The Niagara volleyball team continues its season-opening road trip this weekend with matches at the Akron Invite.

The Purple Eagles (0-3) open the invitation against Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Friday at 11 a.m. before facing the host, Akron, at 7 p.m. Niagara finishes play on Saturday against Tennessee Tech at 11:30 a.m. Niagara fell in all three matches at the UB Invite last weekend, however the Purple Eagles battled to two narrow defeats versus Temple and Buffalo on Saturday.

Strong Comeback In Defeat
• The Purple Eagles showed fight, heart and skill in nearly pulling out a comeback win against Temple.
• NU dropped the first two sets, 25-11 and 25-14, before rallying to win the next two sets. NU led 15-14 in the third set, but the Owls scored the final three points to win the match.

All-Tournament Team Honors
• Junior Amanda Sedore and sophomore Melissa McGwin were named to the UB Invite All-Tournament Team.
• McGwin had 2.09 kills per set and had a .327 hitting percentage and Sedore had 2.0 kills per set and 1.91 digs per set in the three-match invitational.

McGwin's Monster Match
• Melissa McGwin notched a team and career-high 16 kills and led the match with a .516 hitting percentage in Niagara's five-set setback to Temple on Aug. 31.
•  Her 16 kills with zero errors are the most by a Purple Eagle with at least 12 kills while committing zeros errors since Ellen Senf on Nov. 13, 2011 when she had 13 kills and zero errors on 20 total attacks.
• She is seventh in the MAAC in hitting percentage (.327)

First Time For Everything
• Four Purple Eagles their debuts in the season opener in Emily Hopkins, Melissa McGwin, Alex Stone and head coach Vilis Ozols.
• Hopkins set career-highs in assists with 35 and in digs with 11 for her first career double-double against UB on Aug. 31.

Second In Command
• Niagara is second in the MAAC in opponent hitting percentage at .204. 

New General On The Sideline
• Niagara is led by first-year head Vilis Ozols, who was named head coach in Feb. 2012. Ozols spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach at Wyoming and spent a season as an assistant at Colorado.
• Ozols played collegiate volleyball at the University of Guelph in Canada where he was a four-time First Team All-Conference selection and a three-time conference player of the year. He is a former Canadian Jr. National Team member.

Reis A Preseason All-MAAC Selection
• Junior libero Allison Reis has been named to the 2013 Preseason All-MAAC Team. Reis is the most experience player on the team, having played in 160 sets in the last two seasons.
• Reis saw action in all 29 matches last season, her first season as the starting libero. She was sixth in the MAAC with 5.13 digs per set and recorded double-digit digs in every match

Full of Youth
• The 2013 Purple Eagles are made up of three freshmen, four sophomores and three juniors. This is the first time Niagara has not had a senior on the squad since 2009; that team went on to win the program's first-ever MAAC championship.

Across The Net: Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers (0-3)
• Milwaukee is 0-3 after losing to Oklahoma, Western Michigan and Northwestern at the Holiday Inn West Invitational in Kalamazoo, Mich.
• Leaders: Rachel Neuberger – 2.69 kills per set, Kayla Price – 9.00 assists per set, Taylor Golabowski – 3.69 digs per set, Nicole Latzig – 1.00 blocks per set
• This will be Niagara's second meeting with Milwaukee. The Purple Eagles lost the previous meeting in 2003

Across The Net: Akron Zips (2-0)
• Akron is 2-0 on the season with wins over Indiana State and SIU Edwardsville.
• Leaders: Alex Cocklin – 2.88 kills per set, Karley Kusan – 9.38 assists per set, Jill Paluch – 4.62 digs per set, Kelsey Wilson - .62 digs per set
• Niagara is 0-6 all-time versus Akron with the most recent meeting coming in 2005.

Across The Net: Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles (2-1)
• Tennessee Tech is 2-1 on the season with consecutive wins over Savannah State and Fordham at the Wintrop Invitational.
• First time Tech has a winning record after the opening weekend since 2007
• First meeting between the programs