NOTES | ESPN3 (STETSON) | LIVE STATS

TALKING POINTS
» The Kennesaw State volleyball team will once again be playing at home this weekend against Stetson on Friday, October 10 at 7 p.m. and Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday, October 11 at 5 p.m. for homecoming.
» This is a big weekend early in the conference schedule as FGCU is tied for first in the A-Sun at 3-0 and Stetson is tied with KSU at 2-1, one game behind FGCU and Lipscomb in first place.
» Last season when Stetson and FGCU came to Kennesaw, the Owls won both matches at a crucial point in their season. They beat the Hatters in five sets and then knocked off the Eagles in three.
» KSU has beaten Stetson five times in a row on their home court with three of those being sweeps and two of those matches going to five sets.
 
THE COMPETITION
Stetson                                            
Stetson (10-6) has welcomed a new coach this season as Kristina Hernandez has taken over the indoor volleyball team.
 
This past season she began coaching at Stetson as the sand volleyball coach. She guided the team to an 18-win season and the program's first A-Sun Championship.
 
Offensively, the Hatters are led by two underclassmen in sophomore Madison Akins with 195 kills and redshirt freshman McKenna Foster with 180 kills.
 
Florida Gulf Coast                          
FGCU (8-7) relies heavily on its upper classmen with their senior setter Gigi Meyer to go along with the other three seniors Olivia Mesner, Whitney Masters and Jessica Barnes.
 
The Eagles head coach Matt Botsford is in the middle of his first season as the head coach. He most recently was the assistant coach at Colorado State.
 
» NEWS AND NOTES
Last Time Out                              
» The Owls split in their first two home matches of A-Sun play against Northern Kentucky and Lipscomb. On Friday night, the team beat NKU in four sets. Saturday, Lipscomb swept Kennesaw State in three sets with the third going to overtime.
 
Promotions                                  
» Friday night against Stetson is Family Fun Night and Staff Appreciation Night. A free mug will be given out to the first 50 staff members that arrive at the Convocation Center with a KSU ID.
 
Coach Schunzel After the Win Against NKU
"The fight of this group continues to amaze me. We've been really injury prone these last couple of weeks, so it's been a real up and down week and a half of training. We talked about no matter what's happened, we're 1-0 and tonight's a chance to go to 2-0 in conference, and we finally had a chance to close a team out in the fourth set and we did it. A lot of our players stepped up tonight and it was great."
 
KSU as a Team                              
» Against NKU, the Owls were a little undermanned, but the team stepped up. Three players had more than 11 digs with Toure Hopkins and Fanise Cannon both having season highs with 14 and 15 respectively.
» The team assisted on all 59 of its kills to set two new game highs in a four set match against NKU, which is two more kills than they had against Tennessee.
» Early in the conference season, the Owls are third in the A-Sun in aces per set averaging 1.58. Freshmen Kristi Piedimonte and Katarina Morton lead the team with 21 each.
 
KSU Individually                         
» Kelly Marcinek had her second double-double of the season against Northern Kentucky with 16 kills and 11 digs. Her first double-double came in the first match of the season against Belmont. Piedimonte leads the team in double-doubles with four.
» Cierra Royster made her return to the court against NKU and stepped up big for the Owls. She finished the match with 14 kills and no errors hitting .700. In the two matches, she finished with 20 kills hitting .486, which leads the A-Sun.
» Morton is third in the conference in digs per set averaging 4.25 through 15 matches this season. In conference play, she is in second averaging 5.50 after having 30 against USC Upstate and 14 against Lipscomb.
» Marcinek is fourth overall in kills in the A-Sun with 212 averaging 3.31 per set. In conference play, she is sixth in the conference with 47 kills averaging .392 per set while hitting .283.
» In non-conference play, Piedimonte averaged 8.52 assists per set. Through three conference matches, she is averaging 10.75 after her season high of 57 against USC Upstate followed up by another strong match against NKU with 48.

To keep up with the latest Kennesaw State volleyball news follow the team on Twitter @KSUOwlNation and @KSUOwlsVB or by liking Kennesaw State University on Facebook.
 
Fans are reminded that tickets to all 2014 home volleyball contests are free throughout the year.