QU Volleyball Heads To Buffalo In Search Of 20th Win

Saturday, November 5

Niagara Falls, NY

1:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

Niagara University

QU Volleyball Heads To Buffalo In Search Of 20th Win

11/3/2016 9:48:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

By: QU Sports Information

\Quinnipiac Bobcats (19-9, 11-4 MAAC) at Niagara (10-16, 8-6 MAAC)
Saturday, Nov. 5, 1 p.m.
Niagara University, N.Y.
Series Record: Niagara leads 8-0
First Meeting This Year: Niagara 3-2 (Oct. 2)
Live Stats: PurpleEagles.com
Live Video: PurpleEagles.com

Quinnipiac Bobcats (19-9, 11-4 MAAC) at Canisius (6-17, 4-10 MAAC)
Sunday, Nov. 6, 1 p.m.
Buffalo, N.Y.
Series Record: Canisius leads 8-1
First Meeting: Quinnipiac 3-0 (Oct. 1)
Live Video: ESPN3

Follow on Twitter: @QUWVB

MAAC BERTH CLINCHED, BOBCATS FIGHTING FOR BYE
Quinnipiac clinched its first-ever MAAC Tournament berth (other than the 2014 season when the entire league was invited) and enters this weekend in second place at 11-4, although Marist is tied in the loss column at 10-4. Fairfield has clinched the top seed at 15-0 and the second place finisher receives a bye in the MAAC Tournament (Nov. 18-20 at Fairfield), making the race for second significant. Quinnipiac and Marist split head-to-head and the Bobcats still have a road match left at Fairfield next weekend, making this weekend's long road trip to Buffalo crucial. Niagara is also two games behind Quinnipiac in the loss column at 8-6 and could pull within one game and get the tiebreaker advantage with a win on Saturday, which would result in a season sweep.

HISTORIC SEASON
The Quinnipiac volleyball team has 19 wins this season (19-9) with at least four matches remaining, giving it an excellent chance at a remarkable 20-win season. The 19 wins already sets a program record for wins in a season as full Division I members, passing the old mark of 10 first set in 2000 and matched in 2002. The Bobcats won 30 matches in their final season in Division II (1997) and had 14 wins in a transition year to Division I in 1998, which it matched with an Oct. 1 win over Canisius. The program had not had more than 10 wins in any campaign since first being full Division I members in 2000. The 19 wins also passes the total that the program had in the last five years (2011-15) combined (16) and is within three of the total from the last six years (22). In addition, the Bobcats are now 11-4 in conference play after winning only four matches in their first three seasons in the MAAC combined (4-50).

SENIORS HONORED
Saturday's home match with Saint Peter's served as Senior Day, as the program's seven seniors were honored. The seven Bobcats who played in their final matches at Burt Kahn Gymnasium last weekend include Sam Alechko, Jana Kmec, Allison Leigh, Cody Michaels, Emma Ogden, Jamie Paolucci and Katie Urycki.

RECORD WATCH
One Quinnipiac Division I single-season record fell on Wednesday at Marist and a second one was tied on Sunday. Freshman Maria Pansari became the first Division I setter to reach 1000 assists in a season on Wednesday and now has 1091, breaking the old DI mark of 992 held by Kayla Lawler. The overall school record of 1314 was set by Jen McClain in 1997, the program's final year at Division II. Allison Leigh, meanwhile, comes into the weekend with 145 blocks, tying the Division I record set by Shannon Dublin in 1998 (Leigh holds the first, third and fourth positions on the Division I list). The overall school record of 237 was set by Dublin in 1997 while still in Division II.

MAAC LEADERS
Senior Allison Leigh is currently leading the MAAC in both hitting percentage (.331) and blocks per set (1.37), while freshman setter Maria Pansari leads in assists per set (10.3). As a team, Quinnipiac is first in blocks per set (2.32), second in hitting percentage (.232), kills per set (12.3) and third in aces per set (1.61) and assists per set (11.38). Pansari ranks third nationally in total assists (1,091) while Leigh is fourth in total blocks (145).

KLOOS, COFFEY NAMED FIRST TWO QUINNIPIAC FEMALE ATHLETES OF MONTH
Quinnipiac University's first two Female Athlete of the Month honors for 2016-17 have both gone to the volleyball program. Junior middle hitter Elizabeth Kloos was named Quinnipiac's Female Athlete of the Month for September, while sophomore outside hitter Jen Coffey earned the honor for October, it was announced earlier this week. Kloos earned the MAAC Player of the Week twice in September, the first time on Sept. 13 after hitting .383 in five matches and the second time coming on Sept. 30 after hitting .500 in three matches. In October, Coffey was by far Quinnipiac's most proficient offensive player, tallying 147 kills in 10 matches, 56 more than her closest teammate. Coffey had a career high 22 kills against Niagara on Oct. 2 and then had 20 in a four-set home win over Siena on Oct. 16, the only two times a Bobcat has reached 20 kills this year.

FIRST MEETING WITH CANISIUS/NIAGARA
Jen Coffey had 14 kills and Kat Miller added 10 as Quinnipiac took a 3-0 sweep from Canisius on Oct. 1. Elizabeth Kloos also hit .500 with eight kills in 14 attempts and one error on the afternoon, as the Bobcats won 25-20, 25-22, 25-11. The following day, Coffey had a career-high 22 kills, although Niagara came away with a five-set win over the Bobcats. Nicole Matheis had 27 kills for the Purple Eagles and Madison May added 18. Quinnipiac was playing without freshman outside hitter Natalie Alechko, who missed the weekend with an injury suffered in practice.

LEIGH'S RENEWAL
Senior middle hitter Allison Leigh is back after missing all but the first three matches of last season with an injury and has had a big role in Quinnipiac's turnaround. She came into the 2016 campaign already ranking fifth in school history in career blocks (286) after only two full seasons, as well as second among players who played their entire careers at the Division I level (behind only the 537 from Heather Wollyung). She now has 145 blocks this season, putting her fourth in the nation in total blocks (through Nov. 1) while tying for the top spot on Quinnipiac's Division I single-season list (she now holds the first, third and fourth spots from her three full years) and could break the school's Division mark of 145 this weekend. She now ranks fourth on the career blocks list (all divisions) with 431, and is 11th in the nation in Division I for career blocks per set (1.28).

QUINNIPIAC - CAREER BLOCKS LEADERS

1	744	Shannon Dublin	1999
2	620	Karen Klein	1999
3	537	Heather Wollyung	2003
4	431	Allison Leigh	2017
5	382	Jen McClain	1999

QUINNIPIAC - DIVISION I SINGLE-SEASON BLOCK LEADERS

1. Shannon Dublin	145	1998
1. Allison Leigh	145	2016
3. Allison Leigh	136	2013
4. Allison Leigh	127	2014
4. Heather Wollyung	127	2002

A FINE SENIOR DAY
Senior middle hitter Allison Leigh had a memorable Senior Day in Quinnipiac's 3-1 win over Rider on Oct. 30. She tied the school's Division I record for most blocks in a season with her 145th (a solo block in the third set) and then had the winning kill in the fourth set with the score 24-23.

DOUBLING UP
Senior middle hitter Allison Leigh has pulled off five double-doubles this season in kills and blocks, picking up her fifth on Oct. 23 at Manhattan with 11 kills and 10 blocks. She also had one on Oct. 2 against Niagara with 12 kills and 10 blocks, another with 14 kills and 10 blocks against Saint Francis Brooklyn on Sept. 3, and two double-doubles in five-set wins at the Friar Classic, one against La Salle (13 kills, 10 blocks) on Sept. 9 and one against host Providence (10 kills, 12 blocks) on Sept. 10. La Salle and Providence both came in to the tournament with only one loss on the year before falling to Leigh and the Bobcats (La Salle 7-1, Providence 9-1).

SETTING THE TABLE
Freshman setter Maria Pansari is off to an impressive start to her collegiate career, currently ranking first in the MAAC by a wide margin in assists per set at 10.3 (Zoe Lindsey of Manhattan is second at 9.1). Pansari has reached the 40-assist plateau 16 times in her first 28 matches, and has hit 50 assists six times, with a high of 58 in a five-set win at Rider. She now has 1091 assists this season (ranking third nationally through Oct. 30), making her the first to reach 1000 assists at the Division I level. In fact, only two Bobcat setters have reached 1000 assists at the Division I level in their entire careers. Pansari was twice named the MAAC Rookie of the Week in her first three weeks of college competition.

MARIA PANSARI - 50-ASSIST MATCHES
58 at Rider (9/17) - 5 sets
56 vs. Rider (10/30) – 4 sets
55 vs. Holy Cross (9/10) - 4 sets
53 vs. Niagara (10/2) - 5 sets
52 vs. Fairleigh Dickinson (9/7) - 4 sets
50 at Providence (9/10) - 5 sets

QUINNIPIAC - DIVISION I SINGLE-SEASON ASSIST LEADERS

1. Maria Pansari	1091	2016
2. Kayla Lawler	992	2010
3. Jen McClain	952	1998
4. Kayla Lawler	920	2008
5. Kayla Lawler	785	2009

QUINNIPIAC - SINGLE-SEASON ASSIST LEADERS (ALL DIVISIONS)

1. Jen McClain	1314	1997
2. Jen McClain	1182	1995
3. Maria Pansari	1091	2016
4. Jen McClain	1071	1996
5. Kayla Lawler	991	2010

ANOTHER MILLENIAL?
Freshman setter Maria Pansari (see above) hit a major milestone with 1000 assists this season, but she may not be the only Bobcat to reach the "millennium mark" this fall. Senior defensive specialist Cody Michaels enters the weekend with 959 digs in her four seasons and has a solid chance to become only the third player in Quinnipiac history to record 1000 digs in a career. The Bobcats have at least four matches left, and an average of 10 digs a match would put her right on the doorstep with 999.

QUINNIPIAC - DIVISION I CAREER DIG LEADERS

1. Logan Riker	1469	2013
2. Kelby Carey	1017	2011
3. Cody Michaels	959	2017
4. Heather Grutta	918	2002
5. Kayla Lawler	819	2011

COFFEY TALK
Sophomore outside hitter Jen Coffey leads the team in kills this season (334) by a wide margin, exactly 100 over her closest teammate (Allison Leigh with 234). Coffey had a career-high 22 kills on Oct. 2 against Niagara and 20 in an Oct. 16 win over Siena, the only two times this season that a Bobcat has reached the 20-kill mark. She also started off this season in fine fashion, leading Quinnipiac with 50 kills in four matches at the La Salle Invitational, including 19 kills against Saint Francis (Pa.), setting a new career high surpassing the 18 she had against UMass Lowell last year. She also had 18 kills in a big five-set win over Rider in Quinnipiac's MAAC opener on Sept. 17. Coffey was named the Quinnipiac Athletics Female Athlete of the Month for October, it was announced earlier this week.

COFFEY MOVING UP THE CHARTS
Sophomore outside hitter Jen Coffey's 334 kills sees her ranked sixth on Quinnipiac's all-time Division I list with at least four matches still to play. She should move up into fourth place this weekend (needing only 14), and then it's a big jump to third, where Shannon Dublin sits with 404 in 1998.

QUINNIPIAC - DIVISION I SINGLE-SEASON KILL LEADERS

1. Heather Wollyung	485	2000
2. Heather Wollyung	451	2002
3. Shannon Dublin	404	1998
4. Janine Wilk	348	1998
5. Kalyn Hundley	346	2004
6. Jen Coffey	334	2016

RODRIGUEZ HAS IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Freshman libero Alejandra Rodriguez has had a strong freshman season helping to solidify the Bobcat defense. She now has 324 digs on the year, which ranks seventh on Quinnipiac's Division I single-season list. To move into the top five, she will have to pass her current teammate as Cody Michaels had 367 in the 2014 season.

QUINNIPIAC - DIVISION I SINGLE-SEASON DIG LEADERS

1. Tracey Wright	426	2011
2. Logan Riker	423	2010
3. Logan Riker	406	2009
4. Logan Riker	391	2013
5. Cody Michaels	367	2014
6. Crista Valentino	342	2008
7. Alejandra Rodriguez	324	2016

MILLER TIME
Sophomore Kat Miller came up with clutch points to win a pair of tight home matches on the weekend of Oct. 15-16. She came through with a big kill on Quinnipiac's fifth match point to give the Bobcats a 3-2 win over Marist on Oct. 15 (18-16 in the fifth set). The following day, she accounted for the final two points in the match in a 29-27 fourth-set win over Siena, recording a kill to set up a match point and a service ace to win it. After splitting time at setter and outside hitter last year, Miller has settled into an outside hitter role this season and has 212 kills and 283 digs. She also picked up her fifth double-double of the year with 11 kills and 14 digs in the last match against Rider on Oct. 30.

KLOOS, RODRIGUEZ EARN MAAC WEEKLY HONORS (SEPT. 28)
Junior middle hitter Elizabeth Kloos and freshman libero Alejandra Rodriguez were named the MAAC Player of the Week and Libero of the Week, respectively, on Sept. 27, the fifth and sixth award winners this season for the Bobcats. Kloos hit an even .500 on the week, including .679 in the two home matches against Iona and Manhattan. Rodriguez led the Bobcats in all three matches, including 21 in a three-set win at Siena, two shy of her personal best set in her debut against Saint Francis (Pa.) on Aug. 26. Quinnipiac has now had two Player of the Week Awards from Kloos and one from Allison Leigh, while Maria Pansari has twice been named the Rookie of the Week. The Bobcats had earned only four Player of the Week honors in their Division I history prior to this season (including one from current senior Emma Ogden as a freshman in 2013).

QUINNIPIAC - MAAC WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS
Aug. 30: Allison Leigh (Player of the Week)
Aug. 30: Maria Pansari (Rookie of the Week)
Sept. 13: Elizabeth Kloos (Player of the Week)
Sept. 13: Maria Pansari (Rookie of the Week)
Sept. 27: Elizabeth Kloos (Player of the Week)
Sept. 27: Alejandra Rodriguez (Libero of the Week)

A STRING OF W's
The Bobcats had a seven-match winning streak which was snapped by Niagara on Oct. 2 in five sets, dating back to a 3-2 win over Providence on Sept. 10. It represents the longest winning streak that the program has had at the Division I level, passing the five-match win streak it had in 2000. The 1990 and 1993 teams are tied for the overall program record at 11 in a row, set at the Division II level.

A SEASON OF FIRSTS
Quinnipiac has defeated five teams this season that it has never defeated before at the Division I level, four of them in MAAC contests, including last weekend's win over Marist, which it had been 0-7 against. An Oct. 1 win over Canisius was its first against the Golden Griffins after coming in 0-8. In the same week, the Bobcats defeated Siena on the road on Sept. 21 after coming in 0-15 all-time against the Saints and then defeated Iona after going winless in its first 13 meetings with the Gaels on Sept. 24. Earlier this season, the Bobcats defeated Bryant for the first time at the Division I level after compiling an 0-12 record against the Bulldogs. Niagara and Fairfield are the last two MAAC teams left that the Bobcats haven't beaten, and the Bobcats will have at least one more chance to knock off each of them.

SISTER ACT
The Bobcats have two sets of siblings on this year's team, with the addition of freshman outside hitter Natalie Alechko and freshman defensive specialist Lauren Miller to the roster. Alechko's older sister, Sam, is a senior middle hitter on this year's squad, while Miller's older sister, Kat, is a sophomore outside hitter.

VILLA MARIA CONNECTION
Sophomore Kat Miller, freshman Lauren Miller (Kat's younger sister), and freshman Kaleigh Oates were all part of a successful Villa Maria Academy high school program in Pennsylvania before coming to Quinnipiac. Oates and Laura Miller helped Villa Maria earn a District 1 championship and an appearance in the state semifinals last fall, while the three alumnae were responsible for leading the team to AACA league titles and district finals appearances in 2013 and 2014.

NEXT UP
The Bobcats play their final match of the regular season at Fairfield on Nov. 12. Quinnipiac will then head right back to Fairfield for the conference tournament, which will be held Nov. 18-20.