Mountaineers Open NIVC Tournament Action Against Northern Colorado

BOONE, N.C. - The App State volleyball team will take on Northern Colorado in the first round of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) on Friday in Statesboro, Ga. First serve is slated for 3 p.m. and the match will be available to stream on ESPN+.
 
The Mountaineers earned an automatic bid to the tournament, which marks the third time in program history that the Mountaineers will appear in the NIVC. App State last appeared in the tournament field in 2018 and made the tournament in 1991, two years after the NIVC was established. 
 
Last Time Out
App State competed in the Sun Belt Tournament on Nov. 22 and 23 as the East Division's No. 1 seed. In the quarterfinal, the Mountaineers defeated the East Division's No. 5 seed, Georgia State, in five sets. Junior Maya Winterhoff led the team with 15 kills and a .313 hitting mark, while senior Lulu Ambrose and sophomore Ava Leahy matched with 14 kills apiece and hitting percentages of .313. Leahy also led the team with seven blocks (two solo, five assists). Redshirt junior Addison Heidemann made 57 assists, while junior Kenady Roper tallied 22 digs. The win over the Panthers also marked head coach Sarah Rumely Noble's 50th win at the helm of the program.
 
In the Mountaineers' first semifinal appearance since 2018 and first of the Rumely Noble era, App State clashed with the West Division's No. 2 seed, Texas State. The Black and Gold fell short in three sets to the Bobcats. Ambrose, who earned Sun Belt All-Tournament Team honors, led the Mountaineers with 10 kills and three aces. Leahy made a pair of solo blocks and seven kills, while graduate student Cierra Huntley and freshman Elise Marchal made five kills apiece. Heidemann made 27 assists and Roper made 11 digs. 
 
Last Time in the NIVC
In the 2018 NIVC Tournament, App State fell to Radford, 3-1, on Nov. 29 in Clemson, S.C. Kara Spicer recorded 16 kills and a .343 hitting mark, in addition to four blocks. Becky Porter notched her 12th double-double on the year with 44 assists and 18 digs, while Emma Reilly led the team with 19 digs. 
 
Around the Mountain
Winterhoff, who earned First Team All-SBC honors this season, ranks second in the SBC and rounds out the NCAA's top-50 in hitting percentage (.369). Winterhoff leads the team with 306 kills on the year, averaging 2.83 per set. She also leads the team and ranks seventh in the league in blocks per set (0.97) and total blocks (105). Following Winterhoff in the kills category is Ambrose, who has 289 kills this season and surpassed 1,000 career kills on Nov. 15 against Troy. Heidemann ranks fourth in the SBC in assists per set (8.85) and rounds out the top-five in total assists (867). She has also tallied 10 double-doubles this season and was a two-time SBC Setter of the Week selection. Marchal, who leads the team in aces with 33, was tabbed as the Sun Belt's Freshman of the Year and earned Second Team All-SBC honors alongside Heidemann and Leahy. In her freshman season as a six-rotation player, Marchal has tallied nine double-doubles, 283 digs, 234 kills, and 72 blocks. Roper leads the team in the digs category with 335, averaging 3.10 digs per set. 
 
The Mountaineers rank 63rd in the RPI, as well as fourth in the Sun Belt in hitting percentage (.227) and sixth in the league in team kills (1,381). 
 
Scouting Northern Colorado
Friday's match will mark the first encounter between the Mountaineers and the Bears. 
 
Five Bears garnered All-Big Sky honors this season. Syd Cole was named Big Sky Most Valuable Player and Setter of the Year in addition to First Team All-Big Sky honors. Cole led the league in assists per set (10.15) and total assists (1,238) this season She ranks 10th in the NCAA in total assists and rounded out the NCAA's top-45 in assists per set. Joining Cole with first team all-conference honors is Gabi Placide. Placide ranks third in the Big Sky in total kills (437) and fourth in kills per set (3.58). Isabel Bennett, Maddie Davies, and Sam Steele garnered Second-Team All-Big Sky accolades. Bennett leads the league in hitting percentage (.348), followed by Davies who ranks second (.340). Steele ranks second in the Big Sky in aces per set and aces (47), and third in total digs (455). 
 
Northern Colorado enters the tournament with a 25-7 (14-2 Big Sky) record. In the Big Sky Tournament, the No. 1 seeded Bears advanced to the championship match after coming out victorious from a pair of five set matches against No. 8 seed Montana State in the quarterfinal and No. 4 seed Weber State semifinal. Northern Colorado fell short to No. 3 seed Sacramento State after five gritty sets in the championship match.
 
Northern Colorado opened the 2024 campaign with a 3-1 victory over Michigan State on Aug. 30 and defeated Colorado State in four sets on Sept. 3. The Bears also edged past Ole Miss on Sept. 5 and Colorado on Sept. 11 in five-set thrillers. In conference play, Northern Colorado won eight consecutive matches from Oct. 4 to Nov. 1 and won five consecutive matches from Nov. 9 to Nov. 23. UNC tallied 11 sweeps over conference opponents and clinched the Big Sky regular season title. 
 
Looking Ahead
The winner of Friday's 3 p.m. match will take on the winner of Friday's 6 p.m. match between Georgia Southern (21-6, 10-4 SBC) and Southeast Missouri (19-13, 15-3 OVC) on Saturday at 4 p.m. in the NIVC's Super 16 round.