Complete Game Notes as a PDF

BIG WEEK AHEAD
The Southern Connecticut State University volleyball team (21-6, 7-5 NE-10) awaits four matches in the week to come. On Tuesday, Oct. 27 the squad hosts Pace for what will be the team's final regular season match at Pelz Gym. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. The Owls will then head on the road for their next three contests. On Thursday, the team travels to North Easton, Mass. for a conference match against Stonehill set for 7 p.m. at Merkert Gymnasium. Southern will then end the week with a double-header at Caldwell, N.J. on Saturday. At 2 p.m. they face Wilmington followed by a 4 p.m. contest against Caldwell.

SENIOR NIGHT
The Owls will host Pace for the team's last regular season match at Pelz Gym on Tuesday, Oct. 27. The squad will honor its five senior class members before the game; Manjit Chase, Sarah Houseknecht, Nekane Mendizabal, Marcia Hollingsworth and Jenna Tammel. These five seniors have played an integral role in the team's success over the past four seasons.

SCOUTING PACE
The Setters are 15-7 overall and 7-3 in the Northeast-10. They have won two matches in a row and currently rank one spot ahead of the Owls in the standings. Nora Rugova leads the team with 218 kills and Shea Hansen dishes out 8.80 assists per set.

SCOUTING STONEHILL
The Skyhawks hold a 14-7 overall mark and 8-3 conference record. They currently rank fourth in the Northeast-10 and have won their last three matches. Laura Huselton and Andrea Wirth lead the offense with 3.11 kills and 9.54 assists per set.

SCOUTING WILMINGTON
The Wildcats are 12-13 overall and have won three straight. Meghan Frick records 2.46 kills and 3.85 digs per set and Brittani Leathern averages .94 blocks per game.

SCOUTING CALDWELL
Caldwell is 14-11 overall and 12-3 in their conference. Susan McDonough and Titilola Alao average 2.79 and 2.77 kills per set respectively to lead the offense for the Cougars.

SEND IT BACK
Through 24 matches, senior Sarah Houseknecht ranked atop the Northeast-10 Conference in blocks with an average of 1.35 per set, .23 more than the next player. From Oct. 10 to Oct. 21, she averaged 6.4 total blocks per match and recorded a career-high 11 blocks (two solo, nine assists) against Merrimack.

ATTACK EFFICIENCY
As of Oct. 5, the Owls top three attackers; senior Jenna Tammel, sophomore Megan Lyons and senior Marcia Hollingsworth, each had a hitting percentage of .225 or higher. Hollingsworth's .351 hitting percentage ranked her fourth in the Northeast-10 Conference. As a team, only New Haven and Bentley ranked ahead of the Owls (.218) in that category.

13 STRAIGHT
Prior to the Owls loss against Adelphi on Wednesday, Sept. 23, Southern had won 13 straight matches to begin the season 13-0 overall and 2-0 in the conference. In that span, the team amassed 492 kills with a .251 hitting percentage and had outscored their opponents 1,012 to 748. Of those 13 matches, eight were won by virtue of a shutout.

HEAD OF THE PACK
As of Sept. 21, the Owls ranked within the top-5 in six of eight statistical categories in the Northest-10 Conference. They were tied for first with UMass Lowell with a 2-0 conference record, ranked second in hitting percentage (.251) and service aces (2.78 avg./game), third in opponent hitting percentage (.092) and kills (12.00 avg./game) and fourth in blocks (1.96 avg./game).

“SHOCK THE WORLD”
On Wednesday, Sept. 9 the Owls upset the preseason NE-10 favorite Bentley Falcons, 3-2. Despite losing the first set 25-22, Southern rebounded to take the next two and eventually pull away in game five as they won 15-12. Jenna Tammel and Broghan Miller had 14 and 11 kills respectively and Kimberly Lachowicz led the offensive attack with a season-high 38 assists.

BLOCK PARTY
During the week of 9/6, the Owls made it difficult for their opponents to score with their stellar performance at net from seniors Marcia Hollingsworth and Sarah Houseknecht and juinor Broghan Miller. Hollingsworth had a total of 13 blocks and averaged 1.18 per game, Houseknecht averaged a block a game with eight total and Miller blocked 10 and averaged 0.75 per game. As a team, the Owls totaled 36 blocks and averaged 2.4 per game as they went 4-0 during the week, outscoring their opponents, 12-3.

A TRIO OF DOUBLE-DOUBLES
During Southern's 3-1 win over C.W. Post on Saturday, Sept. 5, three Owls recorded double-doubles to lead the team to their sixth consecutive win. Jenna Tammel tallied a game-high 14 kills and notched 11 digs, Broghan Miller recorded 11 kills and a game-high 20 digs and Kimberly Lachowicz dished out a game-high 23 assists and added 12 digs for her first career double-double.

THREE IS KEY
For the third straight year, the Owls began the season 3-0. In the first week of '09, they shut out non-conference opponents NYIT, Concordia and Dominican, outscoring them 225 points to 137.

NORTHEAST-10 ACCOLADES
Kimberly Lachowicz was named the Northeast-10 Conference Freshman of the Week on 8/31. She dished out a game-high 23 assists in her first collegiate match and recorded a team-best 7.5 assists per game during the week. On Sept. 8, Jenna Tammel was named the Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Week. She tallied double-digit kills in all three matches during the week and recorded back-to-back double-doubles against Molloy and C.W. Post.

A STRONG CORE RETURNS
The Owls have 11 veterans from last year's squad returning this season including senior Nekane Mendizabal who missed the entire 2008 season due to injury. Mendizabal led the team in kills during the 2007 campaign.

WELCOME ABOARD
The Owls welcome four newcomers to this year's squad including freshmen Kimberly Lachowicz, Vanessa Sullivan, Katherine Wilson and Syriah Celestine.

IN THE NORTHEAST-10 PRESEASON POLL
SCSU has been ranked 11th in this year's Northeast-10 Preseason Coaches Poll.

2008 WAS GREAT
The Owls improved on their overall win total for the fifth straight year under head coach Lisa Barbaro by virtue of a 24 win campaign in 2008, 13 more than the previous season. The Owls finished 7-7 in the Northeast-10, their best season since joining the conference in 2000 and the team's 24-15 record marked the programs best season in 25 years.

THE 300 CLUB
Jenna Tammel and Leah Filonuk both finished their first seasons as an Owl with at least 300 kills. Tammel led the team with a total of 394 and was fourth in the Northeast-10 Conference with 2.98 kills per game. Filonuk was second on the team with 307 kills and averaged 2.54 per game.

CAN'T TOUCH THIS
Jenna Tammel led the Northeast-10 Conference in service aces last season with 83. In one match, she scorched nine aces past Bloomfield in the season opener as the Owls won 3-0.

DISH OUT THE ASSISTS
Andrea Nolan was a more than reliable setter last season as a freshman. She dished out a total of 763 assists in 97 games, averaging 7.87 per game. Nolan had three matches in which she totaled at least 40 assists; 40 versus UMass Lowell (9/20), 43 versus Elizabeth City State (9/5) and 47 at Franklin Pierce (10/4).

ALL-CONFERENCE SELECTIONS
Following the season, Jenna Tammel and Leah Filonuk were honored by the Northeast-10 Conference for their stellar performance throughout the 2008 campaign. Tammel earned a Third Team All-Conference selection and Filonuk was named to the All-Rookie Team. Together, the two Owls combined for a total of 701 kills.

DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE
Junior Robin Priest enjoys double duty as a member of the softball team as well as the volleyball squad for her third straight season.

ON DECK
The Owls return to the court on November 3 for their final regular season conference match against Saint Anselm. The match is set for 7 p.m.