2014 Southern New Hampshire University Women's Volleyball
SNHU (16-9, 8-5 Northeast-10)
vs.
New Haven (19-6, 10-2 Northeast-10)/Dowling (18-8, 12-3 ECC)
Saturday, November 8, 2014 - 1:00/3:00 pm
LAST MEETING: November 15, 2013 - New Haven 3, SNHU 0
October 8, 2011 - Dowling 3, SNHU 1
THE PENMEN: SNHU has clinched a Northeast-10 tournament birth for the first time since 2003...the Penmen are on a current three game winning streak with wins over Le Moyne, Saint Rose, and Assumption and are ranked No. 9 in the latest NCAA East Region rankings...the Penmen have six players with at least 130 kills, led by one-time Northeast-10 Rookie of the Week Marisa Coronis with 243 kills on the season...she also has a team-high 47 blocks...Megan Salamun is hitting .354 and has 207 kills, while Kathleen Schurman has totaled 203 digs and 151 kills...Emma Houlihan has totaled 150 kills on .244 hitting while adding 42 blocks, while Nina McGouldrick has 248 digs and 161 kills...Carolyn Scacchi has added 134 kills...Maeghan Higgins leads the team with 442 digs, while Catherine Cotton, a two-time Northeast-10 Setter of the Week, has handed out 994 assists...Kendra Mikuta ranks second on the team with 254 digs.
HEAD COACH PETER VITERITTI: Peter Viteritti is in his fourth season as head coach at Southern New Hampshire and 15th as a collegiate head coach...prior to SNHU he coached at Holy Cross, East Stroudsburg and Eastern Connecticut...he guided the Penmen to a 12-12 mark in 2013, their most victories since 2006.
THE CHARGERS: New Haven is coming off a 3-0 victory against Southern Connecticut State on Tuesday...the Chargers are ranked first in the East Region...senior Kristy Atufunwa is leading the Chargers in kills with 254 in 2014...junior Kristen Lee is second on the team with 241 kills.. junior Kea-Marie Olaso leads the way in digs with 456 on the season while senior Kaulana Ane leads the squad in assists with 848.
THE GOLDEN LIONS: Prior to their match-up Friday night at Franklin Pierce, Dowling recorded a 3-1 victory at home against Molloy, good for its seventh straight victory...the Golden Lions are ranked No. 5 in the East Region...junior Jessica Kalbfleisch leads the team in kills with 345, good for second highest in the East Coast Conference... junior Kayla Dillman is the primary setter for the Golden Lions, leading the team with 781 assists... junior Kayla Morgan is the squad's leader in digs, registering 479 in 2014.
WHAT'S NEXT: The Penmen will travel Tuesday for the quarterfinals of the Northeast-10 tournament. As of November 6, the top four teams (New Haven, Stonehill, Bentley, Adelphi) in the Northeast-10 are separated by a game or less...should SNHU advance past that round, the semifinals and finals are slated for Friday and Saturday at the highest remaining seed.
NEWS AND NOTES: SNHU's 16 wins are its highest win total since 2003 and tied for the second-most in program history...the 1986 squad went 18-18...in the Northeast-10, the Penmen are sixth in hitting percentage (.173) and their 192 service aces are tops in the conference...Megan Salamun (2nd, .354) and Marisa Coronis (4th, .319) rank among the league hitting percentage leaders...Nina McGouldrick leads the conference in service aces with 49.
SALUTE TO THE SENIOR: The Southern New Hampshire University women's volleyball team graduates their lone senior of its 2014 squad in team captain Kendra Mikuta. A four year member of the women's volleyball team, she has tallied 232 kills, 1026 assists, 1026 digs in 98 games for the Penmen, ranking fifth in career digs and seventh in career assists. Since Mikuta's arrival to the team in 2011, the Penmen have improved their record each year since and in 2014 have reached the Northeast-10 tournament for the first time since 2003.
