Volleyball Preview: Falcons provide tonight's conference opponent

Live Video vs. UW-River Falls

THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (11-5, 1-0 WIAC) will stay in conference play when they host UW-River Falls (7-7, 2-0 WIAC), Wednesday, Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. Stout will then head to UW-La Crosse, Saturday, Oct. 4, and will face UW-Oshkosh (15-1, 1-1 WIAC) at 10:30 a.m. in a non-conference contest, followed by another non-conference contest with Luther College (11-8, 1-1 IIAC), at 12:30 p.m.

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

BLUE DEVILS LAST TIME OUT:  After winning the first set, 25-22, UW-Stout surrendered the second set to UW-Platteville by the identical score. But the Blue Devils came back to take the match with 25-13, 25-21 wins Sept. 26 at Johnson Fieldhouse. | Story and Stats

A LOOK AT STOUT:  Morgan Denny is having the best season of her collegiate career, averaging 3.27 kills per set, ranking fourth in the WIAC and is averaging 0.88 blocks per set, ranking fifth in the league. Denny ranks fourth in the league in hitting percentage (.288). Denny has delivered double digit kills in eight of the 11 matches and has at least one solo block in nine matches. Setter Karley Wiensch ranks sixth in the WIAC in assists with 9.43 per set and 13th in service aces with 0.30. Nicole Bradford is averaging 4.28 digs per set, good for seventh in the league and is eighth in servce aces with 0.32. Molly Brion is 12th in the WIAC in digs with 3.46. Sophomore Olivia Jung has been a steady contributor, averaging 2.09 kills per set and freshman Ashley Pratt has also chipped in with 2.05 per set. In 21 sets played, freshman Becky Bradshaw has 13 service aces and leads the team with a 0.62 average.....The Blue Devils return three seniors to the squad - setter Wiensch, middle hitter Denny, and defensive specialist Bradford. Both Wiensch and Denny have started or seen considerable action since their freshmen seasons. Junior hitter Laura Reiter led the Blue Devils last year on the attack, averaging 3.00 kills per set. This year, Reiter is second on the team with 2.61 kills per set, which is also good for ninth in the WIAC. Denny was just behind with 2.35 kills and led the team in blocks for the third consecutive season, averaging 0.83 total blocks per set. Wiensch handled the majority of the setting, averaging 9.46 assists per contest. Wiensch was the team leader in service aces with 33 and Bradford had 25. Bradford led the team in digs with 3.41. Stout returns eight players from last year's squad, and brings 10 new faces to the roster. Stout was picked to finish eighth in the conference, according to a WIAC preseason poll.   | 2014 Stats | 2013 Stats

A LOOK AT UW-RIVER FALLS:  After starting the season off 1-5, the Falcons have rolled their way to winning  six of their last eight matches, including conference wins over UW-La Crosse, (3-1) and UW-Platteville (3-0) on back-to-back days last week. Leading the way for the Falcons is middle hitter Rebecca Gasper with 2.55 kills per set, good for 11th in the conference. Her kill percentage of .285 is good for sixth. Gasper also paces the team in blocking, with .73 per set, good for eighth in the WIAC. Brianna Muetzel, a junior outside hitter, is second on the team in kills per set, with 2.32. Muetzel also is second on the team with 3.17 digs per set, which is 14th in the WIAC. In serving, Raven Kline and Lexi Pingel are both in the top-ten in the conference in service aces, averaging .32 and .34 per set, respectivlely. Pingel also is tops on the team and third in the WIAC in digs, with 5.15 per set. Kline has been the Falcons most trusty setter, with 10.32 assists per contest which is also third in the conference. In just 17 sets, Dayna Dols has also been racking up the assists, averaging 8.71 per set, which would be good for eighth in the conference if she qualified. Amara Meyer has also been a steady contributor in limited sets, playing in 24 sets and averaging .71 blocks per contest... |  2014 Stats

THE LAST TIME THEY MET:  UW-River Falls took the final two sets to defeat UW-Stout in a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) contest at Karges Center last October. The Falcons took the event, 18-25, 25-19, 20-25, 25-21, 15-8. UW-Stout's Rachel Tschumperlin  and UW-River Falls' Jean Theis each had 12 kills. Laura Reiter and Morgan Denny each had 11 kills for the Blue Devils.  Lisa Keppers had 11 kills for River Falls.  Miranda Haug had five assisted blocks. Stout recorded more kills, but also recorded more hitting errors. contributing to a hitting percentage of .171, compared to the Falcons' .271 | Story and Stats

A LOOK AT UW-OSHKOSH:  The Titans ran off 15 straight wins to start the season before dropping a 3-0 conference contest to UW- Whitewater, Sept. 27. Katelyn Malcheske (3.22 k/set) and Brooke Brinkman (3.00) are ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, in kills in the WIAC. Mandy Troutman is tops in the league in digs with 5.52 per set.  | 2014 Stats

A LOOK AT LUTHER COLLEGE:  The Norse went 2-2 at the NAC/IIAC Border Challenge at Loras College over the weekend. Luther defeated Lakeland College and Benedictine University, then lost to Dominican University and Edgewood College. | 2014 Stats

TEAM CAPTAINS: Captains for the 2014 season are Morgan Denny, Nicole Bradford, Laura Reiter and Molly Brion

UW-STOUT COACH LAURA EVANS: Coach Laura Evans (11-5) is in her first year as the Blue Devil coach, replacing Jill Jolliff, who completed 21 seasons as the program's head coach, the longest tenure of any UW-Stout volleyball coach. Evans, the former Laura Hegerle, played her college volleyball at Southwest State University in Marshall, Minn. She has been an assistant coach at Colorado Christian, Augsburg College and Luther College.

QUICK HITS:   The Blue Devils are coming off their second consecutive 15-win season...preseason camp was very competitive, with nearly 30 potential players in before the roster was trimmed to 18...Stout will face Carleton and Macalester colleges on both their first and second days of competion. The Blue Devils open with the pair at the St. Olaf Tournament this weekend, then also open the Macalester Tournament with the same teams, Friday, Sept. 5...Stout has only one home date in September (Friday, Sept. 26 vs. UW-Platteville in the conference opener)...and four home dates in October...Stout faces eight of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) teams at some point this fall, and face Carleton, Macalester, and Bethel twice. The only WIAC school the Blue Devils are scheduled to meet twice is UW-Oshkosh, but a trip to the WIAC Tournament will change that.

AWARDS: Morgan Denny was the UW-Stout/Northwestern Mutual Athlete of the Week after her performance at the St. Kate's Invitational, Sept. 19-20...Morgan Denny and Karley Wiensch were named to the St. Kate's Invitational all-tournament team, Sept. 20...Morgan Denny was named to the Macalester College all-tournament team, Sept. 6...Kaylee Jacobs was selected to the all-tournament team at the St. Olaf/Carleton Invitational, Aug. 29...Karley Wiensch was an honorable mention selection to the 2013 All-WIAC Volleyball team...Morgan Denny earned Academic All-District honors...the entire 2013 squad was honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) with the Team Academic Award for the fourth time in five years....

DOWN THE ROAD: The Blue Devils will host St. Scholastica, Tuesday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m., then will make a southern trip to face UW-Whitewater, Friday, Oct. 10 and UW-Oshkosh, Saturday, Oct. 11.