By: by Jason Hanes
KENNESAW, Ga. - Kennesaw State's volleyball team will open its final homestand of the season with one of the biggest matches in program history. The Owls will host East Tennessee State this Friday night at 7 p.m., with major Atlantic Sun Conference Championships implications on the line.
The Owls (14-9, 6-1) have won six matches in a row, including a, 3-1, win over Campbell last Friday night in Buies Creek, N.C. Junior Grace Hoyt had a career-high 17 kills, while junior Alyssa Lang had 15 kills and 17 digs. Senior Sabrita Gulley chipped in 11 digs in the winning effort.
The Owls started the season 2-6 but have since won 12 of their last 15 matches to get to this point in the season. Perhaps the only other team in the A-Sun on as big of a roll as the Owls is ETSU. The Bucs (23-6, 6-1) have won eight straight matches, including a pair of wins last weekend in Johnson City, Tenn., over Stetson and Florida Gulf Coast. Senior Alysa Long leads the A-Sun in both hitting percentage and blocks per set, with her 1.30 blocks per set ranking 22nd nationally in Division I.
"This will be a monumental match," said KSU head coach Karen Weatherington. "ETSU is a team with a lot of fight and determination and we will have to match that from the opening whistle. I expect this to be a slugfest between two of the top teams in the Atlantic Sun Conference."
The winner of this match will have the inside track to a bye into the semifinals of the A-Sun Championships Nov. 18-20 in Fort Myers, Fla. While both teams have already qualified for the tournament, the top two teams in the regular season standings earn a bye into the second round of the six-team event. With A-Sun teams only playing each other once in the conference regular season, the winner of tonight's match will own the head-to-head tiebreaker, meaning that it will need to win only one more match to secure a bye.
Free food from Willy's Mexicana Grill will be given out to the first 200 students in attendance. In addition, Friday's match is also "Daddy/Daughter Date Night."
The Owls will wrap up the home slate with a Saturday afternoon A-Sun contest against USC Upstate. First serve is set for 3 p.m. Saturday's contest is also Senior Day for the Owls, as Gulley, Eman Burns and Katie Winschel will be honored immediately following Saturday's contest for their contributions to the KSU program.
