Spartans to host Spartan Spiketacular this weekend

Holland Hoefnagel

Final	1	2	3	4	5	T
Howard (1-12)	23	25	11	21		1
UNCG (5-8)	25	23	25	25		3

Howard	UNCG
K: ELEBUTE,Tosin - 14 B: CONWAY,Assata - 4 D: CAIN,Riana - 14 SA: 2 Players (#5, #9 - 1)	K: 2 Players (#5, #7 - 14) B: Vicky Harley - 3 D: Kellie Orewiler - 21 SA: Kellie Orewiler - 4

TEAM STATISTICS	Howard	UNCG
Hitting %	.242	.231
Blocks	6.0	4.0
Digs	55	56
Aces	2	9

full stats

Final	1	2	3	4	5	T
Howard (1-12)	23	25	11	21		1
UNCG (5-8)	25	23	25	25		3

Howard	UNCG
K: ELEBUTE,Tosin - 14 B: CONWAY,Assata - 4 D: CAIN,Riana - 14 SA: 2 Players (#5, #9 - 1)	K: 2 Players (#5, #7 - 14) B: Vicky Harley - 3 D: Kellie Orewiler - 21 SA: Kellie Orewiler - 4

TEAM STATISTICS	Howard	UNCG
Hitting %	.242	.231
Blocks	6.0	4.0
Digs	55	56
Aces	2	9

full stats

Final	1	2	3	4	5	T
Radford (4-10)	20	18	23			0
UNCG (6-8)	25	25	25			3

Radford	UNCG
K: FLEMING, Carly - 15 B: FLEMING, Carly - 2 D: BRUMMITT, Rachel - 17 SA: 2 Players (#1, #6 - 1)	K: 2 Players (#5, #6 - 12) B: Vicky Harley - 4 D: Kellie Orewiler - 17 SA: Karrian Chambers - 3

TEAM STATISTICS	Radford	UNCG
Hitting %	.214	.311
Blocks	3.0	7.0
Digs	42	44
Aces	2	5

full stats

Final	1	2	3	4	5	T
Memphis (9-2)	25	25	25			3
UNCG (4-8)	10	18	11			0

Memphis	UNCG
K: HAWKINS, Altrese - 11 B: JOVANOVIC, Marija - 4 D: 2 Players (#13, #14 - 7) SA: MOLNAR, Hajnalka - 5	K: 2 Players (#5, #6 - 6) B: Vicky Harley - 2 D: Kellie Orewiler - 9 SA: 4 Players (#5, #10, #9, #11 - 1)

TEAM STATISTICS	Memphis	UNCG
Hitting %	.474	.040
Blocks	5.0	2.5
Digs	36	21
Aces	9	4

full stats

UNCG (4-7) vs. Spartan Spiketacular, Sept. 16-17, Greensboro, N.C., Fleming Gymnasium

Livestats: UNCGSpartans.com
Video: Spartan All-Access (free video) (UNCG vs. Howard and Radford only)

Storylines:

- After being on the road for the last two weeks, UNCG returns home to host Memphis, Radford and Howard for the second annual Spartan Spiketacular. The Spartans will open the tournament on Friday against Memphis at 7 p.m. UNCG will resume play on Saturday against Howard at 1 p.m. and then wrap up the tournament against Radford at 7 p.m.

- Here is a full schedule for the Spartan Spiketacular:

Friday:
Radford vs. Howard – 4 p.m.
UNCG vs. Memphis – 7 p.m.

Saturday:
Memphis vs. Radford – 10:30 a.m.
UNCG vs. Howard – 1 p.m.
Howard vs. Memphis – 5 p.m.
UNCG vs. Radford – 7 p.m.

- This will be the second tournament that the Spartans have hosted this season. Earlier this year, they held the UNCG Invitational on the first week of the season against East Tennessee State, Coastal Carolina, Evansville and North Carolina A&T.

- Memphis enters the weekend with an 8-2 overall record, including 3-0 sweeps over all three is its opponents last weekend. Radford has gone 3-8 over the first three weekends of the season and Howard is currently sporting a 1-10 record.

- Last weekend, the Spartans went 1-3 as the UCF Invitational. The Spartans opened the tournament with a loss against tournament host UCF, but rebounded later in the day to defeat Florida Atlantic, 3-0. On Saturday, UNCG fell to Big East foe Pittsburgh and then lost to South Florida on Sunday.

- On Sept. 3-4, UNCG traveled up to Fairfax, Va. for the Patriot Invitational on the campus of George Mason. The Spartans defeated High Point, 3-1, last Saturday before falling to host George Mason in the nightcap, 3-1. On Sunday, UNCG took down Navy, 3-1. Ariel Newman was named to the All-Tournament team for her efforts over the weekend.

- The first weekend of the season, the Spartans went 1-3 as they hosted the first annual UNCG Invitational. On Friday, UNCG fell to Coastal Carolina, 3-1, in its season opener and then fell to East Tennessee State by the same score later in the evening. On Saturday, the Spartans came out and cruised to a 3-0 win over cross-town rival North Carolina A&T, but fell to tournament champion Evansville, 3-0, in the nightcap.

- Junior Ari Lysacek was named to the All-Tournament Team for her efforts at the UNCG Invitational. Lysacek did a little bit of everything over the weekend as she recorded 59 assists, 25 kills and 19 digs in her three matches. Against Evansville, Lysacek nearly recorded a triple-double as she had 16 assists, nine kills and eight digs.

- In 2010, UNCG went 22-12 overall with a 9-7 record in the Southern Conference. The Spartans finished in a tie for second in the North Division and advanced all the way to the semifinals of the Southern Conference Championship.

- UNCG returns three starters and its libero from last season. Senior Ariel Newman returns as the starting outside hitter after leading the team with a 2.97 kills per set average a season ago. Setter Ari Lysacek also returns after posting 970 assists in 2010 and middle blocker Olivia Humphries is also back this year. Libero Kellie Orewiler was a Southern Conference All-Freshman Team selection a year ago and will look to solidify the Spartans defensively.

- Ariel Newman, Sarah Eldridge and Kellie Orewiler were all named team captains this season by their teammates. Newman and Eldridge are the lone seniors on the team this year, while Orewiler is a sophomore this season.

- UNCG has many returners this season who were ranked in the top-10 in numerous categories within the SoCon. Ariel Newman's 2.97 kills per set average ranked seventh in the league in 2010 and Kellie Orewiler's 3.60 digs per set average was good enough for ninth place. Ari Lysacek was fifth in the SoCon with a 7.89 assists per set average and was also seventh in service aces after posting 37 for a .30 per set average.

- This year's team will look to match the 2010's squad in tournaments this season as last year's team came away with two tournament titles in the first four weeks of the season. UNCG began the year by winning the Spartan Classic at Norfolk State University before winning its own tournament, the Spartan Spiketacular, just a few weeks later. It was the first time since 1995 that UNCG had won two tournaments in a single season.

- UNCG -