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The Northeastern volleyball team will play the final three games of its non-conference schedule this weekend at Solomon Court, facing off against Boston College, Harvard and Connecticut in the New England Challenge.
The Huskies (8-3, 0-0 CAA) are looking to continue their solid start to the 2012 campaign, which has seen the squad win the season-opening Beanpot Classic, as well as four of their last five matches heading into this weekend's games.
On Friday night at 7 p.m., Northeastern will square off against Boston College (6-4, 1-0 ACC). Rookie Katty Workman has turned heads in the first ten games of her collegiate career, currently leading BC in kills with 143. She was recently named ACC Freshman of the Week, after recording two double-doubles in the Eagles' wins over Maryland and George Washington last weekend. Junior Cagla Sen and sophomore Kelly Barnum have done the majority of the setting for Boston College, combining for 376 of the team's 434 assists. Sophomore Courtney Castle leads the team in digs with 129, and senior Krystie Higgins has a team-high 32 blocks.
The Huskies lead the all-time series against BC, 14-10, and they are 3-4 against the Eagles under head coach
Ken Nichols. The two schools last met on Aug. 28, 2010, with Northeastern grabbing a 3-1 win in Chestnut Hill. Three current Huskies had double-digit kills in that game, as junior
Kelly Bacon had 12, senior
Nicole Bishop had 11 and junior
Janelle Tucker with 10.
NU will play two games on Saturday, with the first game at 11 a.m. against Harvard (2-4, 0-0 Ivy League). In last weekend's Harvard Invitational, the Crimson recorded straight-set wins over Manhattan and Providence, before dropping the finale to Northern Kentucky. Harvard has also faced familiar Husky foe Towson, losing to the Tigers, 3-0, in the Hilton Garden Inn Hokie Invitational. Senior Taylor Docter leads the team in kills with 59, and has also contributed 56 digs and 12 blocks, while appearing in 20 sets. Freshman Hannah Schmidt has made an immediate impact, leading the Crimson in assists with 107.
The Huskies are 25-3 all-time against the Crimson, including ten straight wins, with Harvard last grabbing a win in the series on Nov. 5, 1997. Northeastern and Harvard met last season on Sept. 17 in Cambridge, with NU securing a 3-1 victory. Tucker had 22 kills in the game, and Bacon added 16 of her own. Northeastern had the edge in kills (67-46), assists (63-41), service aces (13-4) and digs (72-49).
To close out the New England Challenge, NU will take on Connecticut (6-5, 0-0 Big East) on Saturday at 7 p.m. Connecticut has had two players surpass the 100-kill mark already, getting 119 from sophomore Devon Maugle and 107 from senior Mattison Quayle. Freshman Marissa Prinzbach has been responsible for 72.6% of UConn's assists, with 305. Senior Kelsey Maving leads the team in digs with 220. Head Coach Holly Strauss-O'Brien played collegiately at UNC, where she is the Tar Heels' career leader in blocks per game with 1.24, and played on three ACC-title-winning teams.
NU leads the all-time series with UConn, 19-12. Under
Ken Nichols, Northeastern has gone 5-4 against Connecticut. The teams last met on Sept. 14, 2010, when NU won in straight sets at Solomon Court. Tucker had seven kills and seven digs in the game, and junior
Ina Kamenova had 13 assists.
One trend Northeastern hopes to continue is their ability to record service aces. The Huskies are twenty-first in the nation in aces per set with 1.68, led by sophomore libero
Natalia Skiba's 18 aces. Skiba, who has won CAA Defensive Player of the Week twice this season, is also sixth in the nation in digs per set with 5.84.
Notes
New England Classic Tournament
Northeastern will serve as co-host for its second tournament of the season, the New England Classic, with UConn this weekend, welcoming regional foes Boston College, Connecticut and Harvard. The Huskies teamed up with Holy Cross to host the Beanpot Classic Tournament where NU went a perfect 3-0. Before Friday's game against Boston College, the combined record of BC, Harvard and UConn is 14-13.
Different Approach
Going into last weekend's Duke Classic, Northeastern had never faced any of their upcoming opponents (East Carolina, Elon and Duke). The Huskies will play three teams this weekend (Boston College, Harvard and Connecticut) that they have faced over twenty times each. Furthermore, NU has played all three of this weekend's foes since the start of the 2010 season
Ranking Well
Sophomore libero
Natalia Skiba, who has won CAA Defensive Player of the Week twice this season, is sixth in the nation in digs per set, with 5.84. With 222 digs on the year, she is currently on pace to surpass the 500-kill mark for the second straight season. Skiba also has a team-high 18 service aces, a big reason why the Huskies are twenty-first (out of 328 Division I teams) in aces per set with 1.68.
Block in the Back
Junior middle hitter
Nichole Kurz paces Northeastern's blocking with 1.15 per set. That mark stands as fourth best in the CAA and 103rd, overall, in the NCAA. Senior captain
Nicole Bishop leads the Huskies in overall blocks, with 35 through 11 games. The Park City, Utah, native is averaging 0.92 blocks per set.
CAA Swagger
Leading up to the weekend of Sept. 14-15, Northeastern is either first or second in all major categories except digs (4th - 15.84 per set). The Huskies are first in opponent hitting percentage (.165) and second in hitting rate (.205), assists (13.03 per set), kills (14.05 per set), blocks (2.20 per set) and service aces (1.68 per set). Northeastern is also tied with Towson for the best overall winning percentage thus far (8-3 • .727).
Home Sweet Home
Friday's game against Boston College triggers an eight-game homestand for the Huskies. This is volleyball's longest home stretch since head coach
Ken Nichols took over.
Fans who cannot make it to Solomon Court can tune into GoNUxstream for the first ever HD volleyball broadcast from Northeastern's campus free of charge.
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