Volleyball To Partake In Northeast-10/East Coast Conference Challenge Over The Weekend

Ravens host NYIT, take on Bridgeport, Queens at Bentley

Match 8 - Sept. 18, 2009
Rindge, N.H.
New York Institute of Technology (4-4, 0-0 ECC) at
Franklin Pierce (2-5, 0-0 NE-10)
7 p.m. - Fieldhouse
Listen Live

Match 9 - Sept. 19, 2009
Waltham, Mass.
Franklin Pierce (2-5, 0-0 NE-10) vs.
Bridgeport (9-2, 0-0 ECC)
1 p.m. - Dana Center

Match 10 - Sept. 19, 2009
Waltham, Mass.
Franklin Pierce (2-5, 0-0 NE-10) vs.
Queens (1-4, 0-0 ECC)
3 p.m. - Dana Center

The Franklin Pierce University volleyball team wraps up a four-match homestand on Friday night at 7 p.m., when it plays host to New York Institute of Technology in a non-conference match as part of the Northeast-10/East Coast Conference Challenge. The Challenge continues on Saturday, hosted by Bentley at Dana Center in Waltham, Mass., as the Ravens will take on Bridgeport at 1 p.m. and Queens at 3 p.m.

Friday night’s home match will be broadcast live on the Ravens Sports Network at WFPC-LP 105.3 FM and online at athletics.franklinpierce.edu. A.J. Berube and Joe Malkin will have the call.

Franklin Pierce (2-5, 0-0 Northeast-10) picked up one win in the first three matches of the homestand last week. On Sept. 8, senior Katie Ristow (Miami, Fla.) posted eight kills and eight digs, but the Ravens were dropped by American International, 3-0. Franklin Pierce then hosted a tri-match on Saturday, which it opened with a 3-0 sweep of Concordia behind a season-high 14 kills and a .667 hitting percentage from senior Megan Feldmeth (South Pasadena, Calif.). Later Saturday, the Ravens were swept by Merrimack to close out the tri-match. Junior setter Pamela Walker (Chino Hills, Calif.) posted her second double-double of the season in that match, with 17 assists and 20 digs.

Of note for the Ravens through the first seven matches of the season, junior libero Chelsie Kohout (Harrison Township, Mich.) is receiving serve at a .942 clip, with just seven errors on 121 services sent her way. Walker has been whistled for only a pair of ball-handling errors on the year in 350 set attempts.

Picked to finish fourth in the East Coast Conference, New York Institute of Technology (4-4, 0-0 East Coast) has dropped its last two matches after wining four of six to start the season. Most recently, the Bears were swept at home by New Haven on Wednesday by a 13-kill, 12-dig double-double from Keidy Candelaria. Sophomore Tugce Sirdas led the way for NYIT with 12 kills, while sophomore libero Lisa Peacock recorded a match-best 13 digs.

On the season, Sirdas leads the Bears at 2.50 kills per set and has posted a .245 hitting percentage over 110 attacks. The offense runs through the set of freshman Emily Syers, who is dishing out 7.14 assists per set and has been whistled for only two ball-handling errors in the season’s first eight matches. On the defensive side of the net, Peacock leads the way with 120 digs (4.00 per set).

Last time against NYIT, Nicole Buchholz hammered out 14 kills and racked up 11 blocks (one solo) in the second of two matches on Nov. 1, 2008 to lead Franklin Pierce to a 3-2 victory over the Bears in non-conference play at Franklin Pierce’s Fieldhouse. The Ravens also defeated NYIT, 3-1, in their 2008 season-opener on Aug. 29.

Franklin Pierce has won all three matches it has played against New York Institute of Technology. The inaugural meeting between the two squads came on Sept. 22, 2007, in the Northeast-10/East Coast Conference Challenge at Bentley. The Ravens took that contest, 3-1.

Picked to finish second in the East Coast Conference, Bridgeport (9-2, 0-0 East Coast) has won eight out of its last nine after splitting its first two matches of the campaign. Most recently, junior Terry Masava tallied match highs with seven kills and six digs as the Purple Knights swept away Stonehill at home on Wednesday. Senior Milica Micovic dished out 12 assists and added five digs for Bridgeport. The Purple Knights will visit Merrimack on Friday night before traveling to Waltham for the second day of the Northeast-10/East Coast Conference Challenge.

On the season, Masava is hammering out 3.23 kills per set and has posted a .272 attack percentage over 320 attempts in the first 11 matches of the year. Micovic quarterbacks the offense with 7.47 assists per set. On the other side of the net, junior Ivana Kovacevic-Jurasin leads the Purple Knights with 2.66 digs per set, while graduate student Emma Ariyo contributes 1.08 blocks per set.

Last time against Bridgeport, Karissa Hookstadt, Ristow and Emily Schultz all tallied double-doubles on Oct. 24, 2008, but Franklin Pierce was defeated, 3-2, by the Purple Knights in non-conference play at Harvey Hubble Gymnasium. Four Bridgeport players notched double-doubles of their own in the victory.

Franklin Pierce holds a 7-10 record in 17 all-time meetings with Bridgeport. The most recent win for the Ravens came on Sept. 26, 2008, a 3-1 decision at the Fieldhouse as part of last year’s Northeast-10/East Coast Conference Challenge. In that match, Buchholz posted a team-high 11 kills and three other Ravens notched nine kills, while Juliana Moraes led the way for Bridgeport with a match-best 13 kills.

Picked to finish third in the East Coast Conference, Queens (1-4, 0-0 East Coast) opened the season on a three-match losing streak and has since split its previous two contests. Most recently, junior Camila Dantas posted 10 kills and nine digs to narrowly miss a double-double, but the Knights were swept at Pace on Tuesday.

On the season, Dantas leads the way for Queens with 4.20 kills per set and owns a team-best .266 hitting percentage, with 42 kills to 13 errors over 109 attacks in the first five matches of the season. Dantas and the Knight offense work off the set of senior Janice Loo, who has dished out 125 assists (7.35 per set) to only two ball-handling errors thus far. Dantas also leads the way defensively with 3.00 digs per set.

Last time against Queens, Enobong Shammah hammered out a match-best 18 kills and Natalie Edward added 16 of her own on Sept. 27, 2008 as the Knights swept Franklin Pierce at Bentley in last season’s Northeast-10/East Coast Conference Challenge. Ristow and Schultz led the way for the Ravens with nine and eight kills, respectively.

Franklin Pierce holds a 1-6 record in seven all-time meetings with Queens. The only win for the Ravens came on Sept. 21, 2007, a 3-1 decision in the Fieldhouse. Four Ravens posted double-digit kills in the match, led by 15 from Feldmeth. Edward led the way for Bridgeport with a match-best 16 kills.

After the Northeast-10/East Coast Conference Challenge this weekend, the Ravens are back on the court on Tuesday, Sept. 22, when they travel to Saint Michael’s to open the Northeast-10 Conference portion of their schedule. Match time is set for 7 p.m. at Ross Sports Center in Colchester, Vt.