HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky volleyball wraps up the regular season on the road this weekend, heading to Cleveland State and Youngstown State for the final pair of Horizon League matches. The Norse first face Cleveland State at 6 p.m. ET on Friday, Nov. 15, before heading to Youngstown State for a 4 p.m. match on Saturday, Nov. 16. Friday's match will be carried on ESPN+ while Saturday's will be on ESPN3.
LAST TIME OUT: The Norse won their third-straight match on Senior Day, defeating Milwaukee in four sets.
Laura Crawford and
Reilly Briggs both registered 11 kills in the match, and the middle blocker tandem of
Bailey Western and
Peytton Bagwell each had seven blocks in the victory.
Ashton Terrill recorded 18 digs, which gives her 1,505 career digs and boosted the junior to fifth on NKU's all-time career digs list. She was then named the Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week, coupled with her 16 digs in an earlier sweep at Oakland.
TOURNEY TIME: With a tight field in the Horizon League standings, much still remains to be solidified for the Horizon League Championship. No team has locked in a seed, but the six participants have been set as Cleveland State, IUPUI and Youngstown State are unable to make up for lost ground in the final week of play and are out of tournament contention. Hosting rights for the tournament are between reigning champion Green Bay, Milwaukee and Wright State, as the Phoenix and the Raiders both sit at 11-3 while the Panthers are 10-4. In addition to those three teams, UIC is also in the running for a coveted first-round bye, as four teams have the possibility to finish as the No. 2 seed, with three of those four teams (Green Bay, Milwaukee and UIC) facing each other for the final weekend of league play.
As far as Northern Kentucky is concerned, the Norse can finish anywhere from the No. 4-6 seed. In order to earn the No. 4 seed, NKU would need to go 2-0 this weekend and will need to be aided by Oakland posting a 1-1 mark and UIC dropping both its matches.
UPWARD TREND: NKU had its highest RPI in program history on Oct. 7 and has continued to stay ranked among some of the nation's top teams in the No. 55 spot. The Horizon League has also seen continued success in the rating percentage index as it is one of just six Division I conferences to have five or more teams in the top 100, with Wright State, Milwaukee, Green Bay and UIC joining the Norse.
NORSE VS. THE NATION: NKU ranks among the nation's top-100 in several statistical categories. NKU's best statistics come from its defensive prowess, as the Norse rank 13th in the nation with 17.86 digs per set, 56th with a .179 opponent hitting percentage and 56th with 2.39 blocks per set. This season, the Norse have held five opponents to under a .100 hitting percentage. The Norse also rank 71st nationally and first in the Horizon League with 1.53 aces per set.
MILESTONE TRACKER: In the final tournament of the nonconference slate, junior libero
Ashton Terrill broke into the all-time top-10 list for career digs, surpassing Amber Timmons' mark of 1,205 set between the 2001-04 seasons. Terrill currently has 1,505 digs and is 12 digs away from tying Colleen Kaufman (1992-95) for fourth.
Senior setter
Shelby Olsen recorded her 1,000th career dig at Green Bay on Oct. 19, becoming just the third Norse setter to amass at least 2,000 assists and 1,000 digs in a career. She joins Molly Donovan (1995-98) and Taylor Snyder (2013-16) in the exclusive club.
SCOUTING CLEVELAND STATE: The Vikings sit at 7-18 overall and 3-11 in league play with wins over Green Bay, Oakland and Youngstown State. Despite being out of tournament contention, Cleveland State has been playing well as of late with a pair of sweeps over the Golden Grizzlies and Penguins before falling in five sets to Wright State and UIC. CSU relies heavily upon its middle attack as Trinniti Hall leads the team with 3.25 kills and 0.76 blocks per set in league action, followed by Hannah Greene's 2.64 kills and 1.10 blocks per set. The Vikings run a 5-1 offense behind Christina Grecol's 9.05 assists per set. As a team, Cleveland State has shown solid defense as the Vikings rank 28th nationally with 17.04 digs per set and 67th with 2.34 blocks per set.
Cleveland State holds a 9-5 advantage in the all-time series with the Norse, but NKU has won the last three meetings. In the most recent match, NKU defeated the Vikings in four sets, 29-31, 25-20, 25-10, 25-21.
SCOUTING YOUNGSTOWN STATE: The Penguins have an 8-19 record, going 2-12 in the Horizon League with wins over Cleveland State and IUPUI. YSU nearly took another match off the Jaguars on Nov. 6, but fell in five sets. The two sets that were won in that match have been the only two sets that the Penguins have taken in the past seven matches. Brooklen Pe'a paces YSU's offense with 3.00 kills per set while Aleah Hughes adds 2.09 kps. Youngstown State ranks at the bottom of the league in every statistical category in league play, save for digs per set, in which the Penguins rank eighth.
The Norse have won all nine meetings with the Penguins in the all-time series. NKU most recently defeated YSU in the Horizon League opener on Sept. 27, 25-13, 25-10, 25-13.
