Volleyball To Battle Bentley In Northeast-10 Quarterfinal
Ravens and Falcons meet Friday night at 7:30
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The Ravens make their fourth straight appearance in the
Northeast-10 Conference Championships on Friday night when they
take on Bentley in a quarterfinal match.RINDGE, N.H. (November 10, 2008)
– The sixth-seeded Franklin Pierce University volleyball team
makes its fourth consecutive appearance in the Northeast-10
Conference Championships on Friday night, when it takes on
third-seeded Bentley in a quarterfinal match. The tournament will
be hosted by Pace at Goldstein Fitness Center in Pleasantville,
N.Y. Friday’s quarterfinal is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., with
semifinals and the championship set for Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7
p.m., respectively.
Franklin Pierce heads for its fourth straight appearance in the
Northeast-10 Championships on the heels of a 17-17 regular season
which included an 8-6 conference record. The Ravens have split
their previous six matches and won nine of their last 13 to fight
back to .500.
Bentley, a nine-time champion of the conference tournament, heads
into the postseason as the third seed after four consecutive years
as a first or second seed. The Falcons closed the regular season
with a six-match winning streak to put together a 20-10 record and
a 12-2 mark in the conference.
Franklin Pierce heads for the postseason with an offense which
ranks fourth in the Northeast-10 in kills per set at 11.51. The
offense is led by senior Nicole
Buchholz (Broadlands, Va./Stone Bridge) who has registered
2.64 kills per set and the seventh-best hitting percentage in the
conference (.290). Also averaging over two kills per set for the
Ravens are junior Caitlynn Parnell
(Medina, Texas/Medina) and senior Emily Schultz (Salem, Wis./Westosha
Central), with 2.31 and 2.08 kills per set, respectively.
The offense is quarterbacked by senior setter Karissa Hookstadt (Camarillo, Calif./Adolfo
Camarillo), who sits third in the conference with 9.10
assists per set.
On the defensive side of the ball, the backcourt of the Ravens is
led by sophomore libero Chelsie
Kohout (Harrison Township, Mich./L’Anse Creuse), who
has recorded 3.98 digs per set to rank sixth in the Northeast-10.
Also leading the defensive efforts are junior Katie Ristow (Miami, Fla./Miami
Killian) and Schultz with 2.14 and 2.11 digs per set,
respectively. At the net, Franklin Pierce is led by Buchholz and
her 0.85 blocks per set.
Bentley boasts a high-power offense which finished the regular
season second in the Northeast-10 in hitting percentage (.221),
third in assists per set (11.10) and third in kills per set
(11.94). The Falcons have two of the top five players in the
conference in hitting percentage: sophomore Alaura Berry (San
Diego, Calif./Rancho Bernardo) and junior Kristine Mickelson (San
Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch) rank second and fourth, respectively,
with percentages of .390 and .323. Through Nov. 2, Berry’s
hitting percentage ranked ninth in the nation. Meanwhile, junior
Alex Kearney (La Jolla, Calif./La Jolla) leads the team with 2.70
kills per set to lead four Falcons averaging over a pair of kills
per set. Freshman Virginia Wong (Quincy, Mass./North Quincy),
Mickelson and Berry have tallied 2.31, 2.24 and 2.10 kills per set,
respectively.
The Falcons utilize a two-setter attack, with senior Tori Piskulick
(San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch) and sophomore Kelly Mee (Ivyland,
Pa./Council Rock) both topping four kills per set at 5.56 and 4.08,
respectively. Piskulick ranks seventh in the Northeast-10 with 0.44
service aces per set.
In the defensive backcourt, junior Cassie Kraft (New Braunfels,
Texas/St. Mary’s Hall) is third in the conference with 4.35
digs per set. Kearney has also contributed to defensive efforts to
the tune of 2.50 digs per set. At the net, Mickelson leads the
Falcons with 0.90 blocks per set.
The winner of Friday night’s quarterfinal will advance to
semifinal play at 2 p.m. on Saturday against either second-seeded
Merrimack or seventh-seeded Massachusetts Lowell.
Northeast-10 Conference
Championships
Hosted by Pace at Goldstein
Fitness Center in Pleasantville, N.Y.
(Seeds in parentheses)
Friday
Quarterfinals
(1) New Haven vs. (8) Le Moyne – 5:30 p.m.
(4) Stonehill vs. (5) American International – 5:30 p.m.
(2) Merrimack vs. (7) Massachusetts Lowell – 7 p.m.
(3) Bentley vs. (6) Franklin
Pierce – 7 p.m.
Saturday
Semifinals
New Haven/Le Moyne vs. Stonehill/American International – 2
p.m.
Merrimack/Massachusetts Lowell vs. Bentley/Franklin Pierce –
2 p.m.
Championship
Semifinal Winners – 7 p.m.