Northeastern vs. San Francisco
The Huskies will square off against the Dons for the first time in NU's opening match of the Aztec Invitational. Northeastern is 3-5, all-time, against West Coast Conference teams and last faced a WCC member on Aug. 26, 2006 when the Huskies' fell 0-3 to Loyola Marymount.

Northeastern vs. San Diego State
Northeastern has an 0-2 all-time record against San Diego State. The teams first met in 1992 at the Hofstra Invitational and concluded with a SDSU win after a 3-0 sweep. The most recent meeting between the Aztecs and the Huskies came in 2000 with SDSU claiming a 3-0 victory at the Cornell Tournament.

Northeastern vs. Southern Methodist
Northeastern and Southern Methodist have never faced each other on the volleyball court. Since joining the CAA in 2005, the Huskies have gone 2-5 against American Athletic Conference opponents.

Scouting the Dons
San Francisco is 1-5 with three of its losses coming in five-set matches. USF's lone win came this past weekend when it defeated Air Force in a 3-0 sweep. Malina Terrell has averaged 3.64 kills per set and is hitting .348 on the year while Valentina Zaloznik has added 2.80 kills per set with a .358 hitting percentage. Both Mackenzie Murtagh and Kiara McKibben have contributed to the offense, dishing out 5.40 and 4.68 assists per set, respectively. Rebecca Kopilovitch has commanded the back-court with 119 digs.

Scouting the Aztecs
Tournament host San Francisco enters the weekend with a 3-3 overall record after going 2-1 at the Northern Arizona Fiesta Bowl Tournament. SDSU has a pair of players averaging over 3.00 kills per set in Summer Nash (3.91) and Raega Shelton (3.14), while Johnna Fouch has put up 277 assists. Emily Harris owns a team-best .362 hitting percentage with 72 kills. Courtney Vaccarello anchors San Diego State's defense with 106 digs.

Scouting the Mustangs
American Athletic Conference newcomer Southern Methodist enters the weekend with a 5-2 record backed by a three game winning streak thanks to a tournament sweep at the SMU Invitatioanl. Maddie Lozano, who earned back-to-back all-tournament honors with the SMU Invitational MVP award, has posted 52 kills and a team-high 20 blocks on the season. Caroline Young leads the team with 63 kills with a .238 hitting percentage. Three Mustangs rank in the top 10 of the American Athletic Conference in hitting percentage, led by sophomore Cailin Bula.

Chart Toppers
Libero Natalia Skiba leads the CAA in digs for the second week in a row and ranks second overall in the NCAA. The junior has recorded 187 digs so far this season and leads by an overwhelming total of 59. Kelly Bacon ranks second in the CAA for total kills, accumulating 94 thus far. Middle blocker Nichole Kurz is tied for third with 29 total blocks and falls 10th on the CAA top performer chart with her impressive .273 hitting percentage. Setter Ina Kamenova ranks seventh for total assists, tallying 170 in her first four starts. 

Fantastic Four
The Huskies have had four different kill leaders in seven of their outings. Janelle Tucker started off the season against Missouri State with a season-high 16 kills. Kelly Bacon led the team's attack versus Dayton, registering 12 kills from the outside. Newcomer Jamie Bredahl and middle blocker Nichole Kurz accumulated 14 swats each in the contests against Tulsa and UNH, respectively. Bacon led the team once again in a five-set victory over UConn after landing a career-high 21 digs and shared the column with Gibeau versus Pitt (7) and Albany (14).

Countdown to 300
Ken Nichols is in his 14th season at the helm of the NU volleyball program. During that time, Nichols has amassed a 245-159 and a 134-54 mark in conference play. Prior to NU, Nichols coached at Providence College. In all, Nichols is two victories shy of the 300-win mark for his collegiate career. He has posted a 298-199 (.600) mark along the way.

Back-to-back 20-win seasons
Northeastern finished 20-7 last season, marking its second-straight 20-win season. Since rally scoring came into play, the only other time the Huskies won 20 outings back-to-back was in 2003 and 2004. Ken Nichols is the first coach in program history to accomplish that feat.

Comfort at Cabot Center
NU kicked off the 2013 season backed with a 19-game home court-winning streak. Northeastern's home-opening victory against New Hampshire extended the streak to 20 as NU looks to continue the feat when it faces Boston College on Sept. 20. The Huskies have not lost a home match since Sept. 30, 2011, against Delaware. The Huskies were the only team throughout the entire CAA to defend home court with an unblemished 11-0 mark in 2012.