Mankato, Minn. – The Minnesota State University volleyball team will begin its regular season schedule in Golden, Colo., for the second year in a row. MSU will take part in the Oredigger Volleyball Classic on Sept. 4-5, which is hosted by Colorado School of Mines. The Mavericks will play a total of four matches, with two matches on each day.

On the first day of action, MSU will take on Findlay at 1 p.m., before squaring off with Colorado Christian  at 7:30 p.m. On the final day of competition, the Purple and Gold will begin their day with Northwest Nazarene at 12 p.m., before taking on Pace at 6:30 p.m.

Leading the team this year will be first-year head coach Lori Rittenhouse-Wollmuth, who will be taking over a team from a year ago that finished with a 16-12 overall record and a 12-8 NSIC conference record, which placed the Mavericks in a tie for sixth.

Scouting Findlay: Findlay is located in Findlay, Ohio and is a member of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Association (GLIAC). The Oilers finished their 2014 season with a 23-7 overall record and a 15-3 conference record. For their efforts, the Oilers earned a South Division title in 2014. UF is coached by Wick Colchagoff, who has been head coach of the Oilers for 18 years, where he has amassed a record of 354-216. Colchagoff garnered GLIAC Coach the Year honors last season.

As a team last season, Findlay tied for first in the GLIAC with 262 total blocks and first with 213 service aces last season. The Oilers also finished second in the GLIAC in attack percentage [.220], total assists [1,263] and total kills [1,354].
 
The Oilers return two honorable mention All-Americans by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) in 2014. The two also earned first-team All-GLIAC honors from a year ago in junior outside hitter Hannah Tong and sophomore middle blocker Nickyla Garverick. Tong led the GLIAC last season with 390 kills and 3.55 kills per set. Garverick led the GLIAC with 135 total blocks and placed fifth in the conference with a .302 attack percentage and accumulated 266 kills.

Senior Andrea Roach earned honorable mention honors as she posted 198 kills and 47 total blocks for the Oilers last season.

Scouting Colorado Christian: Colorado Christian is located in Lakewood, Colo., and is coming off a 27-14 overall record and a 9-9 conference record in 2014. The Cougars are member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) and placed sixth in the conference standings last season. The Cougars are coached by Andria Harshman, who will be embarking on her first year as head coach of CCU.

The Mavericks and Cougars squared off last season at the Oredigger Volleyball Classic, where the match went to five sets before CCU pulled out the win after MSU took a 2-1 lead going into the fourth set. The Mavericks have a 0-2 all-time record against the Cougars.

Last season as a team CCU averaged 12.7 kills a set with a .221 attack percentage. Also averaged 12.1 assists per set, while averaging 16.3 digs a set. The Cougars led the RMAC with 206 service aces [1.30 per set] last season. 

The Cougars are led by senior outside hitter Taylor Sturms, who earned first-team All-RMAC in 2014. Strums led CCU with 510 kills [3.36 per set] and 570 digs, to go along with her 51 total blocks and 32 service aces. Also returning for the Cougars is senior outside hitter Kaylee Pierce, who earned second-team All-RMAC honors last season. Pierce led the team last season with a .265 attack percentage, while placing second on the team with 464 kills [3.05 per set]  and 101 total blocks. Sophomore Angela Jurek earned honorable mention honors last season after leading the team with 160 total blocks [1.13 per set].

Scouting Northwest Nazarene: #20 Northwest Nazarene is located in Nampa, Idaho and is a member of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC). The Crusaders are coming off an impressive 24-3 overall record and a 17-1 record in conference play last season. For its efforts, NNU earned the top seed in the NCAA DII West Region, before being upset in the first round by Dixie State last season.

Northwest Nazarene comes into the season ranked 20th in all of Division II according to the AVCA poll and is picked to finish second in the GNAC. The Crusaders are coached by  Dough English, who is entering his third season at the helm. English earned 2014 GNAC Coach of the Year honors.

The Mavericks and Crusaders faced-off against each other in last year's Oredigger Volleyball Classic. MSU lost the match to NNU, 0-3, and currently holds a 1-1 all-time record against the Crusaders.

NNU led the GNAC last season in attack percentage [.221], assists per set [12.55], kills per set [13.51] and finally blocks per set [2.82], which placed them first in all of Division II.

The Crusaders return a couple of pieces from last year's squad in senior Elayna Rice and sophomore Madi Farrell. Rice earned first-team All-GNAC honors a year ago after posting 262 kills, 311 total blocks and 64 total blocks. Farrell garnered GNAC Freshman of the Year honors after recording a 194 kills and posting a conference best .326 attack percentage. Farrell also tallied 105 total blocks last season which placed her second on the team and placed her fourth in the conference.

Scouting Pace [N.Y.]: Pace University is located in Pleasantville, N.Y. and is a member of the Northest-10 (NE-10) conference for volleyball.  The Setters posted a 4-23 overall record and a 1-13 conference record last season. Pace is coached by Karrin Moore, who will be entering her sixth year at the helm. Moore has accumulated a 67-89 record in her five seasons at Pace.

As a team, the Setters averaged 9.6 kills a set, while averaging 8.8 assists a set last season. Pace also averaged 15.4 digs per set and finished with 129 total blocks in 2014.

Some key returning players for Pace this season are senior setter Sara Anastasi, senior outside hitter Alyssa Marchino and senior libero Rebecca Italiano. Anastasi last season led the Setters with 335 assists, while Italiano returns to the team after leading Pace with 319 digs in 2014. Rounding out the trio, Marchino comes back for her final campaign after doing a little bit of everything for the Setters last season, as she posted 269 digs, 191 kills, 23 service aces and  23 total blocks.
 
Returning Roster: The Mavericks return 11 players from their 2014 season, including two seniors in setter Ellie Van De Steeg and outside hitter Rachel Ott.

New Faces: Lots of new faces for this years team, as MSU will have six new incoming freshman players and one sophomore transfer on its roster for its 2015 campaign. The six freshman include: outside hitter Nevena Vukomanovich [Maplewood, Minn.], setter Autumn Risch [Howards Grove, Wis.], defensive specialist Maddie Keute [Grand Rapids, Minn.], defensive specialist Brooklyn Braun [St. Peter, Minn.], middle blocker Sarah Kuehn [DePere, Wis.] and outside hitter Anissa Janzig [Wells, Minn.]. Sophomore transfer Megan Hulscher [Mankato, Minn.] has also joined the Mavericks squad.

Preseason Prognosis: For the second year in row, the Mavericks are predicted to finish 8th out of the 16 teams in the 2015 NSIC Volleyball Preseason Coaches Poll. Concordia-St. Paul was voted to finish first by years end as it received 11 of the 16 possible first place votes . Junior middle blocker, Krista Hassing, was chosen as a NSIC Player to Watch in 2015 season for the Mavericks.

Conference Honors: The Purple and Gold will bring back three all-conference members from last seasons squad in senior Ellie Van De Steeg and juniors Krista Hassing and Haley Fogarty. Van De Steeg  earned second-team All-NSIC in 2014 after she led the Mavericks with 1,246 total assists and averaged 11.75 assists per set, which placed her fourth in the NSIC last season. 

Hassing returns for her junior season after having a breakout sophomore campaign for MSU, where she earned first-team All-NSIC honors. The Blue Earth, Minn. native tallied team-highs of 380 (2.87 per set) kills, an impressive .286 hitting percentage and finally 94 total blocks (25 solo).

Fogarty garnered second-team All-NSIC honors after posting a team-high 444 (4.19 per set) digs, which placed her 12th in the NSIC.

Statistically Speaking: As a team in 2014, the Mavericks averaged just shy of 14 kills a set, while their opponents averaged 11.5 kills a set. MSU also averaged just over two more assists a set with 13.2 compared to its opponents 11 last season. The Purple and Gold were pretty even last season in service aces per set, digs per set and total blocks. MSU averaged 1.5 service aces set, 15.3 digs per set and 181 total blocks, as its opponents averaged 1.1 service aces a set, 14.6 digs per set and totaled 182 blocks last season.

Milestone Reached: Back on Oct. 4, 2014 against Bemidji State,  senior Ellie Van De Steeg became the sixth MSU player to join the 3,000 career assist club. Van De Steeg currently sits in fifth all-time with 3,578 assists but is lurking to vault up the all-time list.
 

Rank	Player	Career Assists
1	Brittany Stamer (2008-11)	4,718
2	Jen Blendermann (1999-2002)	4,367
3	Heidi Schnagl (1991-94)	3,963
4	Nicole Roething (1995-98)	3,804
5	Ellie Van De Steeg (2012-Present)	3,578
6	Stef Sandstrom (2004-07)	3,471

Home Sweet Home: The Mavericks owned a 10-3 home record at the friendly confines of Taylor Center, while posting a 4-7 record road record last season. MSU also went 2-2 in neutral site matches in 2014.

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