Women's Volleyball | 11/2/2016 3:31:00 PM

The University of Mary will face two Top-10 teams in its final two home matches of the 2016 regular season. Mary will host No. 7 Augustana (S.D.) at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4 at the McDowell Activity Center and No. 8 Wayne State at 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5.
 
PARENTS NIGHT: The match against the Vikings (22-4, 13-3 NSIC) on Friday will be parents night for the Marauder student-athletes.
 
SENIOR NIGHT: The match against the Wildcats (19-6, 10-6 NSIC) on Saturday will be senior night for five Marauder student-athletes. Libero Alex Brown, setter Janell Finkbeiner, middle hitter Rachel Astrup, middle hitter Elizabeth Garcia and outside hitter Thayna Silva will play their last regular season match in a Blue & Orange uniform.
 
THE SERIES: The Vikings are 12-0 against the Marauders since 2008 and Mary has never won a set against AU in the Division II era. Mary is 1-14 against the Wildcats, dating back to 2006. The last time the Marauders beat WSU was in 2008.
 
SCOUTING THE VIKINGS: AU is on a four-match winning streak and is 7-2 in road matches this season. The Vikings rank fifth in the NSIC in hitting percentage (.252), sixth in opponent hitting percentage (.176), fifth in assists per set (13.34), fifth in kills per set (14.14), sixth in blocks per set (2.06), 11th in service aces per set (1.34) and second in digs per set (17.58). Four student-athletes for the Vikings are averaging 2.00 kills per set or higher. Bailey Koch leads the team with a .373 hitting percentage and is averaging 2.39 kills per set (227 total kills) this season. Courtney Place leads the team in kills per set with 3.34 and is hitting .234 this season. Anna Sykora is averaging 11.46 assists per set and 2.69 digs per set. Teammate Tahlyr Banks leads the team in digs per set with 5.21 and Koch leads the team in total blocks with 107, which is third best in the NSIC.
 
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS (before the Minot State match): WSU is currently on a three-match winning streak after just nudging by Bemidji State in five sets on Saturday, Oct. 30. The Wildcats rank eighth in the NSIC in hitting percentage, 10th in assists per set (11.36), 10th in kills per set (12.39), third in blocks per set (2.24), second in service aces per set (1.68) and fourth in digs per set (16.78). Alyssa Frauendorfer leads the Wildcats in almost every offensive statistic. She's averaging 3.03 kills per set and hitting .345 this season. Michaela Mestl is averaging 2.85 kills per set and hitting .173 this year. Two other Wildcat student-athletes are averaging just above 2.00 kills per set. Megan Gebhardt leads the team in assists, averaging 9.85 per set. Mestl and Haley Kauth are averaging 4.47 and 4.20 digs per set for the Wildcats, which are both good to be in Top-10 in the conference. While Frauendorfer is averaging a team-high 0.79 blocks per set.
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Marauders come back to the McDowell Activity Center after a two-match road trip where they lost to No. 6 Winona State and Upper Iowa in straight sets. Mary was outhit by the Warriors .453-.127 and didn't have anyone reach double-digits in kills or digs. Mary led 16-4 in the first set against UIU but couldn't hold off a Peacock comeback losing in three sets. UIU outhit the Marauders .292-.142 . Silva led the way with 11 kills and 15 digs.
 
BY THE NUMBERS: This season, Mary is averaging 12.9 kills per set, 12.2 assists per set and hitting .191 as a team compared to its opponents .241 hitting percentage. Mary ranks 11th in the NSIC in hitting percentage, seventh in assists, seventh in kills, 16th in blocks, 10th in digs and five in service aces.
 
IMPACT MARAUDERS: Junior outside hitter Lauren Randall leads the team with 377 kills and averages a league second best 4.54 kills per set. Senior setter Janell Finkbeiner has collected 825 assists this year and is averaging 9.17 per set. Alex Brown leads the team in digs with 299 and averages 3.74 per set. Senior teammate Rachel Astrup leads the team with 52 total blocks (0.63 per set). Elizabeth Garcia leads Mary with a team-high .295 hitting percentage and has collected 102 total kills this season, averaging 1.36 kills per set.
 
IN THE RECORD BOOKS: Last week against WSU, Finkbeiner became the new career assists leader for the Marauders in the Division II era. She has collected 2,380 assists in her career at Mary.
 
CHASING THE 1,000 MARK: Randall is also closing in on a tremendous accomplishment for an outside hitter. A Burnsville, Minn., native, Randall needs 114 more kills this season to reach 1,000 kills in her career.
 
NEXT UP: The Marauders will play its final two regular season matches on the road against No. 4 Southwest Minnesota State at 7 p.m. on Nov. 11 and against Sioux Falls at 4 p.m. on Nov. 12.
 
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