Purdue Fort Wayne
Oakland
IPFW to Face Oakland in Summit League Semifinal
11/15/2012 11:03:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Volleyball Championship Page I Match Notes I Live Stats I Video
FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- The IPFW women's volleyball team will face the Oakland Golden Grizzlies in the Summit League Volleyball Championship Semifinals. The Mastodons enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed while Oakland secured the No. 3 seed. The match is scheduled for 6 p.m. EST.
IPFW and Oakland will kick off championship weekend on Friday, Nov. 16. North Dakota State will host the Summit League Women's Volleyball Championship at the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse. The winner of the IPFW vs. Oakland match will face the winner of the match between No. 1 seed IUPUI and No. 4 seed Kansas City. The championship match will be played on Saturday, Nov. 17 at 8 p.m. The winner will earn an automatic berth into the 64-team NCAA tournament.
Advance tickets are available at GoBison.com/tickets and the Bison Sports Arena ticket office. Prices each day are $10 for reserved seats, $8 for adult general admission, and $5 for youth general admission (ages 3-17).
Doors open one hour prior to the match and parking is available in the CF lot adjacent to the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse. For additional coverage of the Summit League Women's Volleyball Championship presented by Doublewood Inn, visit the official championship website, or follow the championship twitter feed @summitchamps.
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN GRIZZLIES
Oakland finished the regular season in a tie for third place and earned the No. 3 seed in The Summit League Championship Tournament. This marks the second consecutive season that the Golden Grizzlies have clinched a berth in The Summit League Championship after making their first trip last season. This is also the highest seed OU has earned in the postseason tournament in school history.
Meghan Bray is one of the top players in the Summit League as she enters the weekend with 438 kills, 356 digs and 16 service aces. The duo of Taylor Humm and Brittany Holbrook has also played well for the Golden Grizzlies this season. Humm has 295 kills on the year and Holbrook leads the team in blocks with 104.
SCOUTING THE JAGUARS
IUPUI captured its first outright Summit League regular season title and the No. 1 seed in tournament by defeating IPFW 3-2 in the regular season finale. The Jaguars make their first appearance in the league tournament since 2009 with a league record of 13-3.
Three Jaguars have recorded over 300 kills on the season as Moriah Fair leads the team with 369. Setting up the offensive attack is the duo of Ellyn Jones and Alexis Meeks. Jones has 625 assists on the year and Meeks leads the team with 639. Defensively, Beth Howard leads the team in digs with 558 and Bethany Fogler leads IUPUI in blocks with 140.
SCOUTING THE KANGAROOS
This will be the ninth trip to the Summit League tournament for the Kangaroos and their first since 2009 when they lost 3-0 at North Dakota State. Prior to 2009, the 'Roos last made the tournament in 2003, the last of five consecutive trips and the seventh trip in eight seasons. Overall Kansas City holds a 1-9 record in the tournament, picking up its lone win in 1997 with a 3-2 win at Buffalo.
This season, the 'Roos have amassed 17 wins which ranks as the second most all-time, trailing only the 20 wins by the 1999 squad. Emily Lucas was a large part of the team's success in 2012 as she enters the tournament with a team-high 395 kills. Emma Hagedorn, Jessica Hendin and Skyler Muff also contribute to the Roo offensive attack as each player has recorded over 220 kills. Nicole Wemhoff and Ella Meier set up the Kansas City hitters as Wemhoff leads the team in assists with 717. The team's dig leader is Taryn Miller. Miller has 525 digs on the year to go along with a team-high 34 service aces.
ALL-TIME SERIES
IPFW has faced Oakland more than any other opponent, as the 'Dons hold the edge in the all-time series 29-20. Oakland swept IPFW in 2012, which allowed them to secure the third seed in the tournament. These two teams first met during the 1981 season as Oakland grabbed a 2-1 victory over IPFW. The 'Dons dominated the series from 1994-2010 winning all 18 matches during that stretch of time.
If IPFW can get past Oakland on Friday night they will face the winner of the IUPUI vs. Kansas City match. IPFW holds a 23-13 edge in the all-time series over IUPUI and a 9-3 advantage over Kansas City. The Mastodons split the season series with IUPUI, but swept the Kangaroos.
MCGILL SETS IPFW HISTORY
Tessa McGill has put together a fantastic senior season, breaking multiple school dig records. McGill is now IPFW's career dig leader as her total of 2,257 passed Peachy Jankowski's old record of 2,253. McGill's career digs per set average of 4.76 is also the highest in IPFW history heading into the Summit League Tournament. The defensive specialist is now second all-time at IPFW for most digs in a single season with 688. Her 2012 digs per set average of 6.20 is also a school record.
RIPLEY SHINES IN REGULAR SEASON FINALE
Redshirt freshman Hailie Ripley set career-high totals in multiple categories against IUPUI in the regular season finale. Ripley recorded 16 kills and eight blocks, ending the night with 20 points. She was very active in the IPFW offense as her 34 attempts also represented a career-high.
SPENCER EARNS OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Emily Spencer captured her second Summit League Offensive Player of the Week award of the season after recording two double-digit kill performances and a .300 hitting percentage or better in both matches to end the regular season.
The sophomore outside hitter tallied 16 kills and only two errors in 28 attempts for a .500 clip in a sweep of WIU. She came back the next match and posted 26 kills and 14 digs for her 18th double-double of the season in the five-set loss to IUPUI.
For the week, Spencer collected 42 kills, averaging 5.25 per set, a .366 hitting percentage, 22 digs (2.75 per set), seven blocks (0.88 per set), two service aces, one assist and 48.5 points (6.1 per set). Spencer leads the team in kills (468), kills per set (4.25), total attacks (1,352), points (542.0), points per set (4.93) and service aces (30).
~ Feel the Rumble ~
