Tuesday, September 6
Hamden, Conn.
7:00 PM
Quinnipiac University
vs
University of Massachusetts Lowell
QU Volleyball Hosts Pair Of Mid-Week Home Matches vs. UMass Lowell, FDU
9/5/2016 11:19:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Quinnipiac Bobcats (5-3) vs. UMass Lowell River Hawks (3-3)
Tuesday, Sept, 6, 7 p.m.
Burt Kahn Gymnasium - Hamden, Conn.
Quinnipiac Bobcats (5-3) vs. Fairleigh Dickinson Knights (0-6)
Wednesday, Sept, 7, 7 p.m.
Burt Kahn Gymnasium - Hamden, Conn.
Live Stats: QuinnipiacBobcats.com
Live Video: QuinnipiacBobcats.com
Follow on Twitter: @QUWVB
LAST MATCHES
Quinnipiac went 1-2 at the Terrier/Rose Hill Classic over the weekend, extending its winning streak to four straight with a 3-0 sweep of NJIT on Friday before dropping a pair of road matches in two different gyms on Saturday to Saint Francis Brooklyn (3-2) and Fordham (3-0). The Bobcats hit an impressive .360 as a team in the NJIT win, as Jen Coffey had 12 kills without an error and Elizabeth Kloos had 10 kills and only error in 16 attempts for a .562 hitting percentage. Quinnipiac was close to its fifth straight win, as it led Saint Francis Brooklyn 25-17, 25-17, 18-13, but the Terriers rallied to win the third set and ended up taking the match in five. Allison Leigh had a double-double with 14 kills and 10 blocks in the match, while Maria Pansari had 40 assists, reaching that plateau for the fourth time in her first seven matches.
IMPRESSIVE HOME OPENER
Quinnipiac has hosted one home match already this season and earned an impressive 3-0 sweep of Bryant, which it had never beaten in its Division I history in 12 previous tries. The Bobcats won the opening set 25-16 behind a whopping nine blocks (one less than Bryant's number of kills), and then pulled out tight 25-23 wins in the final two sets in front of a raucous crowd at Burt Kahn Gymnasium.
HISTORIC START
The Quinnipiac volleyball team is off to its best start (5-3) since joining the Division I ranks in 1998. In fact, Quinnipiac has already reached its combined win total from the last two years combined and needs just one more to match its highest win total in the last 13 years. The last time the Bobcats had more than six wins was in 2002, when they finished 10-15.
LAST TEAR vs. UMASS LOWELL
Quinnipiac met the River Hawks twice last season and split a pair of 3-2 decisions. The first matchup came at UMass Lowell's tournament, with the Bobcats winning the second and fourth sets convincingly (25-11 and 25-17, respectively) to push the match to a deciding fifth before the River Hawks prevailed 15-5. Katie Urycki had 16 kills and Elizabeth Kloos had 14 for the Bobcats, while Lauren Bennett had 18 kills for UMass Lowell. In the rematch, which was also held in Lowell, the Bobcats earned a 17-15 win in the fifth set to split the season series, as Jamie Termotto (pictured) had the winning kill up 16-15 in the fifth. Jen Coffey had a season-high 18 kills for the Bobcats, while Kloos had 12 and Termotto had 10.
LAST YEAR vs FDU
The Bobcats dropped a 3-0 road decision to the Knights last year, bouncing back from a tough second set (25-9) to drop a tight third 25-23. Katie Urycki had 12 kills to lead Quinnipiac, which had a negative hitting percentage on the day. Caroline Laton led a balanced FDU attack with eight kills.
LEIGH, PANSARI EARN MAAC WEEKLY HONORS
Senior middle hitter Allison Leigh and freshman setter Maria Pansari were named the MAAC Player of the Week and MAAC Rookie of the Week respectively on Aug. 30, after an opening weekend which saw the Bobcats go 3-1 at the La Salle Invitational. Leigh became the first Bobcat to earn a conference player of the week honor since current senior Emma Ogden won it is as a freshman in 2013, and is only the fifth player in program history to earn the award since the program moved to Division I in 1998. It is also the first time that the Bobcats have swept both the Player and Rookie of the Week honors in their league in the same week.
LEIGH'S RENEWAL
Senior middle hitter Allison Leigh is back after missing all but the first three matches of last season with an injury. 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. Her 6-3 presence in the middle was sorely missed a year ago, and she wasted no time this season in proving her value, earning a spot on the All-Tournament team at the La Salle Invitational last weekend after tallying 32 kills and only nine errors in four matches. She also added 14 blocks, giving her exactly 300 in her career (she now has 323), and had a double-double against Saint Francis Brooklyn with 14 kills and 10 blocks. Leigh was off to an impressive start last season before her injury, tallying 23 blocks in only three matches, including a high of 10. She ranked third in the MAAC in blocks per set as a sophomore with 1.16.
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 9.41 (Haley Howell of Siena is second at 7.55). Pansari has reached the 40-assist plateau four times in her first eight matches, including a personal-best of 48 in her college debut against Saint Francis (Pa.) on Aug. 26 at the La Salle Invitational.
BLOCK PARTY
Quinnipiac totaled 16 blocks as a team in its home-opening win over Bryant on Wednesday, including an impressive nine in the first set alone. After falling behind 3-1 in the first set, the Bobcats had blocks on four straight points to take a 5-3 lead and added another one to make the score 8-4. With the score 23-16, Bryant called a timeout and Quinnipiac ended the set with two straight blocks. In the first set, Bryant had 10 kills, just one more than the number of blocks that the Bobcats had. For the match, Kat Miller led the way with eight blocks (two solo), while Allison Leigh and Elizabeth Kloos each had seven.
FRESHMEN HAVE IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Freshman libero Alejandra Rodriguez was named to the All-Tournament team in her first collegiate tournament at the La Salle Invitational after leading the Bobcats in digs on the weekend with 53 (including 23 in her debut against Saint Francis of Pennsylvania on Friday). Rodriguez wasn't the only freshman to make her presence felt on opening weekend either, as setter Maria Pansari quarterbacked the offense with 153 assists (10.2 per set) and broke 40 assists in all three wins, with a high of 48 against Saint Francis (12 per set) to earn the MAAC Rookie of the Week Award. Freshman outside hitter Natalie Alechko, meanwhile, was second on the Bobcats with 41 kills and had two double-doubles, tallying 15 kills and 14 digs against Saint Francis and 11 kills and 10 digs against NJIT. She currently has 75 kills, tying her with Jen Coffey for the team lead.
COFFEY TALK
Sophomore outside hitter Jen Coffey was named to the MAAC All-Rookie Team last season in a vote of the league's head coaches last fall and started off this season in fine fashion, leading Quinnipiac with 50 kills at the La Salle Invitational. Coffey started out the season with 19 kills against Saint Francis (Pa.), setting a new career high, passing the 18 she had against UMass Lowell last year. In 2015, Coffey ranked third on the Bobcats with 176 kills in just 18 matches while leading the Bobcats with 2.71 kills per set. She posted arguably her best match of the season in the Bobcats' 2015 finale at home against Manhattan with 14 kills in 18 attempts, giving her a 722 hitting percentage. She is currently tied for the team lead in kills with 75.
SENIOR CLASS
Quinnipiac enters the new season with a seven-member senior class, who will be looking to lead the Bobcats back to the postseason this fall. Setter Emma Ogden, middle hitters Allison Leigh and Sam Alechko, outside hitters Katie Urycki and Jamie Paolucci, and defensive specialists Cody Michaels and Jana Kmec give the Bobcats plenty of veteran leadership, in contrast to a year ago, when Chandler Thornton was the only senior on the roster. Urycki was lost for the season with an injury she suffered in the first week of practice, while Leigh and Ogden have missed full seasons in the past with injuries and also have a year of eligibility remaining. Alechko has also yet to play this season with an injury.
ROAD UNKIND
So far this season, the Bobcats are 5-0 in home/neutral matches, and 0-3 in road matches. All three losses so far have come to tournament hosts, at La Salle on Aug. 26, and at both Saint Francis Brooklyn and Fordham in the Terrier/Rose Hill Classic on the same day (Sept. 3). Quinnipiac has won its only home match against Bryant, and has won all four neutral site matches (Saint Francis Pa., NJIT and Morgan State at La Salle, and NJIT a second time at Saint Francis Brooklyn).
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 outside hitter on this year's squad, while Miller's older sister, Kat, is a sophomore setter/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.
MISS VERSATILITY
Sophomore Kat Miller was one of the most valuable members of the Bobcats in her freshman season, due to her ability to play multiple positions. Miller vacillated between the setter and outside hitter positions and was successful in both roles, tallying a team-high 454 assists and 280 digs, while also 164 kills and 73 blocks. Miller would often change positions in the same match, including a near-triple double with 21 assists, 12 digs, nine kills and four blocks in a win over Saint Peter's. She has settled into an outside hitter role this year and has 56 kills (1.93 per set) through the first eight matches.
RETURNING STATISTICAL LEADERS
The Bobcats returned a wealth of talent from a year ago, including their top six leaders in kills. Senior Katie Urycki led the way last season with 279 kills, while junior Elizabeth Kloos was second with 218. Kloos was also the most efficient attacker with a .272 hitting percentage, followed by senior Sam Alechko with a .225 percentage. Sophomore Jen Coffey, meanwhile, was tops on the Bobcats in kills per set with 2.71, followed by Urycki's 2.61, while sophomore Kat Miller (454) was the team leader in assists. Defensively, Kloos (111) and Alechko (88) were 1-2 in blocks (senior Allison Leigh was at an impressive 1.92 blocks per set through three matches, before being lost to injury). Miller and senior Cody Michaels were 1-2 in digs with 280 and 235, respectively.
NEXT UP
Quinnipiac will be back in action at the Providence Invitational on Friday and Saturday. The Bobcats will open the tournament with their second match of the season against La Salle on Friday, and then face Holy Cross (1:30) and Providence (5:30) on the second day of the tournament on Saturday.
Tuesday, Sept, 6, 7 p.m.
Burt Kahn Gymnasium - Hamden, Conn.
Quinnipiac Bobcats (5-3) vs. Fairleigh Dickinson Knights (0-6)
Wednesday, Sept, 7, 7 p.m.
Burt Kahn Gymnasium - Hamden, Conn.
Live Stats: QuinnipiacBobcats.com
Live Video: QuinnipiacBobcats.com
Follow on Twitter: @QUWVB
LAST MATCHES
Quinnipiac went 1-2 at the Terrier/Rose Hill Classic over the weekend, extending its winning streak to four straight with a 3-0 sweep of NJIT on Friday before dropping a pair of road matches in two different gyms on Saturday to Saint Francis Brooklyn (3-2) and Fordham (3-0). The Bobcats hit an impressive .360 as a team in the NJIT win, as Jen Coffey had 12 kills without an error and Elizabeth Kloos had 10 kills and only error in 16 attempts for a .562 hitting percentage. Quinnipiac was close to its fifth straight win, as it led Saint Francis Brooklyn 25-17, 25-17, 18-13, but the Terriers rallied to win the third set and ended up taking the match in five. Allison Leigh had a double-double with 14 kills and 10 blocks in the match, while Maria Pansari had 40 assists, reaching that plateau for the fourth time in her first seven matches.
IMPRESSIVE HOME OPENER
Quinnipiac has hosted one home match already this season and earned an impressive 3-0 sweep of Bryant, which it had never beaten in its Division I history in 12 previous tries. The Bobcats won the opening set 25-16 behind a whopping nine blocks (one less than Bryant's number of kills), and then pulled out tight 25-23 wins in the final two sets in front of a raucous crowd at Burt Kahn Gymnasium.
HISTORIC START
The Quinnipiac volleyball team is off to its best start (5-3) since joining the Division I ranks in 1998. In fact, Quinnipiac has already reached its combined win total from the last two years combined and needs just one more to match its highest win total in the last 13 years. The last time the Bobcats had more than six wins was in 2002, when they finished 10-15.
LAST TEAR vs. UMASS LOWELL
Quinnipiac met the River Hawks twice last season and split a pair of 3-2 decisions. The first matchup came at UMass Lowell's tournament, with the Bobcats winning the second and fourth sets convincingly (25-11 and 25-17, respectively) to push the match to a deciding fifth before the River Hawks prevailed 15-5. Katie Urycki had 16 kills and Elizabeth Kloos had 14 for the Bobcats, while Lauren Bennett had 18 kills for UMass Lowell. In the rematch, which was also held in Lowell, the Bobcats earned a 17-15 win in the fifth set to split the season series, as Jamie Termotto (pictured) had the winning kill up 16-15 in the fifth. Jen Coffey had a season-high 18 kills for the Bobcats, while Kloos had 12 and Termotto had 10.
LAST YEAR vs FDU
The Bobcats dropped a 3-0 road decision to the Knights last year, bouncing back from a tough second set (25-9) to drop a tight third 25-23. Katie Urycki had 12 kills to lead Quinnipiac, which had a negative hitting percentage on the day. Caroline Laton led a balanced FDU attack with eight kills.
LEIGH, PANSARI EARN MAAC WEEKLY HONORS
Senior middle hitter Allison Leigh and freshman setter Maria Pansari were named the MAAC Player of the Week and MAAC Rookie of the Week respectively on Aug. 30, after an opening weekend which saw the Bobcats go 3-1 at the La Salle Invitational. Leigh became the first Bobcat to earn a conference player of the week honor since current senior Emma Ogden won it is as a freshman in 2013, and is only the fifth player in program history to earn the award since the program moved to Division I in 1998. It is also the first time that the Bobcats have swept both the Player and Rookie of the Week honors in their league in the same week.
LEIGH'S RENEWAL
Senior middle hitter Allison Leigh is back after missing all but the first three matches of last season with an injury. 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. Her 6-3 presence in the middle was sorely missed a year ago, and she wasted no time this season in proving her value, earning a spot on the All-Tournament team at the La Salle Invitational last weekend after tallying 32 kills and only nine errors in four matches. She also added 14 blocks, giving her exactly 300 in her career (she now has 323), and had a double-double against Saint Francis Brooklyn with 14 kills and 10 blocks. Leigh was off to an impressive start last season before her injury, tallying 23 blocks in only three matches, including a high of 10. She ranked third in the MAAC in blocks per set as a sophomore with 1.16.
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 9.41 (Haley Howell of Siena is second at 7.55). Pansari has reached the 40-assist plateau four times in her first eight matches, including a personal-best of 48 in her college debut against Saint Francis (Pa.) on Aug. 26 at the La Salle Invitational.
BLOCK PARTY
Quinnipiac totaled 16 blocks as a team in its home-opening win over Bryant on Wednesday, including an impressive nine in the first set alone. After falling behind 3-1 in the first set, the Bobcats had blocks on four straight points to take a 5-3 lead and added another one to make the score 8-4. With the score 23-16, Bryant called a timeout and Quinnipiac ended the set with two straight blocks. In the first set, Bryant had 10 kills, just one more than the number of blocks that the Bobcats had. For the match, Kat Miller led the way with eight blocks (two solo), while Allison Leigh and Elizabeth Kloos each had seven.
FRESHMEN HAVE IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Freshman libero Alejandra Rodriguez was named to the All-Tournament team in her first collegiate tournament at the La Salle Invitational after leading the Bobcats in digs on the weekend with 53 (including 23 in her debut against Saint Francis of Pennsylvania on Friday). Rodriguez wasn't the only freshman to make her presence felt on opening weekend either, as setter Maria Pansari quarterbacked the offense with 153 assists (10.2 per set) and broke 40 assists in all three wins, with a high of 48 against Saint Francis (12 per set) to earn the MAAC Rookie of the Week Award. Freshman outside hitter Natalie Alechko, meanwhile, was second on the Bobcats with 41 kills and had two double-doubles, tallying 15 kills and 14 digs against Saint Francis and 11 kills and 10 digs against NJIT. She currently has 75 kills, tying her with Jen Coffey for the team lead.
COFFEY TALK
Sophomore outside hitter Jen Coffey was named to the MAAC All-Rookie Team last season in a vote of the league's head coaches last fall and started off this season in fine fashion, leading Quinnipiac with 50 kills at the La Salle Invitational. Coffey started out the season with 19 kills against Saint Francis (Pa.), setting a new career high, passing the 18 she had against UMass Lowell last year. In 2015, Coffey ranked third on the Bobcats with 176 kills in just 18 matches while leading the Bobcats with 2.71 kills per set. She posted arguably her best match of the season in the Bobcats' 2015 finale at home against Manhattan with 14 kills in 18 attempts, giving her a 722 hitting percentage. She is currently tied for the team lead in kills with 75.
SENIOR CLASS
Quinnipiac enters the new season with a seven-member senior class, who will be looking to lead the Bobcats back to the postseason this fall. Setter Emma Ogden, middle hitters Allison Leigh and Sam Alechko, outside hitters Katie Urycki and Jamie Paolucci, and defensive specialists Cody Michaels and Jana Kmec give the Bobcats plenty of veteran leadership, in contrast to a year ago, when Chandler Thornton was the only senior on the roster. Urycki was lost for the season with an injury she suffered in the first week of practice, while Leigh and Ogden have missed full seasons in the past with injuries and also have a year of eligibility remaining. Alechko has also yet to play this season with an injury.
ROAD UNKIND
So far this season, the Bobcats are 5-0 in home/neutral matches, and 0-3 in road matches. All three losses so far have come to tournament hosts, at La Salle on Aug. 26, and at both Saint Francis Brooklyn and Fordham in the Terrier/Rose Hill Classic on the same day (Sept. 3). Quinnipiac has won its only home match against Bryant, and has won all four neutral site matches (Saint Francis Pa., NJIT and Morgan State at La Salle, and NJIT a second time at Saint Francis Brooklyn).
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 outside hitter on this year's squad, while Miller's older sister, Kat, is a sophomore setter/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.
MISS VERSATILITY
Sophomore Kat Miller was one of the most valuable members of the Bobcats in her freshman season, due to her ability to play multiple positions. Miller vacillated between the setter and outside hitter positions and was successful in both roles, tallying a team-high 454 assists and 280 digs, while also 164 kills and 73 blocks. Miller would often change positions in the same match, including a near-triple double with 21 assists, 12 digs, nine kills and four blocks in a win over Saint Peter's. She has settled into an outside hitter role this year and has 56 kills (1.93 per set) through the first eight matches.
RETURNING STATISTICAL LEADERS
The Bobcats returned a wealth of talent from a year ago, including their top six leaders in kills. Senior Katie Urycki led the way last season with 279 kills, while junior Elizabeth Kloos was second with 218. Kloos was also the most efficient attacker with a .272 hitting percentage, followed by senior Sam Alechko with a .225 percentage. Sophomore Jen Coffey, meanwhile, was tops on the Bobcats in kills per set with 2.71, followed by Urycki's 2.61, while sophomore Kat Miller (454) was the team leader in assists. Defensively, Kloos (111) and Alechko (88) were 1-2 in blocks (senior Allison Leigh was at an impressive 1.92 blocks per set through three matches, before being lost to injury). Miller and senior Cody Michaels were 1-2 in digs with 280 and 235, respectively.
NEXT UP
Quinnipiac will be back in action at the Providence Invitational on Friday and Saturday. The Bobcats will open the tournament with their second match of the season against La Salle on Friday, and then face Holy Cross (1:30) and Providence (5:30) on the second day of the tournament on Saturday.
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