Boston College Athletics
Volleyball Hosts Nationally Ranked Miami, Florida State This Weekend
October 20, 2011 | Volleyball
Oct. 20, 2011
Chestnut Hill, Mass. –The Boston College volleyball team faces its toughest weekend of the season this weekend, as American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) No. 19 Florida State and No. 25 Miami come to the Heights for ACC matchups.
The Eagles host the Hurricanes on Friday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. and the Seminoles on Sunday, Oct. 23, at 12 p.m. Both matches will be contested in Power Gym of Conte Forum. Admission is free. Fans unable to attend can follow along with live stats courtesy of GameTracker (Miami/FSU).
The Stage
Boston College (7-13, 3-6 ACC), coming off its third conference win of the season – the most since 2007 - hosts its first AVCA ranked team in four seasons when No.25 Miami (15-3, 6-3 ACC) comes to Chestnut Hill on Friday. Two of the Eagles ACC wins have come in front of a home crowd. The Hurricanes had their 11-match home winning streak snapped against Georgia Tech, 3-1, on Oct.16, and are 3-2 in road conference matches. When BC takes the court against No. 19 Florida State (15-4, 9-0 ACC) on Sunday, it will mark the first occasion which the Eagles have taken the court against two nationally ranked programs in the same weekend. Through nine conference matches, the Seminoles have yet to lose, but will stop over in College Park, Md., before heading to Boston.
RPI
The first Ratings Percentage Index was released on Monday, Oct. 17. Florida State leads all ACC schools with a No. 6 RPI, while Miami is third-best at No. 24. Boston College sits at No. 151, its best in four seasons. Other conference schools include North Carolina (18), Duke (50), Georgia Tech (53), Clemson (58), Virginia Tech (66), NC State (116), Maryland (131), Virginia (145) and Wake Forest (176).
The RPI works the same in volleyball as it does in every other collegiate sport - it bases a team's strength on both its winning percentage and strength of schedule. It comprises a team's winning percentage (25 percent), its opponent's winning percentage (50 percent) and the winning percentage of its opponent's opponents (25 percent).
Scouting the Eagles
Over its previous six matches, the Maroon and Gold have hit just shy of .200, but have allowed their opponents to register a .240 attack. Senior outside hitter Tsvetelina Dureva is the Eagles’ leader on offense, averaging 3.18 points and 2.94 kills per set. Fellow OH freshman Courtney Castle is second on the team with 2.38 kpg, while her 0.33 aces per set is the league’s second best.
Castle was named the ACC Freshman of the Week on Monday after helping the Eagles pick up their first conference road win since the 2009 season. In the sweep of Wake Forest on Saturday, the Orange, Calif., native charted a career-best 18 kills with just three errors for a .441 attack percentage, the highest by a BC player this season. The rookie also produced 12 digs against the Demon Deacons to record her fourth double-double of the season.
Middle hitters junior Krystle Higgins and sophomore Melissa McTighe hold the highest attack efficiencies on the team and lead the Eagles in blocking. Higgins has turned in a .246 clip to date, an average of 1.87 kpg and has 57 total blocks this season. The captain currently ranks eight on BC’s all-time blocking lists with 228 stops in her career. McTighe is striking the ball at a rate of .232 for 1.53 kpg. The Los Altos, Calif., product leads the team with 58 blocks. The duo combine for about 4.50 points each set.
Most of the offense has begun with the hands of senior libero Brennan Clark. With 332 digs this year, the captain’s 4.88 digs per set is the second best in the ACC. The Mililani, Hawaii, native has recorded 300 or more digs in each year at the Heights an ranks second on BC’s all-time digs list with 1,606.
Freshman Kellie Barnum has made the last seven starts at setter. During that time, Barnum has averaged 10.48 assists per set to help the BC offense achieve its upswing.
Scouting the Hurricanes
Setter Katie Gallagher directs the Miami’s attack, whose .268 percentage is 13th best in the nation. Gallagher averages 11.00 assists per set and most often distributes the ball to Lane Carico and Alex Johnson. The Canes average 14.56 kills per set.
Carico, a three-time ACC Player of the Week this season, delivers nearly four points per set to the Hurricanes. Carico leads the team with 211 kills and is second on the squad with 250 digs and 17 aces. Johnson carries a .249 attack percentage with 2.83 kills per game, adding 14 aces and 40 blocks on the year.
The Canes lead the conference in digs per game (18.65) in thanks to a team effort from Carico, Johnson, Gallagher and Ryan Shaffer, whose 4.48 dpg is fourth best in the ACC.
Scouting the Seminoles
Florida State has not lost since Sept. 10, when it suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Pepperdine, and has only dropped five sets in conference play so far this season. The Seminoles enter this weekend leading the ACC in hitting percentage (.271) and blocking (3.15 bpg). FSU has also limited its opponents to just a .173 attack and recorded nearly 14 kills per set.
Leading the way for the Florida State attack are Jekaterina Stepanova and Visnja Djurdjevic, who have tallied 198 and 194 kills en route to 223.5 and 232 points, respectively. Seven players have recorded 100 or more kills for FSU.
The Seminoles average 3.15 blocks per set, third most in the nation, and Ashley Neff’s 1.64 bpg (110 total blocks) this year is the second highest rate in country.
FSU has relied on Katie Mosher to start the dig-set-kill combo most often. Mosher’s 315 digs and 4.70 dpg are third most in the ACC.
