Match Notes (PDF) | Live Stats | 2019 Schedule
SEATTLE --- Seattle U volleyball will visit the Granite State this weekend as it takes part in the Holly Young Invitational hosted by the University of New Hampshire. The Redhawks open the trip against the host Wildcats before facing Brown on Friday and Holy Cross on Saturday. It will be the first-ever meeting against each opponent.
The Redhawks are 6-2 against teams based in the Northeast region of the U.S., dating back to 2008, and have won 20 of the 27 sets during that stretch. This is Seattle U's first trip to the Northeast since 2016 when it participated in the Rugters Invite and their first time back to New England since visiting Smithfield, R.I., in 2008 for the National Transitions Challenge. Thursday’s match with New Hampshire will be streamed online through the America East Network.
THE SCHEDULE
Thurs., Sat. 5 at New Hampshire | 4 pm PT | Stats / Video
Fri., Sat. 6 vs Brown | 1:30 pm PT | Stats
Sat., Sat. 7 vs Holy Cross | 7 am PT | Stats
THE OPPOSITION
• New Hampshire: Faced Rhode Island, Army and Iona (N.Y.) to go 2-1 at the Army Invitational Tournament during the opening weekend, before sweeping Bryant on Tuesday (9/3) ... the Wildcats were 12-15 last season and qualified for the America East Championship with a 8-4 in conference play
• Brown: Did not play last weekend and will open the 2019 campaign against the Redhawks on Friday ... the Bears were 4-10 in Ivy League action last season en route to finishing 11-13 overall.
• Holy Cross: Went 0-3 last weekend at the Penn State Classic after falling to Wichita State, No. 8 Penn State and Hofstra ... the Crusaders were 8-21 last season with a 7-9 mark in the Patriot League.
LAST TIME OUT
Seattle U had a solid opening weekend in the Mile City Classic where it went 2-1 at the Denver Classic earning 3-1 victories against Southern Miss and San Francisco before falling to Denver in straight set in the weekend finale ... the Redhawks out hit their opponent trio by a combined .180 to .165, while also holding the edge in total kills (137-127), digs (151-134) and blocking (27.5-25.0).
KERSCHEN-BOOM
Sophomore Eve Kerschenbaum opened the season in stellar fashion en route to winning her first-ever #WACvb Offensive Player of Week Honors ... Kerschenbaum twice surpassed the 20-kill mark, registering a career-best 24 against Southern Miss (8/30), shattering the previous mark of 14, before following up with 21 against San Francisco (8/31) ... she also notched a double-double in each match with 16 digs and 11 digs, respectively.
UNDERCLASSMEN CONTRIBUTIONS
In addition to Kerschenbaum’s strong weekend performance several other underclassmen made notable contributions during the Denver Classic.
• Freshman Amaris Carter had 27 kills and eight blocks in three matches, including a 10-kill outing at Denver.
• Freshman Ezgi Ozkan is second among WAC setters with 10.0 assists per set ... she posted back-to-back 40-plus helpers, including a career-high 47 in the season opener against Southern Miss.
• Sophomore Julia Queiroz is tied-second among WAC leaders for most total blocks (15) and standalone third in blocks per set (1.36) ... she is one of three Redhawks listed among the WAC block leaderboard as Ozkan and freshman Lauren McCabe are tied-fourth with 13 each.
CAN YOU DIG IT?!
The Redhawks out dug their opponents 151-134 in the opening weekend ... junior Tijana Milojevic paced the team with 33 digs and was followed by Kerschenbaum’s 30 ... redshirt-junior Rachel Stark began the week third among team leaders with 26 digs.
MILESTONE WATCH
• Stark began the week with 396 career kills which is ninth-best since 2011 and 30 shy of entering the Seattle U Division I top 10 ranks ... in her last two campaigns, Stark has averaged 188 kills each seasons ... her 1,263 attempts to open began the season was 10th-overall since 2008 and 268 short of Maja Stojanovic (2015-18) for ninth ... Stark is seven aces shy of tying Shae Harris (2015-18) for 10th-overall with career total of 59 service aces.
• Milojevic’s 1,030 career digs is second-most since 2011 and fourth-best since the Redhawks’ return to Division I in 2008 ... Milojevic became the fourth Seattle U player in 11 years to record 1000-career digs, last done by Iris Ivanis (2013-16) ... Milojevic is 65 digs shy of surpassing Lani Beadle’s (2010-13) mark of 1,095 for third on the career list ... she began the season leading all SU Division I players since 2008 with 4.73 digs per set.
LOOKING AHEAD
Seattle U will open its home schedule next week when it returns to the nest to face in-state rival Eastern Washington on Tuesday, Sept. 10 before hosting the Redhawk Invitational on Friday and Saturday. Tickets for next week's matches and all home dates can be purchased at GoSeattleU.com/Tix.