Tuesday, Oct. 29
11 a.m. – Kennesaw State (15-7, 8-2) vs NJIT (1-24, 0-9)
Location:Â Kennesaw, Ga. | Convocation Center
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KSU
Quick Hits
» The Kennesaw State volleyball team returns home Tuesday morning to open its final homestand of the season, squaring off with NJIT at 11 a.m. The morning match marks Education Day for the Owls as KSU welcomes students from local middle and elementary schools to the Convocation Center.
» The Owls look to respond Tuesday after dropping a tough match to North Florida on the road this past Sunday. Despite the loss, KSU had some tremendous performances from
Dani Ballou and
Emma Schurfranz. Ballou logged a career-high .536 hitting percentage with a team-high 18 kills while Schurfranz recorded a career-high 15 kills, hitting .500 for the match, her second straight match hitting over .500.
» Lauren Chastang put in another solid all-around performance at UNF, registering her 12th double-double of the year with 12 kills and 16 digs. Chastang is one of two players in the ASUN to log over 300 kills and 200 digs on the year, ranked second in the conference for total kills (320) and 11th for total digs (227).
» The Owls are coming off back-to-back matches hitting over .300, marking the fourth and fifth times this season KSU has finished a match above .300. KSU hit a blazing .446 at North Alabama, the sixth-highest hitting percentage in single-match history. The Owls committed only nine errors in the match as five Owls hit over .400.
Quin Sutphin led the team with a career-high .727 hitting percentage, recording 17 kills on 22 swings with only one error. Sutphin has hit over .400 in nine matches this season, leading KSU and ranked fourth in the ASUN with a .350 hitting percentage. Â
» Lexi Broadwater took sole control of the top spot in the ASUN after a tremendous performance this weekend. Broadwater totaled 100 assists across the Owls' two matches to average an unprecedented 14.29 assists per set. The senior leads the league and ranks fourth in the NCAA averaging 11.6 assists per set, one of only six players in the country to average over 11.5 assists per set.Â
» As a team, the Owls are one of the top killing teams in the country, averaging 13.98 kills per set to lead the ASUN and rank 22nd in the country. If maintained, that average would set a new single-season record.
Ace in the Hole
The Owls recorded their sixth match of the year with double-digit aces in their recent match at North Alabama with 12 against the Lions. KSU is currently averaging 1.99 aces per set to lead the ASUN and rank fifth in the nation.
KSU's 167 total aces already ranks second on the single-season record list, just eight aces shy of tying the current record set last season.
The Owls have set and tied the single-match record with 14 against Furman and North Alabama. The Owls' 14 against UNA also marked the most aces all-time in a four-set match.
Lauren Chastang has been a huge factor in KSU's success at the service line, recording three or more aces in eight matches this year. After tying her career-high with six against UNA, she set a new single-season record with 49 aces so far this year. She leads the ASUN and ranks seventh in the NCAA for aces per set (0.58) and fourth for total aces.
Including Chastang, six Owls have logged at least 10 aces on the year,
Karlee Groover,
Bri Becerra,
Lexi Broadwater,
Shelby Dennis and
Jessie Cohen.
Bri Becerra set the KSU record for aces in a three-set match with six at UNA. That performance vaulted her to ninth in the ASUN with 25 aces.
Karlee Groover (6th) also ranks among the league's top-10 for total aces with 27 on the year. Groover's 0.32 aces per set average comes in at eighth in the ASUN.Â
Set Up For SuccessÂ
Lexi Broadwater set a new standard for setters in 2018, and this year she is on track to raise that bar even more.
After a stellar weekend in which she averaged over 14 assists per set, Broadwater jumped into first in the ASUN with an 11.6 assists per set average. That mark is good enough for fourth in the NCAA.
With 59 assists at UNF, Broadwater has now recorded over 50 assists in seven matches this year, 40 or more in 14.
She is one of only six players in the country to average over 11.5 assists per set. If she maintains her current assists per set average, it would break the single-season record she set last season.
Broadwater needs just 25 more assists to break 1,000 assists on the year. It would mark just the sixth time in program history an Owl has recorded over 1,000 assists in a season. Only Sara Metroka (2011, 2012, 2013) has recorded over 1,000 assists in multiple seasons.
Setting a career-high 63 assists against Furman, the senior tied the second-most assists ever in a single-match. In program history, an Owl has recorded over 60 assists in a match seven times, two of which have been Broadwater.
With 2,416 assists in her career, Broadwater is one of three players in program history to record over 2,000 career assists. Currently averaging 10.64 assists per set for her career, if maintained, she would set a new program career record.
QUINtessentially dominant
Quin Sutphin opened the weekend with a massive performance, recording a career-high .727 hitting percentage for 17 kills at UNA. The match pushed her team-leading hitting percentage to .350 on the year, good enough for fourth in the ASUN.
Sutphin has hit over .400 in nine matches this season, .500 or better in six. If she maintains her current hitting percentage, she would set a new single-season record.
The Fort Mill, S.C., native is currently second on the team, 11th in the ASUN, with 227 total kills. She is the only player in the league to average over three kills per set while hitting over .300 and just one of two players to total at least 200 kills and maintain a .300 hitting percentage.Â
We Can Dig It
The Owls are one of three teams in the ASUN to log over 1,200 digs this season, currently ranked third in the league with a 14.76 digs per set average.
Five Owls have hit the century mark for digs with
Karlee Groover recording her 300th dig in KSU's recent match at FGCU. Groover has logged double-digit digs in all but two matches this year and is currently ranked fourth in the conference for both total digs (383) and digs per set (4.56).
The Newnan, Ga., native has totaled 20 or more digs in seven matches this year, tying her career-high with 32 against Liberty. With 1,055 digs in her career, Groover became the fourth Owl in program history to record over 1,000 career digs.
The Film Room
The Highlanders head to Kennesaw in search of their first conference win of the season. NJIT is 1-24 on the year with its sole win coming on Sept. 7, downing Fairleigh Dickinson in five sets.
Defensively, libero Olivia Welsch leads the team with 274 digs this season, good enough for ninth in the conference.
Freshman Courtney Branch has been a big presence at the net for the Highlanders with 66 total blocks to rank tied for 11th in the ASUN.
Looking Ahead
The Owls continue their three-match homestand Saturday night, hosting Lipscomb for Senior Day and the annual Alumni Match at 7 p.m.