HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky volleyball is back on the road with quick turnaround after a midweek match, heading to Green Bay, Wisconsin, for a match with Green Bay. First serve is scheduled for 4 p.m. CT/5 p.m. ET on Saturday, Oct. 14, and the match will be broadcast on ESPN3 with streaming available on computers, tablets and smart phones through WatchESPN and the ESPN App.
 
LAST TIME OUT: NKU was unable to keep momentum from the previous weekend going into its Wednesday night match at Cleveland State as the Vikings swept the Norse, 25-18, 25-19, 25-17. Haley Libs performed well for the Norse with her 10th double-double of the season with 11 kills and as many digs, while Shelby Olsen also added a double-double of 28 assists and 10 digs. The Norse hit for a low .088 for the match, with Libs and Drew Hendricks as the only NKU players who hit over .000.
 
WINNING WAYS: NKU hit a major milestone as a program on Oct. 2, as the Norse posted their 1,000th win in the 42-year team history with a 3-1 win over Youngstown State. The Penguins claimed the opening set, but NKU rattled off the next three sets to remain undefeated in the series history with YSU. Haley Libs led the team with 21 kills and 15 digs, connecting at a .395 clip, while freshman Kaelin Gentile had a career night with 11 kills at a .346 clip. Drew Hendricks had a strong showing with a career-best 13 kills from the left pin.
 
DOUBLE THE DOUBLE-DOUBLE TROUBLE:  Both Haley Libs and Laura Crawford are averaging double-doubles on the season, with 13.06 kills/13.94 digs and 11.19 kills/12.75 digs per match, respectively. The duo recorded back-to-back double-doubles in the first two matches of the season against Robert Morris and Duquesne, and again versus Seattle and Sacramento State.
  
The Robert Morris match marked a feat that had not been accomplished in nearly a decade. Two players with a double-double in a sweep is a feat in and of itself, but the rarity is even more so when the two players are both attackers. The last time a pair of Norse attackers registered double-doubles in a sweep was on Oct. 21, 2007 against Mount St. Joseph, when current head coach Liz Hart (née Holmes) had 16 kills and 10 digs in the three-set victory while Tristen Dye added 15 kills and 14 digs. The last time two attackers had double-doubles in a victory of any kind was on Nov. 14, 2015 against Cleveland State, courtesy of Libs (17 kills, 13 digs) and Jayden Julian (10 kills, 17 digs).
 
AND SETTER MAKES THREE: Shelby Olsen has also entered the fold as a double-double machine, averaging 40.56 assists and 11.69 digs per match. Olsen recorded the first double-double of her career against Seattle and went off for three-straight double-doubles throughout the entirety of the NKU Invitational, culminating in career bests of 53 assists and 17 digs (which was bested by 20 digs against Florida A&M on Sept. 16) against Bowling Green.
 
BACK LINE OF DEFENSE:  Northern Kentucky's defense has become a mainstay of its success, and the Norse are keeping up with the trend of being one of the top defensive teams in the Horizon League. NKU is not only leading the Horizon League in digs per set (17.74) and second in opponent hitting percentage (.200), but the team ranks 12th nationally in the former. Ashton Terrill and Haley Libs are doing their fair share of keeping opponents' offense at bay from the back row, as both rank among the League's top defenders.
 
SCOUTING GREEN BAY: The Phoenix quickly became the team to beat after the first two weeks of Horizon League competition with decisive wins over Oakland, Youngstown State, Milwaukee and UIC, but Green Bay hit a rough patch on the road last weekend with a five-set upset by Wright State before being upended by IUPUI in four. Though sitting at 8-9 overall, Green Bay took on the tall order of playing three ranked teams  and two more which have received votes in previous AVCA polls in a run of seven setbacks leading up to League play. Not surprisingly, the Phoenix have seen a jump in multiple statistical categories since entering League competition, where the team sits at 4-2 so far.       
  
Green Bay's offense has been led by senior middle blocker Lydia DeWeese, one of the top contenders in the running for this season's player of the year, and freshman Taylor Wolf. Although listed as a setter, Wolf has taken on the task of being an attacker in her rookie campaign while returner Maddie Yoss dishes out the assists, and has been successful with 2.98 kills per set at a .266 clip while DeWeese leads the team with 3.48 kps at .356. Since entering League play, DeWeese has been averaging 3.70 kps at .328 while Wolf is posting 3.00 kps at a .333 clip, both ranking in the top-10 in both kills and hitting percentage. Additionally, Yoss is the top statistical setter in the League, ranking 12th nationally with 11.46 assists per set.
  
In the all-time series, NKU holds a 6-2 advantage with both losses coming last season. Each team won on its home court in 2016, and Green Bay later bounced the Norse in the Horizon League Tournament Semifinals in three sets.