Volleyball Preview: Blue Devils face four non-conference foes at Wheaton

Wheaton College Thunder Invitational

THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (9-4, 0-1 WIAC) will be at the Wheaton, Ill, College Invitational, Sept. 27-28, where they will face Rockford College (1-9), Trinity International (1-7), Carthage College (8-6) and North Central College (6-9).

ON-LINE: All home Blue Devil matches are available in a live video stream.

BLUE DEVILS LAST TIME OUT: Stout last played on Saturday Sept. 21, when they hosted nationally ranked UW-Stevens Point.  The first set was close throughout before the Pointers eventually earned a 25-22 win.  In set two and three Stevens Point racheted up the defense, earning 25-16, 25-11 wins respectively.  The Pointers finished with three solo blocks, and ten block assists.  Stout got nine kills from Laura Reiter (So, Lino Lakes, Minn) and seven from Morgan Denny (Jr, Luck). Denny and Reiter each had a solo block.   | UW-Stevens Point 3 - UW-Stout 0

A LOOK AT STOUT: UW-Stout currently holds a 9-4 record.  The Blue Devils 9-4 start is their best since opening 8-5 in 2009.  Laura Reiter leads the Blue Devils with 148 kills on the year, putting her average to 3.22 a game.  Karley Wiensch has 467 assists on the season.  The defense is led by Nicole Bradford and her 148 digs on the season, an average of 3.44 a game.  Stout leads their opponents in several statistical categories including kills, assists, digs, and blocks.  Karley Wiensch was named to the Sugar Loaf Invitational all tournament team after collecting 99 assists in the first two matches of the season.  She followed that up by being named to the Macalaster College all tournament team the following weekend.  Laura Reiter was named to the St. Catherine Invitational all tournament team.  The 2013 roster has zero seniors, but juniors Emily Crew, Morgan Denny and Karley Wiensch have started since their freshmen years.             | 2013 Stats

A LOOK AT ROCKFORD:  Rockford enters the match against Stout with a 1-10 record.  The Regents win came against Finlandia back on August 30.  Kaytelyn Hasken leads the Regents with 106 kills on the season.  Taylor Rossi has 191 assists so far in 2013.  The Regents defense is led by Kirsten Bergin and her 29 total blocks on the season.  Laina Scheri leads Rockford with 13 service aces.  Rockford, who is led by first year head coach Christina Sitze, has a young roster which includes only three seniors.  | 2013 Stats 

LAST TIME THEY MET:  Rockford and Stout have never met in Volleyball.

A LOOK AT TRINITY INTERNATIONAL:  Trinity International currently has an overall record of 1-8 to go along with a conference record of 0-4.  The Trojans win came against Indiana Northwest University.  Samantha Stoller leads the Trojan attack with 78 kills on the season.  Stoller is also third on the team in digs and leads the team with 17 total blocks.  Allison Boggs ranks first on the team in assists with 188.  Trinity will have two more matches at the Wheaton Invitational before facing off with the Blue Devils.  | 2013 Stats

LAST TIME THEY MET:  Trinity International and Stout have never faced each other in Volleyball.

A LOOK AT CARTHAGE COLLEGE:  Carthage College, currently ranked 24th in the AVCA national poll, currently has a 8-6 record.  The Lady Reds biggest win of the year came back on Friday, Aug. 30 when they defeated then 13th ranked UW-Whitewater.  After starting the season 4-0 Carthage has gone 4-6 in their last ten matches.  The Lady Reds have two more matches scheduled at the Wheaton Invitation before taking on the Blue Devils.  Emily Heuermann leads Carthage with 183 kills.  Rachel Mickey is tops on the team with 40 blocks on the season.  Karen Chin leads the Lady Reds with her 538 assists on the season.  | 2013 Stats  

LAST TIME THEY MET:  The Blue Devils and Lady Reds last played on Oct. 27, 2006.  Carthage beat the Blue Devils 3-0.  Carthage leads the all time series 3-1.  | Box score

A LOOK AT NORTH CENTRAL:  North Central currently has an overall record of 6-10 and a conference record of 0-1.  They are lead by head coach Karen Bunkenburg who is the all times wins leader at the school.  The Cardinals are 0-1 at home, 2-3 on the road and 4-6 at nuetral sites.  Kedryn Orrison leads the Cardinal attack with 107 kills on the season.  Laura Kluk leads North Central with 21 service aces.  Amanda Walker is tops on the team 36 total blocks.  The Match between North Central and Stout will be the last for each team at this weekends Wheaton Invitational.                       | 2013 Stats

LAST TIME THEY MET:  The Blue Devils and Cardinals have never faced in Volleyball.

UW-STOUT COACH JILL JOLLIFF: Coach Jill Jolliff (357-308) is in her 21st season with the Blue Devils and has the most wins of any UW-Stout volleyball coach. 

QUICK HITS:   Stout has started the season 9-4 which is the best start since 2009 when they opened up 8-5...Last season, Stout more than doubled their wins total from the previous year...as a freshman last season, Molly Brion was selected as the WIAC Athlete of the Week after averaging nearly four kills per set in three matches in mid-September...Morgan Denny's hitting percentage of .265 was the best by a Blue Devil since Maggie Meixl finished at .280 in 2008...North Central head coach Karen Bunkenburg is the programs all time leader in wins.

AWARDS: Karley Wiensch was selected to the all-tournament team at the Macalester College Invitational...Karley Wiensch was named to the all-tournament team at St. Mary's University in the season opener...Laura Reiter was named to the all-tournament team at the St. Catherine University tournament. 

DOWN THE ROAD:  The Blue Devils will be at UW-Superior, Wednesday, Oct. 2, then will host UW-Whitewater, Friday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. and UW-Oshkosh, Saturday, Oct. 5 at noon.