Women's Volleyball | 10/29/2012 4:38:00 PM
DIG PINK NIGHT AND TWO FOR THE ROAD
Emporia State hosts #4 Nebraska-Kearney on Dig Pink Night on Tuesday before a pair of road matches with Central Oklahoma and Pittsburg State this weekend.
LAST TIME OUT
Emporia State fell in four sets to #3 Washburn in Emporia on Oct. 23. Katie Deutschmann came up just short of recording her second triple double of the season, posting 10 kills, 30 assists and eight digs. Paige Vanderpool led the Hornets attack with 16 kills and completed the double-double with 12 digs. Meg Schwartz led all players with 29 digs.
LAST TIME VS. OPPONENTS
Emporia State took then #1 Nebraska-Kearney to five sets for the first time in ten months before the Lopers emerged with a 3-2 victory on Sept. 28. Paige Vanderpool recorded a double-double with 18 kills and 17 digs. Meg Schwartz led the Hornets with 29 digs. The Hornets defeated Pittsburg State in straight sets at White Auditorium on Sept. 22. Morgan Buckner had 12 kills and Vanderpool had a double-double with 10 kills and 13 digs in Emporia State’s sweep over Central Oklahoma in Emporia on Sept. 21. Brianna Kaiser recorded a team-high 11 kills as Emporia State held the Gorillas to a .036 hitting percentage for the match. Sydney Hartman recorded a double-double with 13 digs and 19 assists.
SERIES RECORDS
UNK leads the all-time series with Emporia State 24-10. ESU leads the all-time series with UCO 8-3 and leads the all-time series with Pittsburg State 67-19.
THE?COACHES
Bing Xu is 187-71 in his eighth year as head coach at Emporia State. Xu has led the Hornets to the NCAA Division II Regional Tournament in five of the last seven seasons. In 2008 he led Emporia State to its first MIAA Championship.
Rick Squiers is in his 14th season with UNK. His career record is 443-60.
Edgar Miraku is in his first season with UCO. His career record is 12-13.
Ibraheem Suberu is in his 13th season with PSU. His career record is 215-211.
SCOUTING?THE OPPONENTS
Fourth-ranked Nebraska-Kearney is on an eight match winning streak after completing a sweep over Pittsburg State at home on Oct. 27. The Lopers possess the top offense in the conference, leading the MIAA in hitting percentage, kills, assists, and service aces. Ariel Krolikowski leads the team averaging 3.55 kills per set.
Central Oklahoma defeated Fort Hays State in five sets on the road on Oct. 27 and have won seven of the past nine matches. The Bronchos are the MIAA’s best blocking team entering this week, and had 17 total blocks in the win over the Tigers. Morgan Roy shares the MIAA lead averaging 3.63 kills per set.
Pittsburg State lost to Fort Hays State on Oct. 28 in five sets. Brooke Fay leads Pittsburg State in kills, averaging 2.48 per set. Entering this week, Pittsburg State ranks second in the MIAA with 17.47 digs per set despite having no individual player ranked in the top 15. The Gorillas have posted a 7-4 record at home this season.
SCHWARTZ NEARING RECORDS
Senior libero Meg Schwartz is closing in on a pair of career dig records for Emporia State. Entering this week, Schwartz was averaging 4.92 digs per set for her career, the highest mark in school history and 0.61 digs per game more than the second ranked player, Stacey Slavens. In her four seasons, Schwartz has totaled 1663 career digs. She needs 40 digs to surpass Nikki Runnebaum for fifth all-time and 46 to pass Arica Shepard for fourth all-time. Entering this week, Schwartz ranked third in the MIAA averaging 5.12 digs per set.
HORNETS IN NCAA RANKINGS
Through Oct. 21, the Hornets were ranked 18th in the nation in assists averaging 12.91 per set and 20th in kills per set with 13.81. Courtney Haring was ranked 12th in the nation in blocks with an average of 1.32 per set, while Meg Schwartz was ranked 30th in digs per set at the time.
UP?NEXT
Emporia State wraps up the regular season with next week with visits from Fort Hays State Tuesday, Truman on Friday and Lindenwood on Saturday. All matches begin at 7:00 p.m. from White Auditorium.
