New England Challenge  |  Harvard (1-6)  |  Boston College (5-3)
When	Match 12: Saturday, Sept. 17 | 5 p.m. Match 13: Sunday, Sept. 18 | 12 p.m.
Where	Match 12: at Harvard | Malkin Athletic Center Match 13: at Boston College | Power Gym
Broadcast / Stats	Match 12: Stats | Stream Match 13: Stats
Game Notes	Northeastern
Social Media	Twitter: @GoNUwvolleyball Facebook: GoNUwvolleyball Instagram: GoNUwvolleyball Snapchat: GoNUathletics Use GoNU and RedBlackOnePack

BOSTON – Northeastern returns to the court for the New England Challenge this weekend against Harvard and Boston College. The Beantown rivals will face off over a three-day span with Northeastern playing Harvard on Saturday, Sept. 17 at 5 p.m. at the Crimson's Malkin Athletic Center. The Huskies will battle the Boston College Eagles on Sunday, Sept. 18 at 12 p.m. on BC's home turf at Power Gym.
 
About the New England Challenge
In its fifth year, the New England Challenge pits Northeastern, Boston College, Harvard and occasionally Connecticut against one another for regional bragging rights.

Typically, the team with the highest RPI from the previous season is awarded the right to host. Last season, the challenge was hosted by Harvard who finished the 2014 season with an 81 RPI ranking. In 2015, Harvard closed out at 134 and chose to split hosting with Boston College who came through at 171.

The Boston College Eagles will take on the Harvard Crimson to open the 2016 New England Challenge on Friday, Sept. 16 at 6 p.m. at Harvard's Malkin Athletic Center.
 
Last Time Out
The Huskies are on a four game run heading into the New England Challenge with their best 11 game opening record since 2012. Keeping momentum from the Northeastern Tournament sweep, the Huskies tore through Costello Athletic Center defeating UMass Lowell in straight sets with scores of 27-25, 25-12 and 25-14.

In Tuesday's match-up, junior Brigitte Burcescu led the Husky attack with a .615 hitting percentage killing eight out of 13 attempts and tallying zero errors. Freshman Shaina White also went error-less in the match notching 9 kills and a .562 hitting percentage.

Junior Kristen Walding posted her first double-double performance with 37 assists and 12 digs.

As a team, Northeastern recorded 47 kills for a .280 overall hitting percentage, 44 assists, eight blocks and 63 digs. In the second and third set, the Huskies far outplayed the River Hawks putting down 31 kills to Lowell's 14.
 
Scouting the Crimson
Harvard enters the weekend 1-6 facing Boston College on Friday before the Huskies travel to Malkin Athletic Center on Saturday.    In its first seven matches, Harvard has only played more than three sets once. The Crimson opened the season with a 3-0 win against Siena, and then dropped six straight to Georgia, Duke, Loyola Marymount, Arizona State, Pepperdine and New Hampshire. Harvard's squad was able to push Pepperdine to five sets and battled a Loyola Marymount team that has consistently received national ranking votes this season.

The Crimson's Maclaine Fields posts the top hitting percentage on the team at .300 with 40 kills. Fields, a rookie, has also recorded 22 blocks in the season so far, averaging .96 per set. Senior Corinne Bain serves as the primary setter, averaging 8.13 assists per set.

Northeastern boasts a 16-6 all-time record against Harvard.
 
Scouting the Eagles
Boston College goes into its match with Harvard 5-3 coming off a sweep of their home tournament against Rider, Fairleigh Dickinson and UMass Lowell. The Eagles will play their first away match of the season against Harvard after hosting three tournaments in a row. To begin the 2016 campaign, after going 2-0 against LIU Brooklyn, BC dropped its first match of the season against Fresno State. The Eagles then went 0-2 hosting the Beantown Classic against Georgia and New Hampshire before their current three-game winning streak. BC's Sophia West leads the team in hitting percentage at .287 and Julia Topor has hit 75 kills so far this season. Devon Michaelis leads the defense with 3.48 digs per set and Anna Skold is tallying .72 blocks per set.

All-time against Northeastern, Boston College trails 15-11.
 
"Hannah Fry with a Sizzler"
Senior outside hitter Hannah Fry posted top-notch performances last weekend. Fry sent full force attacks over the net forcing opponents to scramble to keep the ball in play. Over three matches, Fry racked up 32 kills and posted impressive .400, .432 and .417 hitting percentages in each contest. The veteran only committed six errors on 62 attempts and contributed four blocks. Against UMass Lowell on Tuesday, Fry tallied 10 more kills bringing her season total to 76.
 
Mick Digger
Sophomore Gabrielle Eyl is excelling this season as Northeastern's primary libero. Up to this point, she has amassed 222 digs, which averages to 5.55 per set. This achievement puts her first in the CAA followed by JMU's Taylor Austin who is recording 5.16 per set. Nationally, Eyl is ranked 10th overall and third among sophomores. The top mark in digs per set is currently 6.24.
 
Brig is Back
After recovering from a lower body injury, junior outside hitter Brigitte Burcescu has returned to the Husky line-up. Appearing in all three sets at UMass Lowell, Burcescu tallied eight kills on 13 attempts with zero errors. Burcescu recorded a .615 hitting percentage for the match, the team high, just ahead of teammate Shaina White who also went error-less on 9 kills for a .562 hitting percentage.
 
Block Party
Seven Huskies have totaled 10 blocks or more in the 2016 season. Senior Caterina Rosander leads the pack with 23 blocks this season so far. Freshmen Shaina White follows closely behind with 20 blocks. Carmen Costa and Hannah Fry are getting in on the action with 18 and 15 blocks respectively. Rosander leads in both block categories with four block solos and 19 block assists.