Cougars Jet to Boston for Series with Huskies

Saturday, November 6

Boston, Mass.

2:00 PM

College of Charleston

at Northeastern

11/5/2021 2:10:00 PM | Volleyball

Match Notes (PDF)

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CHARLESTON, S.C. --- The College of Charleston volleyball team resumes its run toward the CAA Championships following its bye week with a trip to Boston, Mass. to take on Northeastern in a crucial series on Saturday, November 6 and Sunday, November 7. First serve is set for 2:00 p.m. in Cabot Center for both matches.

The Cougars enter the weekend occupying the sixth and final berth in the CAA Championship with a 6-6 mark in conference play after dropping a pair of four-set battles at Delaware on Oct. 23 and 24. Northeastern is currently tied for fourth with Hofstra at 7-5.

QUICK HITTERS

The Cougars enter crunch time this weekend in the race to clinch a berth in this month's CAA Championship with CofC currently occupying the sixth and final spot in the field. Charleston is currently two matches ahead of seventh-place Delaware in the loss column.
Coach Kepner and the Cougars will look to bounce back from a tough trip to Delaware two weeks ago despite stellar performances from Lexi Wierzbicki, Gabi Bailey and Claire Campbell.
Wierzbicki has been on a tear over the last eight matches averaging 3.69 kills and 0.75 blocks per set while compiling a .296 hitting percentage over that stretch. The junior outside hitter has reached double digits in kills in each of the last seven matches highlighted by a match- and career-high 23 kills in a 3-1 setback to Delaware on Oct. 24.
Bailey put together a career performance on Oct. 24 at Delaware, setting two new career-highs with 18 kills and seven blocks while equaling her personal-best with 16 digs. The Harvard, Mass. native has averaged 2.34 kills, 2.53 digs and 0.72 blocks per set over the last eight matches while accounting for 13 of the Cougars' 53 aces in that span.
Freshman Tynley Smeltzer took over at libero to begin the third set at Delaware on Oct. 23 and delivered in a big way amassing 30 digs over the weekend's final six sets. The Savannah, Ga. native turned in a personal-best performance on Oct. 24 with a career-high 23 digs in a 3-1 setback to the Blue Hens.
The blocking corps continues to be a difference-maker for the Cougars with CofC averaging 2.41 blocks per set in that span to raise its season average to 2.03. Claire Campbell and Molly Russell are each averaging more than one block per frame during that stretch withh Wierzbicki and Bailey also making significant contributions at the net as well with 24 and 23 blocks, respectively, in that span.

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES

Northeastern carries an 11-11 overall record and a 7-5 mark in CAA play into the weekend after dropping a pair of matches to James Madison last weekend.
The Huskies deploy one of the top back rows in the CAA entering the weekend ranked second behind the Cougars with an average of 14.66 digs per set.
Erica Staunton leads four Huskies averaging two or more kills per set with a mark of 2.92 kills per frame. Nailah Jenkins paces Northeastern with a .288 hitting percentage which is good for ninth in the CAA.
Kayla Martin ranks third in the CAA with an average of 4.12 digs per set. She has recorded double-digit digs in all but two matches this season.
Marika Virthe (1.05) and Jenkins (0.78) lead a Huskies blocking corps averaging more than two blocks per set.

QUOTABLE
"We are looking forward to the trip to Boston. It was nice being off last weekend but this group is ready to get back to work for the last road trip of the regular season. This is an important one in the conference standings. Northeastern plays very well at home so this will be a challenge. We will need to play consistent and stay mentally focused this weekend to come home with two wins." – head coach Jason Kepner