Racers Headed to Valparaiso, Ind., for Marriott Volley Brawl

Friday, September 2

Valparaiso, Ind.

11:30 AM

Murray State

Valparaiso

Junior Lia Havili tallied 86 assists and added 29 digs in the Racers first weekend of action.

Photo by: Murray State Sports Information

Racers Headed to Valparaiso, Ind., for Marriott Volley Brawl

8/31/2011 2:14:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

The Murray State volleyball team will be competing in its second tournament of the 2011 season this weekend when they travel to Valparaiso, Ind., to participate in the Marriott Volley Brawl, Sep. 2-3. The Racers will face host Valparaiso, Friday, Sep. 2 at 11:30 a.m. and Texas A&M Corpus Christi at 4:30 p.m. in the Athletics-Recreation Center. MSU will then continue tournament play, Saturday, Sep. 3 with matches against Evansville (9 a.m.) and Ball State (2 p.m.).

Scouting Valparaiso
The Crusaders are 3-1 after the West Virginia Mountaineer Invitational. The key statistical difference between Valpo and its first four opponents are in hitting percentage and digs. The Crusaders have a .185 hitting percentage, while their opponents hit at a .106 pace. Valpo also led in the digs per set column (17.1/14.7). The Crusaders have two players hitting over .300 so far this season. Jenny Pokorny has a .317 (15k-2e-41ta) hitting percentage, while Morgan Beil is hitting at a .302 (25k-6e-63ta) pace. Pokorny is the teams setter, with 125 assists and adds eight (1-7) blocks. Katie Britton and Sarah Dooms are the teams go-to hitters, with Britton hitting .231 (34k-13e-91ta) and Dooms hitting .095 (27k-17e-105ta). Taylor Root is the key defensive player with 69 digs.

The Series
The match with the Crusaders will be the second in the all-time series. The only other previous meeting was Sep. 11, 2009 at the Saluki Invitational. Valpo earned a 3-0 win in that match. The Racers have played eight teams from the Horizon League, with an 8-13 record against those teams.

Scouting Texas A&M Corpus Christi
The Islanders are 2-1 after earning the runner-up title at the Sam Houston Invitational in their first weekend of action. A&MCC has two main hitters that account for the majority of the attack attempts. Brooke Aleverson is hitting .163 (28k-14e-86ta) and adds five service aces, 20 digs and 14 (2-12) blocks. Jessica Korda has the most attempts on the team with 92 and a .098 (22k-13e-92ta) hitting percentage. The teams leading hitter is Logen Bourque, with a .212 (12k-5e-33ta) hitting percentage. She is also the teams setter, with 106 assists, 30 digs and 10 (1-9) blocks. The leading defensive player is Micah Nolan with 69 digs and five service aces. As a team, the Islanders have a slight advantage in kills per set (11.9/10.4) and hitting percentage (.138/.083), but trail their opponents in service aces (1.82/2.27). A&MCC is also averaging 2.86 blocks per set.

The Series
The Islanders are one of four teams, and two from this tournament field, that the Racer have never faced. MSU has played against five other teams from the Southland Conference, going 5-6 in those meetings.

Scouting Evansville
The Purple Aces are coming off a strong performance at the Spartan Spiketacular hosted in Greensboro, N.C., where they went 4-0 and were named tournament champions. Evansville has three players hitting over .300. Brooke Maher is the main hitter for the Purple Aces with a .321 (46k-11e-109ta) hitting percentage. Kaisi Nixon also hits at a .321 (35k-10e-78ta) pace, while Rachel TenHoor is hitting a strong .470 (42k-3e-83ta). Maher is also an all-around player with four service aces, 40 digs and four (1-3) blocks. Ellen Swain is averaging 12.17 assists per set as the setter and Katie Klages is netting 5.23 digs per set as the top defensive player. As a team, Evansville has clear advantages in all statistical categories, with the biggest coming in hitting percentage. The Purple Aces are hitting at a .286 clip, while holding their opponents to a .127 mark.

The Series
MSU and Evansville renew a regional rivalry that has seen 24 previous matches. The Purple Aces have a 15-9 advantage in the series, including the last three matches. The last meeting was a year ago when Evansville defeated MSU 3-0 at the Evansville Invite (9/11/10).

Scouting Ball State
The Cardinals are 3-0 after hosting the Ball State Active Ankle Challenge last weekend and a win at IUPUI Tuesday. BSU has three players hitting over .300, including their setter Brittany McGinnis. McGinnis is hitting at a .643 (9k-0e-14ta) clip, while adding 90 assists and four service aces. Kelsey Brandl is next on the list with a .371 (33k-10e-62ta) hitting percentage. Brandl also adds five service aces and a team-best 12 (1-11) blocks. Mindy Marx is also hitting above the .300 mark, with a .359 (19k-5e-39ta) percentage. Kylee Baker is the team's leading attacker, with 85 attempts and .271 hitting percentage. As a team, the Cardinals have clear advantages over their opponents in all statistical categories, including a .250 to .127 difference in hitting percentage and 15.9 to 12.6 digs per set.

The Series
This will be the first meeting between the Racers and the Cardinals. It is also the seventh team from the Mid-American Conference that MSU has faced, with a 4-10 mark against the other six teams they have battled.

All-Tournament Honors
Sophomore Wendi Zickfield had a strong performance at the Belmont Invitational and earned all-tournament honors for her efforts. The Cape Girardeau, Mo., native tallied 29 kills, 29 digs, two blocks, one service ace and a .272 (29k-7e-81ta) hitting percentage in three matches.

Reaching for Milestones
When the MSU volleyball team steps onto the court this season they will be going for several milestones for both the team and for head coach David Schwepker. The teams first win will mark the 400th for the volleyball program in its 29 year history. The Racers currently have a 399-461-1 mark.

MSU will also be aiming to reach three difference milestones for their head coach. Schwepker needs just one OVC win to reach his 125th, seven overall wins for his 200th career coaching win and 20 wins to reach his 200th win while at the helm of the Racers.

Moving Up in the Career Charts
Three of the MSU players are currently on or just shy of making career lists in at least one category this season. Senior Mary Cunningham currently has 129 block assists, with the top-10 list starting at 133 and going up to 337. Cunningham has averaged 43 block assists in her first three seasons.

Fellow senior Kayleah Sauer is already on the Racers career digs list, currently in third place (1,710) after the first weekend of play. Sauer is 284 from second held by Kim Koehler (1,994) and 415 from the top spot that belongs to Heather Norris (2,125). The Louisville, Ky., native has averaged 550 digs per season in her first three years. Sauer is also close to making a second top-10 list, service aces. She ended her last campaign with 84 career service aces and the top-10 list starts at 99 and goes up to 257.

Junior Lydia Orf is also making a push to join Sauer in the 1,000 Dig Club. The St. Charles, Mo., recorded 567 digs in her first two seasons and needs 401 to become the 14th member of the club.

Up Next
The Racers will open the home portion of the 2011 schedule, Tuesday, Sep. 6 when Evansville comes to Racer Arena for a 7 p.m. match. MSU will also play its final tournament of the season the following weekend at Southern Illinois, Sep. 9-10.