Senior Karen Simpson |
NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. – After having its five-match winning streak snapped Tuesday, the Niagara University volleyball team (5-2) continues its 12-match road swing when it travels to Cleveland this weekend for the 2005 Medical Mutual CSU Invitational at Cleveland State.
The Purple Eagles open the invitational Friday at 4:30 p.m. when they play San Diego State in Woodling Gymnasium. Play for Niagara continues Saturday at 1 p.m. when it meets the host Vikings and then at 4:30 p.m. against Binghamton. All the matches in the invitational will have live stats provided on the CSU web site at http://csuvikings.collegesports.com/livestats/w-volley/index.html.
Off to their best start in school history, the Purple Eagles had their winning streak snapped by Big Four rival Buffalo on Tuesday. Despite the loss three seniors reached some milestones following the UB match.
Senior Micole Daluisio (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster) had a match-high 22 digs Tuesday and became Niagara’s career leader in digs with 1,420. Classmate Michelle LeSouder (Stratford, Ont.) went over the 1,400 kill mark (1,418) with 14 kills vs. the Bulls. Senior Erin Graham (Oakville, N.Y.) moved into second place on the Niagara career kills list (1,134) and moved into eighth on the career digs list (949) with eight kills and 11 digs vs. UB.
For the season, senior middle hitter Karen Simpson (Rochester, N.Y.) is the team leader in hitting percentage (.320) among starters and is second in blocks (21). Senior Stephanie Hopkins (Tonawanda, N.Y./Sweet Home) has a squad-best 3.64 kills per game. Daluisio tops the team in digs per game (4.85) and is one of four players averaging 2.0-or-more digs a game.
San Diego State has gone 2-2 in its last four outings, including 2-1 at the Red Raider Roundup in Lubbock, Texas, this past weekend. On Tuesday the Aztecs dropped three games to Loyola Marymount, who is receiving votes in this week’s CSTV/AVCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll.
Junior outside hitter Melanie Greene leads the team in kills per game (3.22) and is one of five players averaging 2.0-or-more kills per game. Sophomore defensive specialist Aime Cordeiro is the team leader in digs per game (5.07) and the trio of Lindsey Mahan (32), Audra Dent (26) and Lindsey Noll (23) combine for more than half of the Aztecs’ 68 blocks.
Cleveland State has won two of its three matches at the Michigan Pepsi/Nike Invitational last weekend, and is 5-3 on the season. The Vikings are hitting .247 as a team and four players are hitting .200-plus after 29 games.
Senior middle hitter Danielle Siefker leads the team in hitting (.406) and blocks (32) while senior outside hitter Nickole Kennedy tops the squad in kills per game (3.34).
Binghamton is 5-5 on the season and snapped a five-game losing streak with a three-game win over Colgate on Tuesday. The Bearcats are led by junior middle hitter Megan Hoag with a .261 hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter Katie Brody is averaging a team-best 3.29 kills and 2.29 digs per game.
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