By: By Joseph Feldman
Friday, September 1
5:30 p.m. – Kennesaw State vs. UC Irvine
Saturday, September 2
11 a.m.
– Kennesaw State vs. Illinois State
8 p.m. – Kennesaw State at St. Louis
Location: St. Louis, Missouri | Chaifetz Arena
Links: Live Stats
Social Media: Twitter | Facebook
Game Preview
After getting off to a 2-0 start, Kennesaw State travels to St. Louis to take part in the Marcia E. Hamilton Classic. It will be a homecoming for senior setter
Kristi Piedimonte, who is originally from St. Louis.
The Owls kickoff the tournament on Friday against UC Irvine at 5:30 p.m. ET. The Anteaters are undefeated so far this season.
On Saturday, KSU begins the day with Illinois State at 11 a.m. before finishing the tournament facing the host school St. Louis.
Kennesaw State Team Notes
• Kennesaw State has started the season 2-0 after defeating Troy and Clemson. KSU has started off at least 2-0 in two of the past three seasons. The Owls have won six of the seven sets they have played so far this season.
• The win against Clemson was the first road victory against an ACC opponent. Since 2015, the Owls are 2-2 against schools in the ACC.
• Kennesaw State was picked to finish third in the ASUN preseason poll with a total of 53 points. Lipcsomb and FGCU were picked to finish first and second as the Bisons had 60 points and the Eagles had 55.
• The Owls had three players land on the ASUN Preseason Team led by
Katarina Morton who was named Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.
Anaiah Boyer and
Kristi Piedimonte were also name to the ASUN Preseason Team with Boyer being one of three players being unanimously voted on.
• Kennesaw State is coming off of one if its most successful seasons going 18-11 overall and 12-2 in ASUN play claiming its first ever regular season ASUN Championship.
• KSU returns 13 players from that championship squad a season ago including five starters plus the libero.
•The Owls welcomed three freshmen to the roster for this season in
Lauren Chastang,
Karlee Groover and
Quin Sutphin. The three were received honorable mention as a recruiting class by Prepvolleyball.com.
• Kennesaw State has served the ball really well so far this season having 11 service aces in the first two matches. Against Clemson,
Maddie Jones led the way with four in the match and against Troy, Morton finished the match with three aces.
• Two seniors are close to a couple of milestones. Boyer is 33 kills away from notching her 1,000th career kill and Morton is eight digs away from notching her 1,500
th career dig. She is sitting on 1,492 right now.
• Heading into his fifth season as head coach,
Keith Schunzel is two wins away from becoming the all-time winningest coach in Kennesaw State history.
Next Up
The Owls will head back home for three straight matches facing Georgia State on Labor Day September 4 at 2 p.m. Before the match, there will be a band and free pizza on the green.
The following weekend, KSU will host a pair of SEC schools with Tennessee coming to town on Sunday, September 10 followed by Georgia on Tuesday, September 12.
Stat Leaders (2017)
Kills: 27,
Anaiah Boyer
Assists: 66,
Kristi Piedimonte
Digs: 22,
Katarina Morton
Blocks: 6,
Liesl Engelbrecht
Aces: 4,
Maddie Jones
Attack Percentage: .350,
Rachel Taylor
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.
- #GoKSUOwls -
