HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky volleyball opens up the 2019 season this weekend as the team will head to Fort Wayne, Indiana, for the Purdue Fort Wayne Invitational Presented by Hyatt Place. The Norse play their first game of the year against South Alabama at 4:30 p.m. ET on Friday, Aug. 30. NKU then faces Western Michigan at 1:30 p.m. and Purdue Fort Wayne at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 31. All matches of the tournament will be streamed on YouTube. 
 
A LOOK AT THE NORSE: Northern Kentucky graduated its most decorated Division I player to date in alumna Haley Libs, but the Norse return 12 players from the 2018 squad. The Norse will have a pair of six-rotation outsides in Laura Crawford and Anna Brinkmann, with Crawford returning to the left pin after spending much of 2018 on the rightside. Brinkmann had a successful freshman campaign, earning Horizon League All-Freshman Team honors after finishing second on the team with 2.18 kills per set. All-Horizon League Honorable Mention Bailey Western and Horizon League All-Tournament Team member Natalie Hardig return to the middle. NKU will likely run a 6-2 offense with Shelby Olsen and Miranda Wucherer, the latter of which was also an all-freshman team honoree. Opposite the setters are Kaelin Gentile and redshirt-freshman Abby Kanakry. The final piece of the Norse lineup is Ashton Terrill, who ranked 11th in the nation in digs per set and earned All-Horizon League First Team distinction as a sophomore. NKU welcomes Reilly Briggs, a left-handed outside from La Porte, Indiana, and Anna Burke, a defensive specialist from Louisville, Kentucky, for their rookie seasons.
 
2018 IN REVIEW: The Norse enjoyed a successful season in 2018, posting a 21-10 record that included a trip to the championship match of the Horizon League Tournament and a berth into the National Invitation Volleyball Championship. NKU ended its preseason tournaments with a six-match winning streak and carried that into a four-set win over eventual Horizon League champion Green Bay. NKU went 11-5 in conference play, matching its best record since joining the Horizon League, and tied for second in the league standings for the best Division I conference finish to date.
 
LAST TIME OUT: NKU defeated cross-river rival Xavier in its lone exhibition match of the preseason, 3-1. The Musketeers took an early lead with a 25-22 first-set win, but the Norse answered back with a 25-17 win in the second.  NKU trailed 22-18 in the third set, but were able to tie the set up at 23-23 and won the frame on back-to-back blocks by Kanakry and Western. The Norse went on to win the fourth set, 25-23.
 
WELCOME TO THE CLUB: Junior libero Ashton Terrill blew open NKU's Division I-era single-season digs record last season and surpassed Mel Stewart's 2015 mark by more than 100 digs with 673 scoops. She recorded her 1,000th career dig in the final match of 2018 during NKU's NIVC match at Miami (Ohio). Terrill is well on her way to becoming one of the most successful defensive specialists in program history, as two more seasons similar to last year's would put her well past Jenny Jeremiah's all-time leading mark of 2,050 digs.
 
DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE: Northern Kentucky was the statistical champion for digs per set in 2018, averaging 19.83 dps during the campaign. Terrill finished just outside the nation's top-10, posting 5.56 digs per set during her sophomore season.
 
PRESEASON PROJECTIONS: NKU was tabbed to finish runner-up in the Horizon League, according to a preseason poll of the League's coaches.  The prognostication matches NKU's finish in the 2018 Horizon League Championship, which saw the Norse advance to its first conference final since moving to Division I.
 
Horizon League Preseason Volleyball Poll

Team	Points (First-Place Votes)
1. Green Bay	75 (5)
2. Northern Kentucky	67(2)
3. UIC	66 (1)
4. Oakland	49 (1)
5. Cleveland State	47
6. Wright State	37
7. Milwaukee	32
8. IUPUI	21
9. Youngstown State	11

 
 
SCOUTING SOUTH ALABAMA: The Jaguars posted a 13-17 mark in the 2018 campaign, but the team returns an experienced squad for 2019. Last year, South Alabama relied primarily on the returning trio of Hannah Harris, Kelley Hartman and Meagan Jones, who averaged 2.69, 2.62 and 2.57 kills per set, respectively. Hartman was named to the All-Sun Belt Preseason Team after being named to the 2018 All-Sun Belt Second Team. Ashlyn Roberts also returns for her senior season to lead the back row as the libero, coming off 3.41 digs per set in 2018. The Jaguars ran a 6-2 offense last year, but only return Rachael DeMarcus, who averaged 6.83 assists per set. Freshman Lillie Fromdahl could be expected to step into the vacant setter position after closing out her prep career as the Alabama Gatorade Player of the Year.
   Northern Kentucky has faced South Alabama just once in the history of the two programs. The two teams met on Sept. 29, 1978, and the Norse walked away with a 15-9, 15-8 victory.
 
SCOUTING WESTERN MICHIGAN: The Broncos finished 2018 with a 16-14 record, but had a rocky conference season in the Mid-American Conference with a 6-10 mark. Similar to South Alabama, Western Michigan returns all of its hitters from the 2018 campaign. Rachel Bontrager is WMU's main offensive weapon as she received nearly double the amount of sets than any other player on the squad last year, taking 1,309 swings and averaging 3.75 kills per set to earn First-Team All-MAC accolades. Kate Carey, Merdeith Phillips and Sammi LaBolle all chimed in with over 2.00 kills per set. Western Michigan also returns libero Kathleen Reilly, who averaged 4.69 digs per set last season. The Broncos graduated setter Mary Murphy, but welcome freshman Rose Duffy and Gonzaga transfer Mary Marzo for the current campaign.
  
The Norse and the Broncos have also met just once, matching up on Sept. 20, 1980. NKU won in two sets, 15-5, 15-11.
 
SCOUTING PURDUE FORT WAYNE: The Norse will get some playing experience against future Horizon League foe Purdue Fort Wayne, which is set to join the league starting in the 2020-21 academic year. The Mastodons went 18-14 last season, including 8-8 in Summit League competition. Purdue Fort Wayne lost its top attacker, setter and libero from a season ago, but returns All-Summit League honoree Sydney Boerst and all-freshman team member Madelyn Wurster. Boerst finished the season averaging 2.33 kills per set out of the middle, boasting a .329 attack percentage, and led the Mastodons at the net with 0.97 blocks per set. Wurster contributed 2.00 kills per set in her rookie campaign.
  
The Mastodons hold a 23-18 advantage in the all-time series, and the two teams have split the pair of matches played since the Division I transition. NKU won the last meeting in three sets on Sept. 3, 2016, 25-21, 25-21, 25-20.