (UNCW
women's volleyball) and Twitter (@SeahawkVB)
accounts or the department's Facebook (UNCWsports)
and Twitter (@UNCWAthletics)
pages.
Seahawk
Notes
UNCW
improved to 8-14 overall and 1-6 in CAA play last week with a 3-1 victory at
William & Mary on Oct. 20 ... Junior Christi Laite recorded a
match-high 15 kills and a .542 hitting percentage to power a potent Seahawks
attack that combined for 59 kills and a .242 hitting percentage in the four-set
victory over the Tribe ... Sophomores McKenzie Keightley and Morgan Kline joined
Laite in double figures as the duo notched 10 kills apiece ... Freshman setter
Victoria Phillips notched 28 assists and added 12 digs for her third
double-double of the season while Kline added 10 bumps for her team-leading
seventh double-double ... Junior Haley Collins posted a match-best 20 digs ...
Laite and Kline are now tied for the team lead with 2.79 kills per frame ... Keightley
continues to serve as the squad's most effective hitter, ranking fifth in the
league with a .307 hitting percentage ... Keightley also remains ranked among the
league's top blockers, averaging 1.18 rejections per frame to sit second in the
league in that category ... Phillips and senior Natalie Lahaie remain
ranked among the league leaders in assists, averaging 5.98 (8th) and 7.34 (6th)
assists per frame, respectively ... Collins continues to be listed among the top
10 players in the league in digs per set, ranking ninth with a 3.61 digs per
set clip
Scouting
North Carolina Central
North
Carolina Central returns to the court Tuesday for the first time in nine days with
a 5-18 record following a pair of road victories at league foes Savannah State
and South Carolina State Oct. 12 and 14 ... Freshman Christine Anthony and sophomore
Dayana Arrufat Rondon have served as a potent 1-2 punch for the Eagles attack
as the duo is averaging 3.58 and 3.08 kills per set, respectively ... The tandem
is also pacing the squad in digs per frame with Anthony averaging a team-high 2.23
digs per set and Arrufat Rondon chipping in 1.96 bumps per set ... Sophomore Alice
Gena and freshman Melissa Rabell Pineiro have split time at the setter position
this season, dishing out 6.25 and 5.74 assists per frame ... Junior Kalin Russell
highlights the team's blocking efforts with 71 total blocks, including 23 solo
rejections ... Georgette Crawford Crooks is in her seventh season as head coach
of the Eagles program ... She has guided the program to an 88-144 record during
her time with the program.
Series
Notes Versus North Carolina Central
UNCW
holds a 6-5 lead in the all-time series with North Carolina Central ... The
Seahawks have held the edge in the series of late, winning three straight and six
of the last seven meetings between the two programs ... UNCW swept NCCU in last
year's matchup at the George Washington Invitational in Washington, D.C. in
September ... The Seahawks are 1-2 in three previous meetings with the Eagles in
Wilmington ... UNCW posted a 3-0 sweep of NCCU in their last meeting in the Port
City on Oct. 23, 2009.
All-Tournament Team Honors
Four
players earned a total of six All-Tournament Team honors during the tournament portion
of the Seahawks regular-season schedule ... Sophomore McKenzie Keightley and
freshman Lindsay Hartman earned the distinction during the UNCW Courtyard
Wilmington Beach Bash in August ... Senior Jennifer
Mallard was recognized at the Deacon Invitational Labor Day Weekend ...
Mallard and junior Christi
Laite were honored at the Spartan Classic ... Keightley picked up her
second All-Tournament Team accolade of the season at the Spartan Spiketacular
last weekend.
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.
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
Making Short Work Of The Opposition
UNCW
has wasted little time in recording its victories this season as seven of its
eight wins thus far in 2012 have come by way of sweep ... The Seahawks have
dominated the opposition in those contests, posting an average margin of
victory of 7.2 points with only seven of those 21 sets having been decided by
five points or less.
Keep An Eye On Hitting Percentage
Entering
Saturday's matchup with William & Mary, UNCW is 6-1 this season when
posting a hitting percentage of .200 or higher, but just 2-13 this season when
hitting below .200 ... The Seahawks only loss this season when posting an
attack clip of .200 or higher occurred in the Seahawks 3-2 setback at UNC
Greensboro on Sept. 14, a match that saw the Seahawks post a hitting percentage
of .263.
Record Watch
Setter
Natalie
Lahaie enters Tuesday's match with 1,483 assists, good for seventh place on
the program's all-time assist list ... Lahaie surpassed former Seahawk setter
Bea Gerevich (2002-03) for seventh place on the all-time list with her
21-assist performance at William & Mary on Oct. 20 and needs just 17
helpers to become the seventh player in program history to reach the 1,500
assist plateau ... Junior libero Haley
Collins enters the matchup with the Eagles with 1,089 career digs, good for fifth place
on the program's career digs chart ... Collins, who recently became just the
ninth player in program history with 1,000 career digs, passed Sarah DeLair for
fifth place on the career list with her 20-dig performance at William &
Mary on Oct. 20 ... She begins Tuesday's match needing just eight digs to match
Yvonne Holan for fourth place on the career chart (1,097).
Around The Colonial
Athletic Association
Towson
sits atop the league standings with a perfect 8-0 league mark following victories
over Hofstra and Northeastern last weekend ... The Huskies and Delaware are both
two games back of the Tigers in a tie for second at 6-2 ... Delaware's Alissa
Aiker and Towson's Katy Buck were named CAA Co-Offensive Players-of-the-Week
while Delaware's Ariel Shonk and James Madison's MacKenzie Kleespies garnered
Defensive and Rookie-of-the-Week accolades, respectively ... Hofstra's Kelsie
Wills remains the league's leading hitter, averaging 4.42 kills per set, while
Towson's I'shah Keliikoa is still tops on the circuit with a .407 hitting
percentage ... Towson's Aubrey Kirven continues to pace the league with a 12.39
assists per set average ... Delaware's Ariel Shonk moved into first place on
the league's digs per set chart, averaging 5.71 bumps per set ... Hofstra's
Adama Aja continues to guide the league in blocks per frame (1.24).
UP Next
UNCW returns to Colonial Athletic Association play this weekend as it hosts
George Mason and James Madison at Hanover Hall ... The Seahawks open the weekend
Friday with a 7 p.m. match against the Patriots before facing the Dukes Sunday
in a 1 p.m. matinee.