HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. –Northern Kentucky dives into the 2018 season this weekend in South Bend, Indiana, for the Golden Dome Invitational. The two-day tournament, hosted by Notre Dame, will pit the Norse against the Fighting Irish, as well as Toledo and Weber State, on Friday-Saturday, Aug. 24-25. The Norse take on Toledo on Friday afternoon for a 4 p.m. ET match before facing Weber State on Saturday at 10 a.m. and Notre Dame at 7 p.m. The match against Notre Dame will be carried on ACC Extra.
LAST TIME OUT: The Norse took on cross-river foe Xavier in their lone exhibition match of the preseason, falling 3-2 to the Musketeers.
Haley Libs returned for her senior season in fine form, notching a double-double with a match-high 19 kills to go with 10 digs. Freshman
Miranda Wucherer was a triple threat, recording 13 kills at a .600 clip, dishing out 30 assists and scooping up 13 digs.
PRESEASON PROJECTIONS: NKU was tabbed to finish sixth in the Horizon League, according to a preseason poll of the League's coaches. The prognostication matches NKU's seeding in the Horizon League Championship, which saw the Norse advance to the semifinals in 2017.
Horizon League Preseason Volleyball Poll
Team (First-place votes) Points
1. Cleveland State (4) 69
2. Oakland (3) 67
3. UIC (1) 58
4. Green Bay (1) 51
5. IUPUI 50
6. Northern Kentucky 48
7. Milwaukee 29
8. Wright State 18
9. Youngstown State 12
2017 IN REVIEW: The Norse finished the 2017 campaign with a 12-15 record, going 7-9 in the Horizon League. NKU earned the sixth seed in the Horizon League Championship, but once again advanced to the semifinals for the third-straight season.
Haley Libs continued to dominate, notching her 1,000th career kill as a junior as she led the Norse in both kills and digs on the season and was named to the All-Horizon League Team for the third year in a row. Libs is on pace to become a member of the 1,000-dig club as well, sitting at just under 850 career scoops. NKU's middle blocker tandem of
Bailey Western and
Kaelin Gentile had standout rookie seasons, with Western earning all-freshman team honors while Gentile was named to the Horizon League All-Tournament Team.
SCOUTING TOLEDO: The Rockets finished the 2017 season at 12-16, going 7-9 in the Mid-American Conference. Toledo enjoyed a balanced offense last season, with four attackers averaging over two kills per set. However, only Chloee Kleespies returns to the lineup of those four hitters for the 2018 slate. Carly Townsend returns for her senior season after splitting setting duties with the since-graduated Brianna Foster. The Rockets lost their All-MAC honorable mention, Annie Beasley, whose shoes have been filled by her 6-foot-1 twin freshman sisters, Megan and Liz.
SCOUTING WEBER STATE: The Wildcats posted a 9-20 record last season and went 7-9 in the Big Sky. Weber State returns Andrea Hale, a 6-foot-3 outside hitter who garnered All-Big Sky Second Team honors in 2017. Hale averaged 3.32 kills per set and was also one of the team's top servers last year. The Wildcats also return their biggest block contributors with middle blockers Hannah Hill-DeYoung and Aubrey Saunders-Adams, both of whom averaged over 1.10 blocks per set. A key loss for Weber State is libero Thamires Cavalcanti, who scooped up 4.21 digs per set in 2017.
SCOUTING NOTRE DAME: The Fighting Irish enjoyed a successful 2017 with a 22-10 record, including 12-8 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Notre Dame earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Championship, but fell in the first round to Western Kentucky in straight sets. Jemma Yeadon returns for her junior year to lead Notre Dame after averaging 3.91 kills and 2.72 digs per set. Yeadon earned AVCA All-East Coast Region accolades and was named to the All-ACC Second Team. Notre Dame also returns its All-ACC First Team and AVCA All-America Honorable Mention libero, Ryann DeJarld, who starts her final campaign already as the all-time digs leader after crushing the program record with 747 digs in the 2017 season.
UNCHARTED TERRITORY: All three opponents at the Golden Dome Invitational are programs that NKU has never faced in its 42 years of volleyball.
