Women's Volleyball | 11/7/2016 3:11:00 PM

Friday, November 11, 7 p.m. vs. #4 Southwest Minnesota State
Saturday, November 12, 4 p.m. vs. Sioux Falls
 
The University of Mary (9-18, 4-14 NSIC) closes out the regular season on the road with Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference matches against No. 4 Southwest Minnesota State (22-4, 16-2 NSIC) at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11 and against Sioux Falls (17-9, 11-7 NSIC) at 4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12 … The Marauders have lost 13 of its last 15 matches … Mary is 2-9 on the road, while SMSU is 7-1 at home and USF stands at 9-3.
 
THE SERIES: Mary is 0-17 against the Mustangs dating back to 2006 … The Marauders fell to SMSU earlier this season 3-1 (25-23, 11-25, 11-25 and 17-25) … Mary is 1-5 against the Cougars dating back to 2012 and lost in four sets (25-21, 23-25- 25-27 and 19-25) on Sept. 24.
 
SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS: SMSU currently shares first place in the NSIC and is on a two-match winning streak. Taylor Reiss leads the team and NSIC with 4.91 kills per set and has a hitting percent of .307 on the year. Eisha Oden leads the Mustangs with a .407 hitting percentage that ranks third in the NSIC. This season, she is averaging 3.10 kills per set and has collected 279 total kills on the year. SMSU has four student-athletes that are averaging at least 2.50 kills per set this year. Megan Larson leads the team and NSIC in assists per set with 12.81. Defensively, five SMSU student-athletes have recorded at least 175 digs this season. Amber Messnes leads the team and is sixth in the NSIC in digs. She averages 4.44 digs per set as Kaylee Burmeister is second on the team in digs per with 3.05 per set, while teammate Reiss is averaging 2.81 per set and teammates Larson and Erin Corrigan are averaging 2.24 and 2.11 digs per set. SMSU is second in the NSIC in hitting percentage, fourth in opponent hitting percentage, first in assists, fourth in opponent assists, first in kills, fourth in opponent kills, fourth in blocks, second in opponent blocks, eighth in service aces, sixth in digs and fifth in opponent digs.
 
SCOUTING THE COUGARS: USF comes into the match after beating No. 14 Northern State in four sets. The Cougars have won five of its last six matches and is in seventh place in the conference. MaKenna Rockeman leads the team in kills with 375 this season and averages 3.91 per set. Lexi Scott has a team-high .348 hitting percentage and averages 2.86 kills per set. Sydney Schaap is averaging 10.17 assists per set and Kelli Holloway leads the team in service aces with 34. On the other side of the net, Abby Folk is averaging 3.68 digs per set and Jordan Calef has recorded 113 total blocks (1.19 per set) this season, which ranks first in the NSIC. The Cougars are eighth in the NSIC in hitting percentage, eighth in assists, seventh in kills, second in blocks, six in service aces and 15th in digs.
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Marauders had its last two regular season home matches last week but couldn't come away with a win. On Friday, Nov. 4, the Marauders surrendered a 3-0 loss to Augustana and a 3-1 loss to Wayne State College Saturday, Nov. 5. Mary finished with a .211 team hitting percentage against WSC, collected 53 kills, five service aces, five total blocks, 53 assists and 58 digs. The set that the Marauders won against WSC was the first set won by the Blue & Orange in the last five matches. The Marauders finished with a .163 hitting percentage against AU, posted 34 kills, 14 service aces, three total blocks, 32 assists and 44 digs.
 
BY THE NUMBERS: This season, Mary is averaging 12.89 kills per set, 12.27 assists per set and hitting .191 as a team compared to its opponents .245 hitting percentage. Mary ranks 11th in the NSIC in hitting percentage, seventh in assists, eighth in kills, 16th in blocks, second in service aces, and 10th in digs.

IMPACT MARAUDERS: Junior outside hitter Lauren Randall leads the team with 407 kills and averages a league second best 4.52 kills per set. Senior setter Janell Finkbeiner has collected 901 assists this year and is averaging 9.29 per set. Alex Brown leads the team in digs with 312 and averages 3.59 per set while teammate Thayna Silva is averaging 2.72 digs per set and 3.16 kills per set. Senior teammate Rachel Astrup leads the team with 57 total blocks (0.63 per set). And Elizabeth Garcia leads Mary with a team-high .306 hitting percentage and has collected 107 total kills this season, averaging 1.39 per set.
 
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