West Liberty, W.Va. – Coming off a standalone 5-set match win in their home opener, the West Liberty University volleyball team will return to play on the road as they travel north to Buffalo, New York to take part in the D'Youville Tournament this Friday and Saturday. In the tournament the Hilltoppers will face the host Saints of D'Youville, Lake Erie, East Stroudsburg, and Saint Rose.

GAME DETAILS

• Location: Buffalo, N.Y. (College Center)
• First Serve: Friday at D'Youville (1 P.M.) and vs. Lake Erie (7 P.M.); Saturday vs. East Stroudsburg (12 P.M.) and vs. Saint Rose (4 P.M.)

WEST LIBERTY STORYLINES

• West Liberty enters the weekend with a record of 3-2 on the season, following a 3-2 win over Indiana (PA) and home during a midweek match at home on Tuesday evening.
• Through five matches this season WLU is hitting .216 while averaging 12.4 kills, 11.0 assists, 1.2 aces, 16.0 digs, and 1.8 blocks per set.
• Riley Cutnik and Katelynn Fritz are the top two attackers for West Liberty, notching 52 and 43 kills respectively, as well as 2.48 and 2.39 kills per set.
• With 112 assists through the first five matches of the season, Dakoda Keni is the Hilltoppers top setter, averaging 5.33 assists per set.
• Defensively, Nyia Setla is the leader of the WLU defense, collecting 95 digs and 4.52 digs per set as the libero.
• At the net Grace Hill and Cudnik are the Hilltoppers top two blockers, totaling 18.0 and 17.0 blocks per set and averaging 1.00 and 0.81 blocks per set.
• Riley Jarrett is in her fourth season as the head coach at West Liberty with a career record of 52-32 with the Hilltoppers.

D'YOUVILLE STORYLINES

• D'Youville enters the weekend with a record of 1-3 on the season, following a 3-0 loss to Ashland in their final game of the Ashland University Tournament.
• Through four matches this season DU is hitting .138 while averaging 10.0 kills, 8.9 assists, 1.3 aces, 12.0 digs, and 1.2 blocks per set.
• Recording 50 kills in the Ashland Tournament to open the season for D'Youville was Madeline O'Brien, averaging 3.85 kills per set with an attack percentage of .142.
• A pair of players lead the way for the Saints in assists as Mitha Hatwar and Lauren Scully have tallied 52 and 37 assists through four matches, averaging 4.00 and 3.08 assists per set respectively.
• Defensively, Emma Wiostowski is the leader for DU on the court, collecting 36 digs for 2.77 digs per set, she is followed closely by Samantha Killane with 29 digs and 2.23 digs per set.
• At the net, Giselle Ramirez is the top blocker for the Saints, collecting 7.0 blocks to start the season and averaging 0.54 blocks per set.
• Jaime Snyder is in her second season as the head coach at D'Youville with a record of 5-26 during her time with the Saints.

SERIES HISTORY

• Friday will mark the first-ever meeting between West Liberty and D'Youville in volleyball.

LAKE ERIE STORYLINES

• Lake Erie enters the weekend with a record of 0-4 on the season, following a 3-1 loss to Daemen in their final game of the Clarion University Invitational on Saturday.
• Through four matches this season LEC is hitting .113 while averaging 9.5 kills, 8.6 assists, 2.1 aces, 10.2 digs, and 1.2 blocks per set.
• Dora Olah leads the Storm attack with 50 kills in the opening week of play, averaging 3.13 kills per set. Anna Lewis and Jessica Ickes hold the top attack percentages for LEC at .350 and .300 respectively.
• A pair of setters have tallied more than 50 assists on the early season for Lake Erie, led by Jenna Sayles and Simmone Schurr with 62 and 57 respectively for averages of 3.88 and 3.56 assists per set.
• Defensively, Brooklyn Broadway leads LEC with 36 digs and an average of 2.25 digs per set, followed by Olah who has totaled 33 with an average of 2.06 per set.
• At the net Ickes is the top Storm blocker, notching 9.0 blocks through four matches and averaging 0.56 per set.
• Lee Anderson is in his third season as the head coach at Lake Erie and holds a record of 7-55 during his time with the Storm. Anderson is in his 15^th season overall as a collegiate head coach, holding a career record of 104-304 during his time with Lake Erie, Minnesota Crookston, and Glenville State.

SERIES HISTORY

• West Liberty and Lake Erie met in back-to-back seasons in 2018 and 2019, playing neutral site matches at Indiana and California (PA).
• The Hilltoppers have won both of the last two meetings against the Storm, winning the most recent match-up on September 13, 2019 by a 3-0 score.

EAST STROUDSBURG STORYLINES

• East Stroudsburg enters the weekend with a record of 1-3 on the season, following a sweep of Bowie State to conclude their stay at the Frostburg State Tournament on Saturday.
• Through four matches this season ESU is hitting .136 while averaging 10.7 kills, 9.8 assists, 2.2 aces, 17.8 digs, and 1.4 blocks per set.
• Anna Coulter and Sydney Stone lead the Warrior attack with 2.38 and 2.36 kills per set respectively. Coulter has a .250 attack percentage and Kaitlin Bruchhauser has a .362 attack percentage.
• Coulter is also the top blocker for East Stroudsburg, totaling 13.0 on the season with an average of 1.00 block per set.
• Taylor Haan and Makaela McComas each totaled 50+ assists in the opening tournament of the season with Haan tallying 58 with 8.29 assists per set and McComas notching 54 and 4.50 respectively.
• Defensively, Makayla Baca leads the team with 56 digs and an average of 4.31 digs per set.
• Tricia Melfy is in her fourth season as the head coach at East Stroudsburg and holds a record of 34-28 with the Warriors. Melfy is in her seventh season overall as a collegiate head coach at the NCAA level, holding a career record of 74-71 during her time with East Stroudsburg, Fort Lewis, and Minnesota-Morris.

SERIES HISTORY

• West Liberty and East Stroudsburg have met twice since 2016 in volleyball, with the Hilltoppers winning both matches in 2016 and 2021.
• In the most recent match-up on September 3, 2021, WLU defeated ESU 3-1 in Warrior Invitational in Detroit, hosted by Wayne State University.

SAINT ROSE STORYLINES

• Saint Rose enters the weekend with a record of 2-2 on the season, following a sweep of Bridgeport in their most recent match on Tuesday.
• Through four matches this season CSR is hitting .230 while averaging 11.7 kills, 10.4 assists, 2.0 aces, 11.1 digs, and 2.6 blocks per set.
• Jessica Vargas and Joanna Forrest lead the Golden Knight attack with 2.79 and 2.43 kills per set and .290 and .375 attack percentages respectively.
• Alandra Hasbrouck and Taylor Grady are the setters for Saint Rose totaling 72 and 63 assists through four matches, averaging 5.14 and 4.50 assists per set.
• Defensively, Katelyn Atchinson leads the team with 36 digs, averaging 2.57 digs per set. Vargas is a close second with 34 digs and 2.43 digs per set.
• At the net Julia Cavalcanti and Karleigh Fripp have each totaled double digit blocks with 16.0 and 11.0 respectively, averaging 1.14 and 0.79 blocks per set.
• Vanessa Volpe-Rivera is in her eighth season as the head coach at Saint Rose with a record of 75-98 during her time with the Golden Knights.

SERIES HISTORY

• Saturday marks the first-ever meeting between West Liberty and Saint Rose in volleyball.