Women's Volleyball | 11/14/2012 4:21:00 PM
HORNETS REACH CONFERENCE SEMIS
Fifth-seed Emporia State takes on #2 Nebraska-Kearney, the host and top seed in the MIAA Tournament Semi-finals.
LAST TIME OUT
The fifth-seeded Emporia State volleyball team advanced to the Semi-finals of the MIAA Tournament with a 25-20, 17-25, 30-28, 25-19 victory over #13 Truman, the fourth seed, Tuesday at Pershing Arena in Kirksville, Mo. Katie Deutschmann earned her second triple-double of the season, recording 11 kills, 24 assists, and 10 digs. Carly Spicer led the team with nine total blocks, two solo, to go along with nine kills. Paige Vanderpool led the Hornets in kills with 13 and digs with a season-high 23. Deutschmann and Vanderpool were joined by Meg Schwartz, Emily Barto, and Sydney Hartman in recording double-digit digs.
LAST TIME VS. NEBRASKA-KEARNEY
Paige Vanderpool recorded a double-double with 13 kills and 14 digs as the Emporia State volleyball team fell to then- #4 Nebraska-Kearney 25-18, 25-15, 25-19 on Oct. 30 at White Auditorium in Emporia. It was Vanderpool’s seventh double-double on the season. Meg Schwartz led the Hornets in digs with 19, while Brianna Kaiser added 14. Kaiser also posted seven kills. Katie Deutschmann had six kills, 18 assists, and two total blocks. Schwartz, Kaiser, and Kaitlin Stearns all served aces for Emporia State.
SERIES RECORDS
Nebraska-Kearney leads the all-time series with Emporia State 25-10. The Lopers won the previous meeting in Kearney on Sept. 28 in five sets.
THE?COACHES
Bing Xu is 192-74 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 Squires is in his 14th year with Nebraska-Kearney with an overall record of 448-60.
SCOUTING?THE LOPERS
Top seed and #2 Nebraska-Kearney defeated eighth-seeded Central Oklahoma 25-17, 25-12, 25-19 in the first round of the MIAA Tournament, earning the right to host the Semi-finals and Championship. Ariel Krolikowski leads the Lopers averaging 3.60 kills per game while Katie Sokolowski averages 3.15 kills per game. Setter Jenna Rouzee averages 11.07 assists per game running UNK’s offense. Entering this week, the Lopers led the MIAA in hitting percentage, kills, assists, digs, and opponent hitting percentage.
TOP PERFORMERS VS. LOPERS
In the two previous meetings with Nebraska-Kearney this season, Paige Vanderpool has averaged 3.88 kills per set on .225 hitting to lead the Hornets offense, recording 31 kills in eight sets and earning a double-double in both matches. Brianna Kaiser has a team-high three service aces against the Lopers this season and has averaged 3.88 digs per set. Meg Schwartz has posted 48 digs, including 29 in the Hornets visit to Kearney on Sept. 28. She has averaged 6.00 per set against UNK this season.
RECORD IN SEMI-FINALS
The Hornets are have reached the Semi-finals of a postseason tournament for the first time since 2010. Seventeeth-ranked Emporia State met with #9 Central Missouri, where the Jennies emerged with a 3-1 victory on their home floor. Emporia State last win in a postseason Semi-final came on Nov. 22, 2008 in the NCAA South Central Regional Semi-final when the then #5 Hornets defeated fourth-ranked West Texas A&M in three sets in Emporia.
SCHWARTZ NOW THIRD ALL-TIME IN CAREER DIGS
Meg Schwartz took sole possession of third place on Emporia State’s all-time digs list by adding 16 in the Hornets win at #13 Truman. She now has 1,816 career digs, passing Leah Griswold’s total of 1,811. Cara Petri, who played for Emporia State from 1987-90, is second on the all-time list with 1,932 career digs.
UP NEXT
The winner of the Emporia State/ Nebraska-Kearney match will face the winner of the match between #4 Washburn, the second seed and #8 Central Missouri, the third seed in the MIAA Championship on Nov. 17 at 7:00 p.m. from the Health and Sports Center in Kearney.
