Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
South Carolina
Northwestern Continues Season with Duke Invitational
8/31/2017 8:14:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
| NORTHWESTERN VOLLEYBALL: MATCH DAY INFORMATION | |||||
| DATE | OPPONENT | TIME | LOCATION | BROADCAST | LIVE STATS |
| Friday, Sept. 1 | South Carolina | 11 a.m. | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, N.C. |
ESPN3 | Live Stats |
| Friday, Sept. 1 | (rv) Duke | 6 p.m. | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, N.C. |
ESPN3 | Live Stats |
| Saturday, Sept. 2 | UNC-Wilmington | 11 a.m. | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, N.C. |
ESPN3 | Live Stats |
| Social: Twitter (@NUVBall and @NU_SportsLive) | Instagram (@NUVBall) | Facebook Game Notes: Northwestern | South Carolina | Duke | UNCW |
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DURHAM, N.C. — After going 2-1 to start the 2017 campaign, Northwestern volleyball will face off against strong competition at the Duke Invitational, Sept. 1-2.
IT'S BEEN A WHILE
Northwestern has played all three of South Carolina, Duke, and UNC-Wilmington, but its most recent matchup comes in 1990. The Wildcats are 1-0 against the Gamecocks, defeating them on September 1981, while NU is winless in three attempts against Duke (last matchup, September 1990). Northwestern defeated UNC-Wilmington in a three-set sweep in September 1990.
WATCH ME, WATCH ME
Northwestern's match against Duke, South Carolina, and UNCW will be televised on ACC Network Extra and live-streamed on ESPN3.
ABOUT SOUTH CAROLINA
The Gamecocks went 3-0 in their opening weekend, with wins over Mercer, Troy, and North Florida. First-year middle Mikayla Robinson led the Gamecocks with 12 kills on 13 attacks against Mercer, giving her a final hitting percentage of .846, the highest by any Gamecock with double-digit kills since 1983.
ABOUT DUKE
The Blue Devils, who received 10 votes in the first AVCA coaches poll, swept their first three matches of the season as well. Their lidlifting performance was highlighted by a 3-2 win over a Colorado State team that received votes. Senior pin Cadie Bates led the team with 3.31 kills per set.
ABOUT UNC-WILMINGTON
UNCW went 2-1 in its opening weekend with wins over Loyola (Md.) and Davidson and a setback to Appalachian State. All six of the Seahawk starters averaged 1.80 kills per set or better for the weekend while the team out-hit their competition. 223 to .182.
IN THE LEAD
Northwestern has had the lead in attack percentage in all three matches they have played in this season.
DOUBLE, DOUBLE, TOIL AND TROUBLE
Senior Symone Abbott has already recorded two double-doubles (kills and digs) in her first three matches ... Northwestern didn't have one after September 16 of last season.
NOTICEABLE NEWCOMERS
The Wildcats' seven-member first-year class — comprised of Nia Robinson, Lexi Pitsas, Britt Bommer, Ivey Whalen, Danyelle Williams, Alana Walker, and Amy Wang — were ranked the 22nd-best in the nation by PrepVolleyball.com in May ... "Northwestern's Class of 2021 rivals any nationwide in athleticism and competiveness and can be a difference-maker for the program," PrepVolleyball.com wrote in its release.
The Wildcats were one of 11 Big Ten teams ranked with a top-30 recruiting class — the most of any conference (next closest is the Pac-12 with six) ... The recruiting class is the first cohort conducted in full by the coaching staff led by Head Coach Shane Davis ... The class is the highest-ranked for Northwestern since the 18th-ranked class of 2018, comprised of Taylor Tashima, Symone Abbott, Gabrielle Hazen, and Katie Kniep.
YOU SAY HELLO, I SAY...
Northwestern lost six letterwinners from 2016, including Maddie Slater, whose .307 career hitting percentage is second-best in NU history ... The 'Cats also graduated Kayla Morin, who played in every match in her four-year career in Evanston ... Despite the losses, Northwestern returns more than 50 percent in all of the main categories (kills, assists, digs, solo blocks, block assists, and service aces) ... The 'Cats return 76 percent of their assists from 2016.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
Twelve out of the 18 members on the Wildcat squad are either first-years or sophomores (67 percent).
LEADERSHIP 101
Four members of the Wildcat coaching staff (Shane Davis, Kevin Moore, Brian Toron, and Shari Davis) have been collegiate head coaches.
AN EYE ON THE RECORD BOOK
Symone Abbott (kills-12th, kills per set-3rd) and Taylor Tashima (assists-5th, assists per set-4th) both are poised to etch their names into Northwestern history with productive senior seasons. With 86 more total attacks, Gabrielle Hazen will have enough to qualify for the career hitting percentage top-10 list ... Her mark of .277 would be good for sixth place.
Abbott needs five kills to move into 11th place (Carmen Burbach, 1,263), while Tashima needs 458 assists to advance to 4th place in the record book.
MILESTONE MARKERS
Sarah Johnson needs 24 digs to reach the 300 mark ... Symone Abbott needs 38 more total attacks to reach 3,501, which would tie her for the 10th-most in a Northwestern career ... She also needs three more matches played to reach 100.
YOU GO, WE GO
Symone Abbott was the linchpin to Northwestern's offense in 2016, as she amassed 11.69 attacks per set, which was 13th-most in the NCAA and tops in the Big Ten ... that mark was the second-most ever by a Northwestern junior.
B1G-TIME VOLLEYBALL
The Big Ten Conference dominated the AVCA poll, with three teams in the top-10 and eight teams in the top-25.
GOOD-BETTER-BEST
Nine of the 12 teams the Wildcats will play in their non-conference slate had records of .500 or better in 2016 ... That compares to only six of the 12 teams the 2016 'Cats played in non-conference finished with records at .500 or better.
