Volleyball Continues Road Trip At VT, UVA
Sept. 19, 2007
CORAL GABLES, Fla.- UM Volleyball hits the road again this week with a trip to Virginia to take on Virginia Tech, Thursday, Sept. 20 in Blacksburg before making the short trip to Charlottesville to take on Virginia, Friday, Sept. 21.
Miami (6-4, 0-1 ACC) is looking to bounce back after dropping its ACC opener at Florida State this past weekend, 3-0. Prior to the match against the Seminoles, UM had rattled off four straight sweeps including all three matches at the Hurricane Invitational in Coral Gables, Sept. 7-8.
“We’re looking forward to going to Virginia to play Virginia Tech and UVA,” head coach Nicole Lantagne Welch said. “We know that we are going to have pass very well to be effective offensively and that is what we have been focusing on this week in practice.”
The `Canes strength thus far has been the team’s ability to out-serve its opponents. Through 10 matches, Miami holds a 101-to-70 advantage behind the line, with UM out-serving its opponents in seven of 10 matches. As a team, the Hurricanes rank second in the ACC in aces per game (2.78) and total aces (101). Individually, Katie Gallagher (0.87 apg) and Cassie Loessberg (0.76 apg) rank first and second in the league and second and eighth in country respectively in service aces per game. Nationally, Gallagher trails Alabama State’s Aleesha Woodruff by only 0.01 aces per game for the Division I lead through Sept. 16.
Genny Mayhew and Bridget Bomhack continue to be the top two contributors offensively for UM with the duo combining for over 200 kills through the season’s first 10 matches. Bomhack, whose 105 kills ranks second to Mayhew’s 114, has proven to be the Miami’s most versatile player as the Hurricanes enter the ACC season. In addition to ranking second in kills, Bomhack ranks second on the team in assists (65) and digs (219), sits in a tie for second with 21 total blocks and ranks third in service aces (12). Ashley Woods has 71 kills and leads the team with a .278 hitting percentage while Ciara Michel needs just three kills to reach 100 on the season.
“We’re going to need to get more offensive balance from all areas of the net to have a lot of success this week,” Lantagne Welch said.
Defensively for the `Canes, Loessberg continues to prove she is one of the top liberos in the ACC. She currently leads the league in total digs (213) while ranking second to Clemson’s Didem Ege with a 5.61 digs per game average. At the net, Michel is averaging 1.29 blocks per game (49 total blocks) while Woods, Bomhack and Ariell Cooke are in a three-way tie for second on the team with 21 total blocks apiece.
Freshman Maria Andersson reached both the 50-kill mark and the 50-dig mark this past weekend with seven kills and seven digs in Tallahassee. She currently has 50 kills, 52 digs, seven total blocks and seven aces in 21 games played. She currently ranks fourth on the team in both kills per game (2.38) and digs per game (2.48).
About Virginia Tech
The Hokies (6-5, 0-1 ACC), after starting off the season 4-0, have dropped five of their last seven matches including a 3-0 loss at Virginia last Friday in both team’s ACC opener. Taylor Parrish (122 kills), Jen Albrecht (107 kills) and Felicia Willoughby (93 kills) account for over half of the team’s offense while Kristen Cunningham ranks as the team’s most efficient hitter with a .295 attack percentage. Michelle Lang directs the offense with 455 assists (11.67 apg) thus far while she also leads the team with 12 service aces. Four players have recorded at least 100 digs for VT, with Amanda Cloyd’s 207 leading the team. Willoughby leads the defense with 53 total blocks while Cunningham and Lang each have 45.
About Virginia
The Cavaliers (6-4, 1-0 ACC) started the season 2-2 and have gone 4-2 in their last six matches including back-to-back wins against UC Santa Barbara and Virginia Tech heading into this week’s action. Sarah Kirkwood has recorded 169 of UVA’s 528 kills thus far while hitting .267. Katie Oakes (91) and Lauren Dickson (88) rank second and third on the team in kills while Kendahl Voekler leads all Cavaliers with a .281 hitting percentage. Marlow Bruneau and Kelly Irvin split the setting duties with 289 and 150 assists respectively while Kirkwood leads all players with 22 aces. Defensively, Melissa Caldwell leads the team with 124 digs, Kirkwood has 111 digs and Oakes leads all players at the net with 44 total blocks.
The Hurricanes lead the all-time series versus Virginia Tech, 6-3, while they trail the Cavaliers in six matches all-time, 2-4. The Cavaliers beat the Hokies, 3-0, this past weekend in Charlottesville.
Fans can follow both matches via GameTracker at www.hurricanesports.com. To access GameTracker, visit the team’s schedule on the Miami volleyball page. The matches can also be seen live on ACC Select at www.ACCSelect.com. Both matches are scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
