Sept. 9, 2009

The Redhawks volleyball concludes their “Tournament Tour” to start the 2009 campaign this weekend as they travel south to Atlanta, Georgia. The team will participate in the Georgia Tech Courtyard Classic at O’Keefe Gym on the campus of Georgia Tech. The Redhawks kick-off tournament play in the first match of the weekend as they face Ole Miss on Friday, September 11 at 3:30 p.m. On Saturday the team will face the host school at 11:30 a.m. before concluding play with a match against Clemson at 3:30 p.m.

All Redhawks matches against can be followed live on GAMETRACKER on www.gosoutheast.com or on www.ramblinwreck.com .

REDHAWKS REWIND

The Redhawks struggled at the Belmont Invitational this past weekend as they finished 1-2 in tournament play and dropped to 3-3 for the season. Despite the two setbacks the Redhawks still have their best start to a season since the 1997 season when that team started 4-2.

The Redhawks opened the weekend with a 3-0 loss to the host school on Friday. The following day the Redhawks snapped a two-match losing streak with a 3-2 win over former OVC member Samford that extended the Redhawks all-time dominance over the Bulldogs to 9-0. Facing Central Arkansas in the Championship match the Redhawks struggled and fell 3-0 to the Sugar Bears.

Senior libero Molly Davis was named to the All-Tournament team after averaging 4.73 digs per set during the weekend. Among her highlights during the weekend was a season-high 31 digs against Samford.

For the year the Redhawks are hitting .183 for an average of 13.09 kills per set. The Redhawks have recorded hitting percentages over .200 in four of their six matches this season

Middle blocker Emily Hughes leads the team with 81 kills (3.68 per set), a .341 attack percentage and 15 block assists. Senior Karleigh DeLong has two double-doubles in three matches played in this season and is averaging 3.18 kills and 3.91 digs per set. Freshman Karlee Lursen also has two double-doubles, averaging 1.95 kills and 2.55 digs per set. Sarah Barth leads the team with 10.41 assists per set and is also averaging 1.86 digs per frame. Davis leads the team with 4.64 digs per set.

SCOUTING THE GEORGIA TECH COURTYARD CLASSIC FIELD

The Redhawks face one of their toughest tournament field in recent memory as they take on three teams that play in power conferences. They will take on Southeastern Conference school Ole Miss to kick-off play. Coach Ren will coach against her Alma Mater for the second time in her coaching career. The Redhawks then face the host Yellowjackets who went 20-10 and finished sixth with a record of 12-8 in the tough Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) last season. The Redhawks conclude the tournament with their second-straight ACC foe as they take on ACC Tournament Champions Clemson who finished 23-10 and 14-6 in the ACC last season. The two-time defending ACC Champions Tigers advanced to the NCAA Tournament, falling in the second round.

The Rebels have started the 2009 campaign strong with a record of 5-2 and are coming off a 4-0 weekend that saw them capture the Magnolia Invitational title. Outside Hitter Katie Norris leads an offense that is averaging a .238 attack percentage. She leads the team with 103 kills for a 4.12 per set average. Norris finished with a career-best 25 kills in the championship match. The frontline of the Rebels has been key to the defense averaging 2.44 blocks per set led by Regina Thomas who is averaging 1.21 per set. Magnolia Invitational MVP Morgan Springer leads the team with 3.64 digs per set.

The Yellowjackets are 4-2 after going 1-2 at the Middle Tennessee Blue Raider Bash. Before that the Yellowjackets started the season with three-straight home wins to start the season. Their potent offense is hitting .250 from the attack line collectively and has three players that average over 2.70 kills per set. Freshman rightside hitter Monique Mead leads the offense with an average of 3.17 kills per set and is also averaging 2.13 digs per set. Bailey Hunter averages 3.04 kills per set. Middle blocker Asia Stawicka leads the team with a .412 attack percentage and 1.30 blocks per set. Jordan McCullers leads the team in digs at 2.87 per set.

Clemson comes into the tournament on a five-match winning streak after dropping their season opener 3-2 to South Carolina. The Tigers (5-1) have won 11-straight sets including a perfect 9-0 sweep of sets at the DePaul Challenge to take the tournament title. All-ACC and AVCA Honorable Mention setter Kelsey Murphy directs an offense that is averaging a .293 percentage from the attack line. Murphy, this week’s ACC Volleyball Player of the Week, averages 10.52 assists per set, 2.52 digs per set and 1.00 blocks per set. Teams are averaging just a .127 attack percentage thanks to the Tigers 3.38 blocks per set average. Lia Proctor leads the balanced offense at 3.52 kills per set. Alexa Rand leads the team with 1.71 blocks per set and Ege Didem averages a team-best 5.14 digs per set.

The Redhawks will face their ACC opponents for the first time in program history. The Redhawks are 0-2 against the Rebels all-time. The last meeting was during the 2006 season when the two teams met in the Ole Miss Invitational. The Redhawks were swept 3-0. Molly Davis finished with a team-best 13 digs in just her second collegiate match. Karleigh DeLong finished with five kills and eight digs.

IRON WOMAN

Senior libero Molly Davis will play in her 100th match as a Redhawk when she takes the court against Ole Miss on Friday. Since her freshman season she has played in every single match and all but two of the 370 possible sets the Redhawks played since the 2006 season. During that period has recorded double-digit digs all but six matches including a current streak of26-straight matches dating back to last season.

TURNING A NEW PAIGE

Sophomore Paige Dossey has reinvented herself this season. After a freshman season where she was forced into action at middle blocker due to injuries, she has moved back to her outside hitter position and has responded well. Against Samford on September 5 she recorded a career-best 10 kills and .318 attack percentage.

THEY GROW UP SO FAST

Freshman Karlee Lursen wasted no time making a mark in her inaugural collegiate season. Starting in the Redhawks season opener she recorded a double-double with 11 kills and 13 digs. She became made it seven-straight seasons freshman has cracked the starting lineup in the team’s opener.

DAVIS DIGS THE RECORDS

In the Redhawks season opening win over Arkansas State senior libero Molly Davis finished with 15 digs to claim the programs all-time career record in digs. Heading into season third on the list and just 14 digs shy of the record, she passed previous leader Leslie Caughman (1986-1988) and Jill Stephens (1985-1988) in the third set of the match. Davis currently has 1,726 career digs and has averaged 4.69 digs per set in her career.

HUGHES HAPPY HOMECOMING

Junior middle blocker might have gotten herself banned from her hometown. The native of Memphis, Tennessee had the weekend of her career as she helped the team win the Memphis Invitational and also captured the Most Outstanding Player honors. She averaged 4.64 kills and 5.09 points per set. In 103 attempts she committed just 10 errors for a .398 attack percentage. On the defensive side of the ball she led the team with ten block assists for a 0.91 per set average.

She capped the weekend with a match-high 24 kills in 3-1 loss to Evansville. That total set a new career-high as she committed just three attack errors on 42 swings for a .500 attack percentage. In the Redhawks season opening win over Arkansas State she had 13 kills and led the team with four block assists. In a 3-0 win over host Memphis she finished with a match-best 14 kills and led the team with a .393 attack percentage.

BARTH MOVING UP THE CHARTS

Three-year starting setter Sarah Barth cracked into the career top-ten in assists with a stellar 2008 season. Heading into this season she ranked seventh with 2,265 assists, just 715 behind Amy Henken (1998-1999) for sixth on the charts. She needs 486 assists to move pass Henken.

A WEEKLY OCCURANCE

The Redhawks last season garnered six OVC weekly awards, including a sweep of all three awards on Sept. 15. That marked the first time in the programs history the Redhawks had won multiple awards in one week. After the first week of the 2009 season the Redhawks looked poise to surpass last season’s total weekly awards as Sarah Barth and Emily Hughes each garnered the Setter of the Week and Offensive Player of the Week respectively. For Hughes it was her first OVC weekly award. Barth on the other hand was awarded her team best third OVC Setter of the Week honor. Dating back to last season Barth had garnered three of the last four Setter of the Week awards.

OPENING UP STRONG

The Redhawks opened up the 2009 campaign with a 3-1 victory over Arkansas State. That win marked the first time the Redhawks have won a season opener since defeating Stephen F. Austin 3-0 in the 2000 season opener.

Since 1977 the program has compiled a record of 14-17-1 in season openers including 7-12 since reclassifying to D-I in 1991.