Volleyball to Face Duke, North Carolina in Pair of Spring Matches

BOONE, N.C. -- App State volleyball will take on Duke and North Carolina on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, in its lone two matches of the spring season. Wednesday's match against the Blue Devils is set for 6:30 p.m. and Thursday's contest against the Tar Heels begins at 5 p.m. Both matches can be seen on ACC Network Extra.

THE SERIES

• App State and Duke have met 11 times, with the Blue Devils holding an 8-3 edge. The two teams met last season in Durham, with Duke winning 3-0.
• North Carolina holds an 11-0 lead in the all-time series with the Mountaineers. The two teams last met in the 2010 season, with the Tar Heels prevailing 3-0.

SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS

• App State participated in the fall season against only Sun Belt opponents. The Mountaineers posted a 1-13 mark, with a 1-12 mark in Sun Belt play.
• During the fall season, McCall Denny finished with 55 kills (1.72 k/s) and 64 digs (2.00 d/s). Denny registered a career-high 16 kills on Oct. 24 against Georgia State and recorded a career best 13 digs at Troy on Nov. 6.
• Victoria Wilform averaged 1.77 kills per set in the fall (52 total), including 13 on Oct. 24 against Georgia State.
• Sophie Cain tallied two double doubles in the fall season on Oct. 24 in the first match against Georgia State (30 assists, 15 digs) and Nov. 6 in the second contest at Troy (34 assists, 12 digs). Cain posted 30 or more assists five times, including a career best of 34 twice.
• Emma Reilly recorded double digit digs in 12 of 14 fall contests, including a season best of 27 on Oct. 23 against Georgia State. Reilly has 1,655 digs in her career, which ranks fifth all-time and is just 45 shy of passing Cassie Engelgau (1,699) for fourth place.
• Head coach Matt Ginipro recorded the 200th win of his career in App State's 3-1 win over Georgia State on Oct. 23. He is just one of two coaches in program history to reach 200 win at App State, joining Toni Wyatt (233).

SCOUTING THE BLUE DEVILS

• Duke started off the spring on a high note with a 3-0 sweep over VCU in, Feb. 9. 
• Mackenzie Cole became the 24th Blue Devil in program history to reach the 1,000-dig plateau with her 25-dig performance against the Rams. Franky Harrison also added 15 to limit VCU to just a .123 hitting percentage for the match. The Blue Devils hit .283 as a team and were led by Ade Owokoniran and Gracie Johnson with 15 and 12 kills, respectively.
• The Blue Devils enter Wednesday's match in the top five of ACC statistics in eight different categories: opponent hitting percentage (1st), opponent assists (4th), opponent kills (4th), blocks (4th), opponent blocks (4th), service aces (3rd), opponent service aces (3rd) and digs (2nd). Duke is also holding opponents to a .155 hitting mark, which leads the ACC.
• Duke has five players with 50+ kills as Owokoniran leads the team with 103 and a .168 hitting percentage. Johnson checks in with 93, followed by Payton Schwantz with 86 and a whopping .277 hitting percentage. Lily Cooper adds in 73 and Lizzie Fleming has 55.

SCOUTING THE TAR HEELS

• Thursday's contest will be the first of the spring for North Carolina. The Tar Heels posted a 6-2 mark during the fall, with all contest coming in ACC play.
• Three players have totaled 70 or more kills for North Carolina in Aziah Buckner (83), Destiny Cox (83) and Parker Austin (74). 
• Kaya Merkler is hitting .336 with 54 kills and Amanda Phegley is hitting .327 with 56 kills.
• On defense, Karenna Wahl has a team leading 146 digs (4.56 d/s) and nine service aces.