Volleyball heads to NKU for midweek matchup

DAYTON — The Wright State volleyball team makes the short trip south to take on Northern Kentucky on Tuesday night in the Raiders first midweek action of the season. Tuesday's matchup is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. and is expected to be streamed on ESPN+.

MATCH INFORMATION
Tuesday, October 4- at Northern Kentucky - 6 p.m. - Watch - Live Stats

LAST TIME OUT
Wright State tallied a pair of sweeps last weekend to open the Horizon League home schedule inside McLin Gymnasium. The Raiders started the weekend with a sweep of Milwaukee as Sam Ott finished with a match-high 12 kills, Callie Martin finished with another double-double (11 kills, 14 digs) and Taylor Bransfield collected 10 kills. Saturday's sweep of Green Bay was thanks to double-doubles from Martin (10 kills, 12 digs) and Ott (13 kills, 13 digs), while Jenna Story had an afternoon-best 19 digs and Lainey Stephenson passed out 43 assists.

CLIMBING TO THE TOP
Lainey Stephenson moved into third-place all-time in program history with a 40 assist performance on Sept. 23. Stephenson is now closing in on second-place, currently held by Lisa Dearden (4,657 assists, 1993-1996). Mandy Gels (1999-2002) is the Wright State program leader with 5,044 assists in her career. Stephenson enters Tuesday's match with 4,487 career assists.

RECENT HISTORY WITH THE OPPONENT
Wright State and Northern Kentucky have met 11 times since the start of 2018, including three times in the Horizon League tournament. The Raiders hold a slim, 6-5 advantage over that stretch with six matches going to five sets and only two matches (both Raider wins) finishing as three set sweeps.

KNOW THE FOE
- Northern Kentucky is 5-10 overall after a non-conference slate that featured four matches against Top 25 ranked opponents. The Norse are off to a 3-1 Horizon League state with the lone loss a sweep last Friday at home to Green Bay. Northern Kentucky was 20-8 overall and had a 15-2 Horizon League record last fall. The Raiders and Norse both tallied five-set road wins during the regular season before a third five-setter in the Horizon League Championship semifinals last November. The teams have battled over the last four seasons, with the Raiders holding a slight 6-5 advantage in recent history.

NATIONAL MARKS
Entering Tuesday, Wright State is No. 20 the country with its 12.80 assists/set mark, aided by Lainey Stephenson's 10.71 assists/set average, which is No. 20 nationally. In Stephenson's absence, Katie Meyer passed out a career-high 52 assists on Sept. 3 against Indiana State. The solid setting has led the Raiders to the No. 56 mark nationally with 800 kills, aided by their 37.51 attacks/set ratio, No. 7 nationally. Defensively, Wright State is No. 4 nationally with a 17.43 digs/set average an No. 15 nationally with 1,046 total digs. Jenna Story's 5.43 digs/set average is No. 10 nationally and her 326 total digs are No. 13 nationally.

OTT-OMATIC
Sam Ott has recorded double figure kills in nine of 15 matches this season, averaging a team-leading 3.48 kills/set. In a limited role, Ott had just 10 total double digit kill performances in her 45 matches over her first two seasons. She enters the week with six double-double efforts, all of which have come this fall.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Taylor Bransfield

Callie Martin

Katie Meyer

Sam Ott

Lainey Stephenson

Jenna Story

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