The Northern Kentucky University volleyball team begins its second run through the Horizon League table this weekend with road matches at UIC and Valparaiso.
Friday’s match at UIC will take place at 8 p.m. Eastern before Saturday’s matinee at Valparaiso, with first serve set for 5 p.m. Both matches will be broadcast live on ESPN3, with links to live stats available at NKUNorse.com.
ABOUT UIC: The Flames have kept pace, sitting one spot above the Norse at fifth in League play with a .500 record. Stephenee Yancy continues to be a dominant force at middle blocker for the Flames, averaging 4.48 kills per set to lead all League players. Additionally, she’s averaging almost a block a set to lead the team. Alyssa Ehrhardt is also in the offensive mix at 2.70 kills per set. Last time against the Norse, Yancy led the way with 26 kills and Ehrhardt added 15 as UIC took a 3-1 victory at Regents Hall on Sept. 26.
ABOUT VALPO: The Crusaders are looking to close in on a spot in the Horizon League Championship with a strong showing this weekend against NKU and Wright State. Like Yancy, Emily Campbell stands as one of the League’s top attackers, averaging 4.21 kills per set on a .255 hitting percentage. Morganne Longoria averages 4.31 digs per set to pace the back row. Last time against the Norse, Campbell posted 22 kills and Allison Ketcham had 17 kills and a team-best 25 digs as the Crusaders took a 3-1 win on Sept. 25.
LAST TIME OUT: The Norse dropped the first two sets to Oakland by two points each, including a 31-29 decision in the opener, as the Golden Grizzlies claimed a 3-0 win over the Norse last Friday night at Regents Hall. Haley Libs posted 13 kills and nine digs to lead the Norse while Taylor Snyder dished out 34 assists and picked up 10 digs. Kelly Turner added 11 kills and Mel Stewart paced the defense with 14 digs.
MORE DOUBLES: Taylor Snyder claimed her seventh double-double of the season, and the 40th of her career, with her performance last Friday against Oakland. The Oakland match made it back-to-back double-doubles for the junior setter, who also accomplished the feat against Cleveland State.
FIND THE FINISH: Through the first round of League play, NKU posted a 3-5 record, dropping eight sets by the two-point minimum and taking four of those beyond the 25-point threshold.
IN THE HUNT: NKU remains in the hunt for a postseason berth, currently ranking sixth in the Horizon League. The top six teams will qualify for the Horizon League Championship, to be played Nov. 20-22 at the site of the regular-season champion.
UP NEXT: The Norse return home next week for three matches in Regents Hall to wrap up the home half of the 2015 schedule. The action kicks off on Tuesday against local rival Wright State. First serve is set for 7 p.m.
Senior Day for Norse men
The Northern Kentucky University men’s soccer team (7-4-3, 3-1-1 Horizon League) will host League foe Green Bay (4-7-3, 2-2-2 Horizon League), Saturday on Senior Day at the NKU Soccer Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. with the game being broadcast live on ESPN3. Live stats will be available at NKUNorse.com.
Green Bay comes into the match following a 0-3 nonconference road loss to Western Michigan on Oct. 20. The Phoenix sport four wins against Drake (8/30), Wisconsin (9/30), Belmont (10/3), and Milwaukee (10/14), with their other six losses coming against Northern Illinois (8/28), Grand Canyon (9/11), Incarnate Word (9/13), Cincinnati (9/17), UIC (9/20) and Oakland (10/17). Green Bay’s three draws have come against WIU (9/6), Wright State (9/26) and Detroit (10/10). The Phoenix are led offensively by Audi Jepson with 11 points coming on four goals and three assists. Goalkeeper Kyle Ihn has logged 1,245 minutes in goal with a goals against average of 1.08 while hauling in 64 saves.
The Norse and Phoenix‘s only meeting came on Aug. 24, 2012, NKU’s first season in NCAA Division I. Green Bay got the win that day, 1-0 on Kirby Allen’s game-winning goal in the 52nd minute. The Norse held the edge in shots, 11-7, and despite being down a player due to a red card, the NKU defense held strong allowing just three shots on goal.
Prior to Saturday’s match against Green Bay, Northern Kentucky will celebrate Senior Day. Gavin Colton, Yaw Addai, Leo Mesones, Ronald Moss, A.J. Fleak, Nick Merhaut and Toby Frohlich will be honored for their contributions to the Norse men’s soccer program. Each have helped play a role in the team moving forward in the transition to NCAA Division I and its move into the Horizon League.
As of Oct. 23, Wright State leads the Horizon League standings with 13 points, followed closely by Northern Kentucky with 12 points. In the Leagues’ individual categories, Norse goalkeeper A.J. Fleak leads in save percentage (.867), saves (65) and saves per game (5.42).
The Norse came from behind on Wednesday at Eastern Illinois and defeated the Panthers, 2-1, in overtime. Trailing 1-0 in the second half, Yaw Addai netted the game equalizer in the 74th minute with an assist by Jacob Cunningham. After forcing overtime, NKU got the Golden Goal 31 seconds into OT when Cunningham passed to Kobie Qualah down the left side who then beat Panther Goal keeper Ben Feltes in a one on one for the win.
The Norse return to action Wednesday, Oct. 28, in a nonconference match with IUPUI at the NKU Soccer Stadium. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN3 with kickoff set for 7 p.m.
From NKU Athletics