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Spartans Challenge SoCon South Division Volleyball Rivals
GREENSBORO, N.C. – UNCG jumps back into Southern Conference play this weekend, traveling to face South Division opponents Georgia Southern and Davidson. The Spartans look to improve on a 2-1 road record in league play. UNCG defeated Elon and Appalachian State while losing to Western Carolina.
The Spartans will battle the Eagles at 1 p.m. Saturday before facing the Wildcats at 2 p.m. Sunday.
In their most recent match, the Spartans made quick work of South Carolina State, winning 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-21) at Fleming Gymnasium Tuesday. Junior Kellie Orewiler racked up nine digs in the match to move into sole possession of seventh place on the UNCG career top 10 chart. She now owns 1,308 digs in less than three seasons in Greensboro. Classmate Olivia Humphries and freshman Katherine Santiago led the defensive charge with 10 digs apiece. Offensively, junior Karrian Chambers and sophomore Vicky Harley produced double-digit kill efforts with 11 and 10 respectively while sophomore setter Emily McMurtrey tallied 38 assists and four digs as well as picking up a pair of kills on her only two attempts.
The Spartans eclipsed the .300 hitting plateau for the second time this season, firing at a .340 clip to turn in their campaign-high mark. UNCG also held the upper hand in kills (45-29), assists (41-25), aces (5-3) and digs (42-32) while the teams finished even in blocking at five each. The Spartans worked well in the sideout game, posting an overall mark of 70 percent – including an 80-percent showing in the first set.
ABOUT GEORGIA SOUTHERN...
Georgia Southern enters the weekend as the top team in the South Division, owning a record of 5-1 in league play. The Eagles defeated Davidson 3-0 on the road Monday to pull into a first-place tie with College of Charleston. Meredith Paskert leads the offensive charge for GSU as she averages 3.21 kills per set with a .246 hitting mark. The Eagles are 5-2 at home this season. UNCG captured the only meeting between the teams last season in Greensboro, winning in five sets.
SCOUTING DAVIDSON...
Davidson is holding on to the fourth and final South Division berth to the SoCon Tournament with a 3-3 league record. The Wildcats are 1-2 at home in SoCon matches. Caroline Brown averages 3.61 kills per set while Molly Crenshaw boasts one of the league's top dig per set averages at 4.76 per set. UNCG won last season's meeting 3-0 in Greensboro.
Rookie Lauren Betlach earned UNCG's first weekly honor from the Southern Conference for her performances against Western Carolina and Appalachian State. She averaged 3.43 kills and 2.57 digs per set and tallied her second double-double of the season against the Catamounts with a team-high 11 kills and a career-high 16 digs before posting 13 kills in the 3-1 road victory at Appalachian State as one of four Spartans in double figures.
MOVING UP THE LADDER...
A couple of Spartans have moved into the program career top 10 as Orewiler is third in digs per set (4.15) and sixth in digs (1,308). Vicky Harley is 10th in blocks per set (0.82).
EXTRA VOLLEYBALL...
In 18 matches this season, UNCG has played eight that have gone the full five sets. The Spartans are 4-4 in those contests and have won three of the last four. UNCG is close to setting the program single-season record for five-setters as the Spartans played 11 of them in the 1992 and 2009 campaigns.
A BETTER START RECENTLY...
To say that UNCG has struggled at the beginning of matches this season is an understatement. In 18 contests, the Spartans have won the first set just five times and the second frame on only seven occasions. Conversely, UNCG is 13-5 in third-set play and 11-2 in the fourth interval. However, the Spartans have won their last two first sets against Chattanooga and South Carolina State.
IT'S A LIBEROS' WORLD...
UNCG sports arguably the top libero tandem in the Southern Conference in junior Kellie Orewiler, the reigning SoCon Libero of the Year, and freshman Katherine Santiago have combined for 581 total digs while averaging 3.87 and 3.88 per set respectively.
- UNCG -
