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Purdue Fort Wayne
Michigan State
Spartan Invitational Up Next for Women's Volleyball
9/6/2012 1:04:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Tournament Schedule - Friday, September 7
Albany vs. Georgia - 4:30 PM
IPFW at Michigan State - 7 PM
Tournament Schedule - Saturday, September 8
Georgia vs. IPFW - 10 AM
Albany at Michigan State - 12 PM
IPFW vs. Albany - 5:30 PM
Georgia at Michigan State - 7:30 PM
FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- The IPFW women's volleyball team will face three talented programs in the 2012 Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational this weekend. The Mastodons have only played Michigan State and Albany once in school history and Saturday morning's matchup with Georgia will be the first match ever played between the two schools.
ABOUT IPFW
The Mastodons are on a six-game winning streak after defeating Wright State on Tuesday night. They have not lost a set since Aug. 28 when they defeated Ball State 3-1. The 'Dons are leading the Summit League in assists per set (14.12), hitting percentage (.261) and kills per set (15.48).
IPFW is off to their best start in seven years with an overall record of 7-1. The team will open up the Summit League schedule on September 14, making this the last tournament of the season.
SCOUTING THE SPARTANS
The Michigan State Spartans are undefeated with a perfect 6-0 record and they have recently received votes to appear on the AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll. The Spartans have only lost one set all season as they recently swept the competition at the University of Connecticut Classic.
MSU defeated McNeese State and Eastern Kentucky 3-0 at the Spartan Showcase on opening weekend. Youngstown State was able to steal one set from Michigan State, but the Spartans remained perfect claiming a 3-1 win. Last weekend's competition included UConn, Fairfield, and Dartmouth.
Lauren Wicinski posts an attack percentage of .326 as she leads the team in kills with 89. Wicinski is also the team leader in service aces with 21 and points with 118.5. Kristen Kelsay paces the MSU offense with a team-high 163 assists. Also making an impact on the Michigan State season is Kori Moster who is the team leader in digs with 92. Moster was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week after averaging 5.8 digs per set at the UConn Classic.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Georgia enters the weekend with an overall record of 5-1. The Bulldogs hosted the Benson's Hospitality Bulldog Invitational on opening weekend and came out with a 3-0 record after defeating Georgia Southern (3-1), Troy (3-0) and Georgia State (3-0). The team most recently went 2-1 at the Florida State Tournament defeating both Florida International and Florida A&M 3-0, but they suffered their first setback of the season (1-3) against No. 6 Florida State.
Tirah Le'au is the top offensive threat for Georgia leading the team in kills with 52 and in points with 68. The Bulldogs are also sound defensively with two players recording 20 blocks or more. Junior Elena Perri leads the team and the SEC with 29 blocks, she owns nearly half of the team's total blocks for the season. The team's dig leader, Chloe Buckendahl, is averaging 3.12 digs per set.
SCOUTING THE DANES
The Danes are just 2-4 overall, but they have challenged themselves early in the year by facing three ranked opponents. Albany participated in the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational and lost to No. 9 Hawaii (3-0) and No. 8 Stanford (0-3) in back-to-back days, ending the tournament with a 1-3 loss to St. Mary's. The third ranked opponent on Albany's schedule was No. 14 Minnesota, who hosted the Diet Coke Classic last weekend. The Danes fell 0-3 to the Golden Gophers, but managed to get their first two wins of the year defeating Miami (OH) and Long Island.
Sara Pope and Dunja Prgomet lead the team in kills with 52 and 51 respectively. Each player has recorded 59 points. Setting up Pope and Prgomet is the team's assist leader, Sofia Furlong. Furlong has 167 assists giving her an average of 7.26 per set. Defensively, Albany relies on Tatum Jungsten to contest attacks as she leads the team with 20 blocks. Viktoriia Stroilo and Traci Vandegrift are the team leaders in the dig cateorgy while Vandegrift also leads the way with seven service aces.
ALL-TIME SERIES
IPFW and Michigan State have only faced each other one time with the Spartans holding a 1-0 lead in the all-time series. These two programs met during the 2006 season and Michigan State was able to record the 3-1 win (30-28, 23-30, 20-30, 13-30).
Saturday's matchup between IPFW and Georiga will be the first ever meeting between the two programs.
The Mastodons hold a 1-0 advantage over Albany in the all-time series. IPFW defeated the Danes 3-1 (26-30, 30-27, 30-26, 31-29) during the 2004 season.
CAN YOU DIG IT?
Tessa McGill is leading the team and the Summit League in digs per set (6.92). She recorded a season-high 28 digs in the season opener against Murray State which stands as a school record for most digs in a three set match. She has led the team in digs in every match this season and has also moved to seventh all-time in Summit League history with 1,742 career digs.
SUMMIT LEAGUE LEADER
Senior Megan Steenhuysen leads the Summit League in assists per set by averaging 12.24. She has led the team in the assist category in every match and recorded a season-high 52 assists in the 3-1 win over Ball State.
SUPER SOPHOMORE
Emily Spencer picked up where she left off a year ago as one of the top offensive weapons on the IPFW roster. Spencer is leading the team and the Summit League in kills per set (4.88) and in points per set (5.7). She recorded a season-high 21 kills against Ball State on Aug. 28 while also reaching 20 kills at UIC. Spencer is also leading the team with three double-doubles on the year. She recorded 11 kills and 10 digs vs. Cleveland State, 18 kills and 10 digs vs. Kent State and 20 kills and 12 digs at UIC.
QUICK HITTERS
• The Masotdons have not started a season this well since 2005 when the team opened up with an eight-game winning streak which turned into an overall record of 24-6.
• Emily Spencer has recorded a team-high three double-doubles on the year.
• IPFW has never played the Georgia Bulldogs in women's volleyball.
• Michigan State received votes to appear on the AVCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll this week.
• Megan Steenhuysen is leading the Summit League in assists per set with an average of 12.24
• IPFW is undefeated in the month of September.
• The Mastodons have only lost four sets all year.
• The freshman duo of Katie Higginbotham and Sarah Heckman recorded 11 kills against Wright State.
• IPFW won the 2012 UIC Invitational with 3-0 victories over Eastern Michigan, UIC and UT Arlington.
• Hailie Ripley and Haley Emenhiser were named to the All-Tournament Team for their high level of play in the UIC Invite.
• Tessa McGill set a school record for most digs in a three set match with 28 against the Murray State Racers.
• The Summit League schedule will begin in one week as the 'Dons travel to Oakland to face the Golden Grizzlies on Sept. 14.
• IPFW was picked to finish second in the 2012 Summit League preseason poll. They received three first-place votes.
~ Feel the Rumble ~
