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Mountaineers to Face Iowa State
October 20, 2015 06:29 PM | Volleyball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – In search of its first conference win, the West Virginia University volleyball team is headed to Ames, Iowa, for a Big 12 tilt with Iowa State on Wednesday evening at Hilton Coliseum. The Mountaineers and Cyclones are set to square off in a 7:30 p.m. ET match.
“I think we made some improvements on Saturday against Baylor,” said coach Reed Sunahara of the Mountaineers (5-14, 0-6). “We’re still committing too many errors and its affecting our ability to finish. We’ve made some strides, but we still have some things to work on and are using every day as an opportunity to get better.”
Under AVCA President-elect Christy Johnson-Lynch, the Cyclones boast an 11-6 mark with a 4-2 record in Big 12 action. Jess Schaben leads the team and ranks sixth in the league with 3.23 kills per set, while Samara West leads the conference with a .426 attacking percentage. Setter Monique Harris averages 9.31 assists per set, good for sixth in the league, and ranks fourth with 19 aces. Caitlin Nolan leads the Big 12 with 5.98 digs per set as Iowa State leads the league with a team average of 16.82.
This week marks the 10th all-time meeting between the Mountaineers and the Cyclones. Iowa State leads the series, 8-1, and took both matches last season. The two teams first met in 1994 before becoming conference opponents in 2012. ISU owns all six prior league matches.
WVU dropped a 3-0 contest to Iowa State in Morgantown last season in the most recent meeting between the two. Hannah Shreve had seven blocks in the match, but the Mountaineers were unable to overcome 22 attacking errors. Brittany Sample had 16 assists in the match, as West Virginia ran a 6-2 rotation.
The Mountaineers are coming off of a 3-0 loss to Baylor in Morgantown on Saturday. Morgan Montgomery had a team-high 13 kills, along with an ace and three digs to lead the team. Haley Roe had 25 assists and seven digs to go with a career-best four kills. She hit .600 in the match as WVU hit better than .250 in two of three sets.
Freshman Bridgett Talia is making her mark as a rookie in the Mountaineer volleyball program. The Utah native is averaging 1.95 kills per set, ranking third on the team this season. She notched a career-high 15 kills against Robert Morris on October 7, and has eclipsed the 10-kill mark on five occasions, including her career debut against Oakland on August 28 with 12.
Following the match, the West Virginia will return to Morgantown for a two-match home stand. The Mountaineers will host Oklahoma on Saturday at the WVU Coliseum as part of the team’s annual Dig Pink match.
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