CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The App State volleyball team (4-0) is set to head to Charlottesville, Va., for the Cavalier Classic, where it will take on VCU on Sept. 5 and host school, Virginia, on Sept. 6. Both matches are slated for 2 p.m. and Saturday's match will be available to stream on ACCNX.
Last Time Out
The Mountaineers swept Elon in three sets in their home opener on Tuesday. Senior
Maya Winterhoff led the Black and Gold in kills, slamming down 14 (4.67 k/s). She also posted a hitting percentage of .545, marking her second match already this season with a hitting percentage above .500. Fellow senior
Keionna Mackey averaged 4.0 kills per set, while redshirt sophomore
Delanie Grevengoed posted a season-best hitting percentage of .471. Redshirt senior
Addison Heidemann made 36 of App State's 41 assists, averaging 12.0 assists per set. In the digs category, sophomore
MeMe Davis led the Black and Gold for a fourth consecutive match, tallying 21 digs (7.0 d/s).
Mountaineer Leaders
Through four matches, Winterhoff leads the team with 51 kills on the season (3.19 k/s) with a hitting percentage of .478. The Charlottesville, Va., native also leads the team in blocks, with 18 (five solo, 13 assists). Winterhoff matches Mackey with a team-high eight aces apiece. Heidemann, who eclipsed her 1,000th collegiate career assist at the C of C Classic, has a team-high 145 assists on the season, averaging 9.06 per set. Leading the Mountaineers in digs this season is Davis, who has tallied 70, averaging 4.38 digs per set.
Entering Friday's competition, App State leads the Sun Belt and ranks in the top 35 nationally in kills (198 - 14th), assists (185 - 13th), blocks (36 - 21st), aces (28 - 21st) and digs (211 - 35th). Individually, Winterhoff leads the Sun Belt and ranks ninth in the nation in points (70.5). She also paces the conference in total blocks, ranks second in total kills and sits third in hitting percentage. In all three categories, Winterhoff ranks among the NCAA's top 45. Winterhoff and Mackey stand second in the league and 30th in the NCAA in total aces. Mackey also ranks second in the league and 34th nationally in aces per set. Heidemann leads the league and ranks eighth in the NCAA in total assists. Additionally, Heidemann ranks second in the SBC in assists per set.
Scouting the Tournament Field
App State vs. VCU | Friday | 2 p.m.
VCU will face Virginia on Thursday before clashing with App State at 2 p.m. on Friday. The Mountaineers hold a 5-4 edge in the series with the Rams. App State and VCU last met on Sept. 5, 2015, in the Fairfield Inn & Suites Cavalier Classic, where App State posted a 3-0 sweep. Jess Keller led the Mountaineers with 11 kills, while Paige Brown posted a team-high 37 assists and helped the team to a hitting percentage of .396. Meghan Mahoney led the Mountaineers with 13 digs.
VCU (1-1) opened the season with a sweep of Ohio State before falling in three sets to Indiana at the Miami Invitational. Senior Julia Rienks leads the team with 22 kills (3.67 k/s), followed closely by sophomore Lara Del Core, who has 20 kills (3.33 k/s). In the assists category, sophomore Cansin Sendir leads the Rams with 49, averaging 8.17 per set. Graduate student Haruka Sugimoto leads VCU in digs with 17 (2.83 d/s), followed by Sendir who has 16 digs (2.67 d/s). VCU's top blocker this season is sophomore Letizia Galli, who has seven (three solo, four assists).
The Rams rank second in the A10 and 10th in the NCAA in aces per set (2.67). VCU also ranks third in the league in hitting percentage (.219) and fourth in kills per set (12.5). Rienks rounds out the A10's top five in kills per set and points per set (4.17).
App State at Virginia | Saturday | 2 p.m. | ACCNX
App State will close competition at the Cavalier Classic with a clash against Virginia on Saturday at 2 p.m. Virginia leads the series with App State, 6-0. The Mountaineers and Cavaliers last faced each other on Sept. 2, 2017, at the Appalachian Invitational. Despite falling short in four sets, Sarah Billiard led the Mountaineers in kills with 20, Megan Wilson led the team in assists (51) and Kelsey Miller tallied a team-high 17 digs.
Virginia stands at 3-0 entering the Cavalier Classic and returns to Charlottesville after competing at the DC Challenge in Washington, D.C., where they swept Georgetown and Howard, and downed George Washington, 3-1. Senior Kadynce Boothe leads the team with 31 kills (3.10 k/s) and is followed by sophomore Becca Wight, who has 26 kills (2.60 k/s). Sophomore Zoey Dood leads the team in assists with 59 (5.90 a/s), while junior Katie Barrier leads the Cavaliers in digs with 54 (5.40 d/s). Leading the Cavaliers in the blocks category is junior Lauryn Bowie, who has 10 blocks (one solo, nine assists). She is followed by senior Jasmine Robinson, who has eight (four solo, four assists).
The Cavaliers rank second in the ACC and 41st nationally in digs per set (16.30) as well as fourth in the league and 23rd nationally in kills per set (14.5). Barrier ranks second in the ACC and 18th in the NCAA in digs per set. She also ranks fifth in the conference in total digs. Dood stands fourth in the ACC and 21st in the NCAA in aces per set.
On the Horizon
The Mountaineers remain on the road and will head to Kennesaw, Ga., for the Kennesaw State Invitational on Sept. 12 and 13. App State will clash with Michigan State at 2 p.m. on Friday before facing Kennesaw State at noon on Saturday. Saturday's match will be available to stream on ESPN+.
