HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Horizon League Championship seeding implications are on the line as the Northern Kentucky University volleyball team wraps up regular season action on Saturday, Nov. 14, against Oakland at 4 p.m. Links to live stats and the ESPN3 broadcast are available at NKUNorse.com.
Northern Kentucky University Norse (13-14, 8-7 Horizon)Oakland University Golden Grizzlies (11-17, 11-3 Horizon)Nov. 14 – 4 p.m.
Athletics Center O'rena (4,000) -- Rochester, Mich.
Series History: Oakland leads, 7-0
First meeting: Oct. 25, 1985 at Oakland (Oakland 14-16, 15-8, 15-4, 12-15, 15-1)
Last meeting: Oct. 16, 2015 at NKU (Oakland 31-29, 26-24, 25-15)
ABOUT OAKLAND: The Golden Grizzlies have won eight of their last nine matches, with seven of those victories coming in straight sets. Oakland is coming off a four-set victory over Cleveland State on Nov. 7 and faces Wright State at home on Friday before hosting the Norse on Saturday. The squad enters the final weekend of regular season play sporting an 11-3 League record to sit in second place. Oakland owns a .231 hitting percentage and is led by Sammy Condon on the attack with a .283 clip. Oakland is led offensively by Cassie Pelloni who averages 3.15 kills per set, followed closely by Melissa Deatsch with 3.13 kills per set.
LAST MEETING: The Norse are hungry for their first program victory over the Golden Grizzlies after falling in straight sets in the teams' last meeting on Oct. 16. The matchup dates back to 1985, as Oakland holds a 7-0 advantage over NKU. In the team's previous meeting this season, freshman
Haley Libs ended the night with a team-high 13 kills and nine digs.
Kelly Turner had a new career-high of 11 kills on the night, while
Keyaira Lankheit led with the team hitting .333 on the match with six kills.
PLAYOFF PICTURE: NKU clinched a spot in the upcoming Horizon League Championship, set for Nov. 20-22 and currently sits in fourth in the League. The Norse join Cleveland State, Oakland, Valparaiso and Green Bay while the last remaining spot is up for grabs this weekend. CSU and Oakland are jockeying for hosting rights. With a win, the Norse can be as high as the No. 3 seed if Valparaiso loses both of its remaining matches. An NKU win and Valpo win puts the Norse at the No. 4 seed. An NKU loss could land the Norse at No. 4 or No. 5 pending Milwaukee's result.
CAREER KILLS: Senior
Jayden Julian is 22 kills away from passing Colleen Kaufman (1992-95) for 15
th on NKU's career kills list. Julian has recorded 10 double-digit kill outings, including a season-high 13 kills on three occasions to propel her career total to 1095. The senior has posted 216 total kills this season alone, averaging 2.12 per set.
BRIGHT FUTURE: NKU's trio of freshmen – Lankheit, Libs and Turner – have each been vital to NKU's success this season. Lankheit has seen action in 78 sets and is ranked third in the League in blocks with 85, for an average of 1.09 per set. Meanwhile, Libs has posted a team-high 358 kills while averaging 3.54 per set across 101 sets played. Libs has provided the greatest scoring output for the Norse with 3.79 points per set. Turner rounds out the trio with 1.77 kills per set and 2.01 points per set after seeing action across 73 sets.
UP NEXT: The Norse will look ahead to the Horizon League Championships hosted by the No. 1 seeded team following this weekend's action. The Championships will take place from Nov. 20-22 at either Oakland or Cleveland State pending weekend results.
