Boston College Athletics
Volleyball Heads South for Matches with Clemson, Georgia Tech
October 06, 2011 | Volleyball
Oct. 6, 2011
Chestnut Hill, Mass. –The Boston College volleyball team hits the road this weekend for its first ACC matches away from Conte Forum. The Eagles take on Clemson on Friday, Oct. 7, at 7 p.m., before traveling to Atlanta for a meeting with Georgia Tech on Sunday, Oct. 9, at 1 p.m.
Fans unable to attend are invited to watch the host universities’ live broadcast on TigerCast or RamblinWreck, or follow along with live stats provided by GameTracker (Clemson/Georgia Tech). For those in the Atlanta area, the match between the Eagles and the Jackets will also be available on radio broadcast of WREK 91.1 FM.
The Stage
Boston College (6-10, 2-3 ACC) is fresh off its first weekend sweep of conference play since 2007, having downed Virginia in four sets after sweeping Virginia Tech last week. BC has not defeated either the Clemson Tigers (10-5, 2-2 ACC) or the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (8-7, 1-4 ACC) since the 2006 season.
Scouting the Eagles
BC will look to continue its upward trend on offense. Three of the Eagles most efficient matches on offense, Virginia Tech (.279), Virginia (.255) and Maryland (.172), have come in conference play. This has been bolstered by strong play from the Eagles core of middle hitters: Mollie Kolosky, Krystle Higgins and Melissa McTighe.
Five of BC’s wins have come when the middles combine for a hitting percentage of .225 or greater. Together, in conference play, they are attacking at a rate of .280. Last week, Higgins led the way with 20 kills on 34 swings with just three errors to tabulate a .500 hitting percentage. McTighe and Higgins also lead the Eagles in blocks, with 50 total blocks each.
Senior Tsvetelina Dureva leads the team in kills, having put away 160 shots for an average of 3.08 kills per game. The outside hitter is also the Eagles leading point-getter with 174 on the year and has the third most digs on the team (111) heading into this weekend.
Fellow outside Courtney Castle has also proved valuable for BC. The freshman from Orange, Calif., is second on the team in kills per game (2.11) and digs per set (2.73). Castle’s average of 0.38 aces per set tops the ACC.
Senior captain Brennan Clark leads the defensive charge with 273 digs. The libero’s 4.96 digs per game is second highest in the conference and 47th best in the nation.
Freshman Kellie Barnum orchestrated the Boston College offense last weekend. The setter helped the Eagles hit over 140 points higher than it had been averaging heading into last week’s matches. The Pacific Palisades, Calif., native distributed a career-high 34 assists and went 4-for-6 with no attack errors in the sweep of the Hokies and returned to establish new career-marks of 50 assists, the most for the Eagles this year, and three blocks in the win over the Cavaliers en route to being named ACC Freshman of the Week.
Scouting the Tigers
Clemson is coming of a weekend in which it split matches against North Carolina and NC State. The Tigers were topped in five-sets by North Carolina, before emerging victorious over NC State, 3-2.
Clemson has accumulated an attack percentage of .253, while limiting opponents to .165 hitting, entering today’s match.
In terms of efficiency, Alexa Rand leads the way for the Orange and Regalia with an ACC best .400 attack on the year. However, Sandra Adeleye is tops in kills with 189 and an average of 3.15, ninth highest in the conference. Rand’s team-leading 85 blocks are the most in the league, while her average of 1.42 blocks per set is second. Adeleye is averaging one block per game.
The Tigers have relied on Hannah Brenner and Kamryn Sherman to spread out the offense. Brenner has totaled 377 assists (6.28 apg), while Sherman has posted 281 assists (4.93 agp). At the service line, Sherman’s 20 aces are the most in the ACC.
Receiving serves has largely fallen on the arms of Kristin Faust and Natalie Patzin. The outside hitters lead Clemson with 153 and 173 digs, respectively.
Scouting the Yellow Jackets
Georgia Tech fell in both of its matches last weekend. NC State defeated the Jackets, 3-2, on Friday, before North Carolina swept Tech the following day.
Junior right-side hitter Monique Mead will be counted on to push Tech past BC. The Newnan, Ga., native currently ranks second in the nation for kills per set (5.09) and point per set (5.77).
Georgia Tech brings a .200 hitting percentage and 13.1 kills per set average into the weekend. Opponents have out-hit Tech, .225, but trail in kills per set (13.0).
Ali Santi has been the distributor of the Jackets’ offense. The setter has a team-leading 414 assists and carries an average of 10.89 assists per set, fourth in the ACC and 38th in the nation.
The most prominent presence at the net has been Asia Stawicka, who has stopped 65 shots for an average of 116 blocks per set. Mead is also dangerous, totaling 49 blocks.
Nicki Meyer leads the defense with 3.61 digs per set, with Mead (2.71) and Santi (2.63) also averaging over two digs per game.
