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TALKING POINTS
» The Owls will start Atlantic Sun Conference play this Saturday, September 27 at 3 p.m. KSU finished in sixth place last year with an 8-10 conference record in head coach Keith Schunzel's first season.
» Freshman Libero Katarina Morton was named to the Seawolves Invite All-Tournament Team. She matched her career-high in digs with 24 against St. Francis (NY) and totaled 52 for the weekend.
» In the midweek matchup against Georgia Tech, Anaiah Boyer continued her strong play. She finished the match with 11 kills hitting .524. The 11 kills gives her 94 on the season, which is second most on the team.
» The best record the Owls have ever had in the A-Sun is 9-1 in 2010. They lost in the semi-finals to East Tennessee State that season.
 
THE COMPETITION
USC UPSTATE                                  
USC Upstate (9-6) was 5-23 overall and 4-14 in the A-Sun in 2013.
 
Upstate has three players with over 135 kills. Kayla McAvoy leads the team with 148 kills, Kayla Eversgerd, the reigning A-Sun Player of the Week, has 147 kills and Shannon Weiss has 135. The setter is Lexi Gober.
 
Defensively the Spartans have five players with over 100 digs.
 
The Spartans are coached by Jennifer Calloway, who is in her 18th season as head coach.
 
Last Season                                       
Kennesaw State split with Upstate in 2013. The Owls won their match in three sets at home and lost in three sets at Upstate.
 
» NEWS AND NOTES
Last Time Out                    
» The Owls went 1-2 at the Seawolves Invite Presented by Islandia Marriot Long Island. The team lost both of its matches on Friday to Western Michigan and host Stony Brook before beating St. Franics (NY) in four sets.
 
KSU also played in a midweek match against Georgia Tech. The Jackets beat the Owls in three sets.
 
Coach Schunzel on Sight Seeing in NYC
»   "The vast majority of our team had not been to NYC, many had not even been on public transportation before, and it is without question an eye opening experience. We shuttled around the city on public transportation all day on Thursday, hopping between buses and subway cars and even getting to stop for lunch at street vendors outside of the 9/11 memorial. Going to the 9/11 memorial and experiencing the somber-ness of the huge reflecting pools where the twin towers once stood, and seeing all those thousands of names on the memorial was something our young ladies will hopefully never forget. That stop really put things into perspective. From there, we took the subway into the heart of the city and walked in and around Times Square. The amount of people from every walk of life, the enormity of the buildings, signs and advertisements everywhere, and seeing the new year's ball were all really neat and different experiences for our team that seeing on TV can't possibly replicate."
 
KSU as a Team                    
» Against Western Michigan, the Owls collected six more kills and five more assists than the Broncos. They had more kills in two of the four sets and tied Western Michigan in the second set with 10 kills.
» In the first 13 matches this season, the Owls have won the first set in eight of them. The team's record in those eight matches is 5-3.
 
KSU Individually               
» Kelly Marcinek continued her strong play over the weekend collecting double-digit kills in all three matches. That gives her double-digit kills in 10 of the 13 matches the team has played in so far.
» Rachel Taylor set a career high in kills with 10 against St. Francis (NY). She hit .450 and had two blocks in the match as well.
» Setter Kristi Piedimonte finished the match against Western Michigan with 44 assists. That is the most assists in a four match this season. To round out her stat line, she finished with nine digs and five kills.
» Piedimonte and Morton lead the team in service aces with 19 each. Against St. Francis (NY), the match was tight in the fourth set until Piedimonte stepped up to serve and delivered three aces to give the Owls some breathing room and allowed them to close the match out.
 
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.
  
 

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