HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Norse return home after securing the title at the Duquesne Invitational, and host Seattle, Sacramento State and Bowling Green in the NKU Invitational on Sept. 8-9. NKU kicks off the tournament against Seattle on Friday at 6 p.m., before a two-match day on Saturday against Sacramento State at 12:30 p.m. and BGSU at 7 p.m.

 MATCH DAY PROMOTIONS: Friday's home opener will be celebrated with a block party with free food for students starting at 5 p.m. On Saturday, the Norse will celebrate National Teddy Bear Day as well as witness Pediatric Cancer Awareness Night. Fans are invited to bring a teddy bear to donate to St. Elizabeth Hospital at the 12:30 match against Sacramento State, and are then encouraged to wear gold to support the fight against pediatric cancer for the 7 p.m. match against Bowling Green.
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Norse had an impressive opening weekend in Pittsburgh, taking the title at the Duquesne Invitational with just one dropped set and holding opponents under 20 points in six of the 10 sets played. NKU's outside attack led the charge as sophomore Laura Crawford and junior Haley Libs both averaged double-doubles, with Crawford going off for 14.67 kills and 12.33 digs a match while Libs added 11.33 kills and 14.67 digs a match. Crawford was honored as the tournament MVP while Libs earned all-tournament distinction, as did freshman libero Ashton Terrill after averaging 4.80 digs per set.
 
BUST OUT THE BROOMS: NKU swept the Horizon League weekly honors following its first tournament, as Laura Crawford was named the Offensive Player of the Week and Ashton Terrill was named the Defensive Player of the Week. Crawford was named the MVP of the Duquesne Invitational and averaged 4.40 kills and 3.70 digs per set in the undefeated weekend. Terrill chipped in 4.80 digs, with a double-digit dig performance in each match, to go with six aces.
 
DOUBLE THE DOUBLE-DOUBLE TROUBLE: Both Laura Crawford and Haley Libs are averaging double-doubles on the young season, with 14.67 kills/12.33 digs and 11.33 kills/14.67 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. Against RMU, Crawford posted 15 kills and a career-best 15 digs while Libs tallied 11 kills and a team-best 16 digs. In the four-set win over Duquesne, Crawford hit the 20-kill mark for the first time in her career to go with 13 digs, and Libs chipped in 15 kills and 14 digs.
  
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).
 
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 (18.30) and opponent hitting percentage (.121), but the team ranks 13th and 16th nationally in the respective categories. Ashton Terrill and Haley Libs are doing their fair share of keeping opponents' offense at bay from the back row, as both are averaging at least 4.40 digs per set to rank in the top-six of the League. NKU has also added a cog into its defensive wheel with freshman Kaelin Gentile at the net, who is ranked third in the League with 1.20 blocks per game.
 
SCOUTING SEATTLE: The Redhawks hold a 1-5 record after the first two tournaments, but Seattle has not shied away from taking on some of the nation's best competition. In addition to taking on No. 8 Washington and RV Cal Poly, Seattle has stuffed its schedule with tough West Coast competition that includes programs that have graced the AVCA polls in recent years with Cal-Berkeley and Santa Clara. Seattle's lone win came against Loyola-Chicago in the season opener, 3-1, and the Redhawks have mustered just one set win since then in a 3-1 setback to the Golden Bears.
  
Seattle's roster boasts both height and international experience, as nine players are listed over six-feet tall and eight come from abroad. Pin hitter Katarina Marinkovic has been leading the charge with 3.10 kills per set to go with 1.15 digs per set, while Katarina Glavinic is hitting .403 on the season to sit just outside the national top-50.  Defensively, the Redhawks are averaging just 10 digs per set, led by Tijana Milojevic with 3.32, as well as 1.60 blocks per set, paced by Maja Sstojanovic's .89 rejections a game.
 
SCOUTING SACRAMENTO STATE: The Hornets sit at 4-5 and recently snapped a four-match losing skid with a 3-2 victory at UC Davis on Saturday. Sacramento State has taken a different route than Seattle in its preseason, travelling across the country to New York and Idaho in its previous two tournaments instead of staying put on the West Coast.
  
Sacramento State holds some impressive national rankings in total statistical categories, but the amount of games that the team has played bolsters those counts. Nonetheless, the team is still strong defensively with 15.55 digs per set and 38.18 attacks per set, the latter of which ranks 30th in the nation. Outside hitters Shannon Boyle and Mikaela Nocetti get the lion's share of the sets, as they rank first and third nationally in total attacks, respectively, while still ranking in the top-85 in attacks per set. Boyle averages 3.24 kills while Nocetti holds an average of 3.00 terminations a game, and both are hitting in the .150 range through nine matches. Boyle is also a seasoned defender, averaging 3.26 digs a game, bested only by libero Brigitte Murdock's count of 4.24 a set.
 
SCOUTING BOWLING GREEN: The Falcons hold a 2-3 record and have played all of their matches at home thus far. NKU will be the second Horizon League team that BGSU will face this season, as the team opened up the year with a 3-2 loss to UIC.
  
The Falcons and the Norse met a season ago at the Bowling Green Invitational, where BGSU took a decisive 3-0 victory. However, the Falcons have lost their top defender, national digs leader Madeline Garda, as well as their top attacker in Jelena Sunjic. Junior Kallie Seimet has stepped up to fill Garda's shoes, and is averaging a whopping 6.06 digs per set to rank 11th nationally, while the team is ranked 37th in the country with 17.18 digs per set. The attack has been led by rookie outside hitter Jacqueline Askin, who is averaging 3.33 kills per set at a .219 clip.