By: By Joseph Feldman
Friday, November 17
6:00 p.m. (ET) – Kennesaw State vs. Lipscomb/North Florida
Location: Nashville, Tennessee | Allen Arena
Links: ESPN3 |
Live Stats |
Tournament Bracket
Social Media: Twitter | Facebook
Game Preview
Kennesaw State begins the ASUN Tournament on Friday, November 16 at 6 p.m. ET at Lipscomb in Nashville, Tennessee.
The tournament begins Thursday, but since KSU is the one seed they have a first round bye and will wait to find out who their opponent will be after the winner of Lipscomb and North Florida on Thursday.
Kennesaw State Team Notes
• The Owls finished the regular season 19-4 overall and 13-1 in the ASUN to claim their second ASUN Regular Season Championship in a row and first outright championship in program history.
• On Wednesday night, Kennesaw State attended the ASUN awards banquet and picked up some awards for their great year.
• Senior setter
Kristi Piedimonte was the busiest of the bunch as she was named ASUN Setter of the Year, ASUN Scholar Athlete of the Year and named ASUN First Team All-Conference for the second straight season. Piedimonte holds a 4.0 GPA as a nursing major and is set to graduate a semester early this December. She finished the regular season with 783 assists averaging 10.44 assists per set and led the team in service aces with 21.
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Anaiah Boyer was unanimously voted ASUN First Team All-Conference for the third consecutive year. Boyer led the team with 234 kills averaging 3.25 kills per set. She was third on the team in digs and fourth on the team in blocks playing all six rotations and rarely coming off the court.
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Liesl Engelbrecht was the third member of Kennesaw State named ASUN First Team All-Conference. Engelbrecht had a big year leading the team in blocks with 75 and was third on the team in kills with 174. She is second in the league hitting .341 on the year. The junior middle blocker has been named ASUN Player of the Week and ASUN Defensive Player of the Week this season. Last year, she was named ASUN Second Team All-Conference.
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Sydni Shelton was voted ASUN Second Team All-Conference for the second time in her career. She finished second on the team in kills with 190, blocks with 57 and in hitting percentage at .242. Shelton was moved to right side this season and came up big for the Owls in several huge matches through the regular season. Against Lipscomb and FGCU in the second half of ASUN play, Shelton had a combined 24 kills and 16 blocks in those two matches.
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Lauren Chastang came on strong at the end of the season to be voted onto the ASUN All-Freshmen team. She battled back after suffering an ankle injury in the preseason to finish the regular season with 84 kills. Chastang had one of her best matches in one of the biggest matches of the season against Jacksonville. She finished with 10 kills and only one error hitting .360.
• With all of the success on the court, the student-athletes weren't the only ones to receive post-season awards. Head Coach
Keith Schunzel was named ASUN Coach of the Year for the second time in three seasons. This season the Owls are 19-4 matching the most wins in program history and the team went 13-1 to win their second ASUN Regular Season Championship in a row.
• The Owls have been dominant this season. Not only have they matched a season high for wins with 19, but out of those wins, 13 have been sweeps.
• Kennesaw State came in at 54 in the RPI this week after defeating Stetson and FGCU. That's the highest ranking in the RPI that Kennesaw State has ever had. They are the highest ranked team in the state of Georgia.
• Last weekend, Kennesaw State capped off its regular season with wins over Stetson and FGCU. It was the first victory for the Owls in Fort Myers since the 2010 season.
• Heading into the ASUN tournament, this is the second season in a row that the Owls have a first-round bye.
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Rachel Taylor has won ASUN Defensive Player of the Week two times this year and has been flying up the Kennesaw State record books. She is nine blocks away from setting the total blocks record in Kennesaw State history.
Next Up
The ASUN Championship match will be played at Lipscomb in Allen Arena at 6 p.m. (ET).
Stat Leaders (2017)
Kills: 234,
Anaiah Boyer
Assists: 783,
Kristi Piedimonte
Digs: 343,
Katarina Morton
Blocks: 75,
Liesl Engelbrecht
Aces: 21,
Kristi Piedimonte
Attack Percentage: .341,
Liesl Engelbrecht
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
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