The fourth-seeded Northern Kentucky University volleyball team is set to face No. 5 seed Green Bay on Friday in the first round of the Horizon League Championships at 7 p.m.
Each match of the tournament will be played at Cleveland State’s Woodling Gymnasium as the Vikings claimed the regular-season title and No. 1 seed. Additionally, each match will be broadcast live on ESPN3 with video and live stat links available at NKUNorse.com.
More information on the Horizon League Championship including the bracket, schedule and ticket information can be found at the Championship Central page.
No. 4 Northern Kentucky (13-15, 8-8 Horizon) vs. No. 5 Green Bay (17-12, 8-8 Horizon)
Series History: NKU leads, 4-0
First meeting: Oct. 26, 1985 at Rochester, Mich. (NKU 15-5, 15-0, 15-3)
Last meeting: Oct. 31, 2015 at NKU (NKU 24-26, 26-24, 25-21, 20-25, 15-10)
ABOUT GREEN BAY: The Phoenix earned the fifth seed after matching the Norse with an 8-8 League campaign. Green Bay posted a 17-12 overall record with Lydia DeWeese leading the Phoenix with a .333 clip while she leads the League in blocks, averaging 1.15 per set and averages 2.54 kills per set. Megan Powers joins DeWeese in pacing the Green Bay attack with 2.59 kills per set while Jillian Bauer, the Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year, leads the league in digs with 5.43 per set.
LAST MEETING: The Norse and Phoenix last met on Oct. 31 with NKU claiming a five-set victory on Senior Day. Northern Kentucky ended the match hitting .278 as a team with five hitters in double-digits for kills, led by Haley Libs with 23. The Norse fell in the first set after a strong opening, but went on to emerge victorious in a back-and-forth second set in which the Norse claimed three of the final four points.
A 9-1 Norse run in set three gave NKU a third set victory before Green Bay responded with a 10-1 run of its own in Set 4 to force the match into a fifth set. The squads have battled into five sets in both of their meetings this season.
LEAGUE HONORS: Libs was named Horizon League Freshman of the Year while also being tabbed for the All-League team and All-Freshman team while Keyaira Lankheit also earned All-Freshman team honors. Libs has consistently ranked among the League’s best in kills as she totaled a team-high 379 across the regular season for an average of 3.58 per set. The freshman also averages a team-best 3.82 points per set. Lankheit ended the regular season ranked third in the Horizon League in blocks, averaging 1.08 per set after 90 total blocks including nine solo blocks.
NORSE IN THE POSTSEASON: The 2015 campaign is the second-straight year the Norse have qualified for their conference postseason tournament. Last season, as a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference, the Norse earned a five-set quarterfinal victory over Stetson to advance to the quarterfinals where NKU fell to Lipscomb in another five-setter.
1K CLUBS: With 1,105 career kills and 953 career digs, a run into the Horizon League Championships would give senior Jayden Julian the opportunity to become the 10th player in NKU history to eclipse both 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs. The senior is averaging 2.52 kills per set this season and 2.32 digs per set.
UP NEXT: With a win, NKU will advance to the semifinal round to take on either No. 1 Cleveland State at 3 p.m. or No. 2 Oakland at 5:30 p.m. at Woodling Gymnasium.
From NKU Athletics