Volleyball ready for NCAA postseason action in Louisville

Thursday, November 30

Louisville, KY / KFC Yum! Center

7 PM

Wright State University

Louisville

Photo by: Alexis Hutchinson

Volleyball ready for NCAA postseason action in Louisville

11/29/2023 4:25:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Watch on ESPN+Follow Live Stats

DAYTON — The Wright State volleyball team is set for its fourth appearance in the NCAA Championship in the last five seasons, traveling to take on Louisville inside the KFC Yum! Center in the opening round of the NCAA Championship on Thursday night. The winner of Thursday's opening round matchup will advance to take on the winner of Auburn-Western Michigan in second round action on Friday night in Louisville.

Fans can follow the action via live stats or by watching on ESPN+.

MATCH INFORMATION
Thursday, November 30 - vs. Louisville - 7 p.m. - Live Stats - Watch on ESPN+

HERE WE ARE AGAIN
Wright State has captured four of the last five Horizon League regular season titles, adding HL tournament titles to their resumes in 2020, 2022 and 2023 for automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament, along with their 2019 at-large selection. The four NCAA appearances in the last five seasons are the only tourney appearances in program history.

DÉJÀ VU
Wright State travels to Louisville to face the Cardinals for the second time this season after playing in them in the Cardinal Classic on August 27 and falling 3-1. The Raiders' opening set victory marked the first time this season Louisville had dropped a set, while it was the first time Louisville had lost a set to a non-Power 5 opponent since April 15, 2021 when the Cardinals dropped the first set in a 3-1 victory over the University of San Diego in the opening round of the 2020 NCAA tournament. Louisville only lost two other sets this season to non-Power 5 opponents, dropping both such sets in a 3-2 win over No. 19 Dayton in early September.

FAMILIAR LOCALE
Wright State is no stranger to this week's host city, having faced Louisville on August 27, falling 3-1. Wright State tallied the opening points of sets one, two and four before setting off back-and-forth sets throughout the afternoon. The Raiders hit .300 as a group in the opening set while holding Louisville to just a .171 team hitting mark. Wright State ended the afternoon hitting .197 as a group and Louisville was at .221. Megan Alders tallied nine of her match-high 20 kills in the first set, while Sam Ott recorded a double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs. Callie Martin just missed out on a double-double of her own, recording 14 digs and adding eight kills. Andrea Bortulin notched a career-best four service aces, three of which came to open the fourth set, while Katie Meyer had a match-high 37 assists for the Raiders.

KNOW THE FOES
- Louisville comes into the postseason with a 24-4 overall record. The regional host Cardinals are 14-1 at home to date.
- Auburn begins the postseason 21-11 with a 20-9 overall mark. The Tigers were 3-0 earlier this fall in neutral site matches and are a combined 10-4 away from home.
- Western Michigan enters postseason action at 30-2 overall on a 20 match winning streak. The Broncos were 4-1 in neutral site matches and a combined 16-2 away from home.

THE LAST TIME. . .
The last time Wright State faced...
...Louisville was earlier this season, a match Louisville won 3-1 to cap the opening weekend. Wright State leads the all-time series 6-3.
...Auburn was the opening match of the 1993 season, a five-set Raider win in Indianapolis, in the lone matchup between the teams.
...Western Michigan was last season at the Western Michigan Invitational, a four-set Raider win. Wright State trails in the all-time series 2-5.

NATIONALLY SPEAKING. . .
Wright State enters the postseason No. 13 nationally with 37.63 team attacks per set and No. 25 in total team attacks (4,290), while the Raiders are No. 17 nationally in team digs per set (16.88) and No. 20 nationally total team digs (1,924). Individually, Jenny Wessling is ranked No. 13 with her 5.26 digs per set average, while her 600 total digs are also No. 13 nationally. Katie Meyer's 10.30 assists per set average is No. 43 in the country (No. 92, 989 total assists).

NCAA HISTORY
This is Wright State's fourth NCAA Volleyball Championship appearance in program history, with the Spring 2021 Raiders notching the first NCAA postseason win in program history with a sweep of Samford before falling to Texas. Wright State also earned an at-large bid into the 2019 tournament, the first at-large bid to an NCAA Championship in Wright State athletics history, where the Raiders ultimately fell to Purdue in the opening round.

AWARDS SEASON
Wright State saw several Raiders earn honors as part of the 2023 Horizon League Volleyball Awards, led by Callie Martin's Player of the Year honor. Fellow fifth-year senior Katie Meyer earned Setter of the Year honors and Travers Green was named the Horizon League Coach of the Year for the second straight season. The good news didn't stop with the major awards, as Wright State recorded three First Team honors, with Megan Alders joining Martin and Meyer, while Jenny Wessling and Reilly Zegunis each earned Second Team recognition and Zegunis was also named to the All-Freshman Team.