Long-Awaited Return Home to Play UMass Lowell & Hartford

UMass Lowell (6-18, 1-8 America East) at UNH (15-10, 6-2 America East)
Friday, Nov. 4 • 7 pm • Lundholm Gymnasium • Durham, N.H.
Video • Live Stats

Hartford (5-17, 2-7 America East) at UNH (15-10, 6-2 America East)
Saturday, Nov. 5 • 4 pm • Lundholm Gymnasium • Durham, N.H.
Video • Live Stats

You Can Play

Friday night is UNH volleyball's inaugural You Can Play event. You Can Play is dedicated to ensuring equality, respect and safety for all student-athletes without regard to sexual orientation.
During warm-ups, the Wildcats will wear a You Can Play t-shirt. Similar shirts will be sold for $10 each.
Visit youcanplayproject.org for more information.

Jill Hirschinger Reaches Coaching Milestone

UNH head coach Jill Hirschinger recorded her 750^th career victory when the Wildcats prevailed 3-1 at UMBC on Sunday, Oct. 30.
Of those 750 career wins, 341 have been in 21 years as UNH head coach.
Hirschinger is one of 12 active volleyball coaches with at least 750 wins.

Muses Named America East Player of the Week

Demi Muses (Orangevale, Calif.) was named America East Player of the Week for the fourth time this season.
She averaged 4.62 kills, 4.50 digs and 0.88 blocks per set and recorded a .319 hitting percentage to lead UNH to road conference wins against Stony Brook and UMBC last week.
Muses recorded a double-double vs. SBU and UMBC by leading all players in both kills and digs in both matches. She tallied 20 kills – on the strength of a .354 hitting percentage – and 16 digs at Stony Brook and followed that with 17 kills and 20 digs vs. the Retrievers. Muses also contributed four blocks against the Seawolves and three at UMBC.

UNH vs. UMass Lowell

New Hampshire has won all eight matchups against UMass Lowell and that includes a 3-1 road win Oct. 9 by set scores of 25-16, 25-16, 24-26, 25-11.
In that match, the Wildcats recorded a .272 attack percentage as well as 77 digs and four blocks to hold the River Hawks to a mark of .070.
Demi Muses had a match-high 16 kills on a .343 hitting percentage. Emily Tanski (Plymouth, Mich.) and Kennedi Smith (The Woodlands, Texas) followed with 14 kills apiece; Tanski tallied a .324 hitting percentage.
UMass Lowell was led by Katherine Claybaugh (nine kills, 17 digs). Madi Bell and Haley Shimon both had seven kills, and Bell was credited with five blocks.
Last year at Lundholm Gym, UNH was victorious in straight sets (25-12, 25-21, 25-7).

UNH vs. Hartford

New Hampshire has a 40-3 lifetime record, including a 3-1 road win Oct. 7, against Hartford. Last month's set scores were 21-25, 25-17, 25-12, 25-21.
In that match, UNH hit .344 as a team while limiting Hartford to a .156 hitting percentage; the Wildcats tallied 66 digs and six blocks.
Gabri Olhava (Mount Prospect, Ill.) recorded a match- and season-high 17 kills with a .481 hitting percentage. Kennedi Smith followed with 16 kills and a .353 hitting percentage. Demi Muses finished with a match-high 20 digs.
Hartford was led by Katy Henchy (11 kills), Paulina Modestow (10k) and Jenna Bridges (10k).
The Wildcats have won each of the last eight meetings and lost just four sets total in that span, which dates back to Nov. 9, 2012.
Last year in Lundholm Gym, the 'Cats prevailed 3-0 with set scores of 25-12, 25-12, 25-7.

New Hampshire Scout

UNH enters the weekend with a 15-10 overall record that includes 6-2 in America East and 5-3 at home (2-0 in home conference games).
The 'Cats have won four straight and are 8-2 the past 10 matches.
New Hampshire ended an extended stretch of eight consecutive road matches last weekend at UMBC; UNH went 6-2 in that span.
The Wildcats close the regular season with four consecutive home matches.
UNH sits second in the America East standings behind Albany (8-1) and ahead of Binghamton (6-3).
UNH has gone either 2-0 or 0-2 each of the past five weekends; they've swept the weekend matches four times.

Last Week's Leaders

Demi Muses averaged 4.62 kills, 4.50 digs and 0.88 blocks per set – and recorded a .319 hitting percentage – to lead UNH to road conference wins against Stony Brook and UMBC, both by a score of 3-1.
Keelin Severtson (Delray Beach, Fla.) averaged 11.75 assists and 1.75 digs per set, and she orchestrated the Wildcats to a .241 hitting percentage for the week. Severtson recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 46 assists and 10 digs at UMBC. Two days earlier at Stony Brook, she tallied 48 assists as well as five kills (on a .400 hitting percentage), two blocks and a service ace.
Gabri Olhava had an impressive week with a .404 hitting percentage; she had 24 kills and just five errors on 47 attempts. Olhava tallied 15 kills and a .433 hitting percentage in the battle for second place at UMBC.
Emily Tanski averaged 2.25 kills and 2.38 digs per set. She nearly recorded a double-double in both matches by finishing with nine kills and nine digs at Stony Brook followed by nine kills and 10 digs at UMBC.

Conference Dominance

Since the start of the 2013 season, UNH has a 38-6 America East conference record (.864 winning percentage).
The Wildcats won both the regular-season and tournament titles in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
In the 2014-15 seasons, UNH had a 20-0 regular-season conference record against America East teams not named Albany (2-2 vs. Albany).

Second Set Strong

UNH has won the second set in 16 of 25 matches, but last weekend both Stony Brook (25-23) and UMBC (29-27) won Set 2 to level the match at one set apiece.
In comparison, the Wildcats have taken a 1-0 match lead 12 times and have captured the third set 13 times.

Double Doubles

Demi Muses has a team-leading 11 double-doubles and has been on a tear of late with six double-doubles the past seven matches, including each of the last three.
Emily Tanski is next with nine double-doubles, three in conference play.
Also of note, Keelin Severtson has five double-doubles – all in assists and digs.

Doubling Down

Demi Muses has recorded double digits in kills in 15 of 21 matches, including six of the last seven – the only exception was when she saw limited playing time and recorded eight kills at Delaware State.

Of those 15 double-digit kill efforts, 12 are of 15 or more kills with a season high of 22 against both Idaho State and Albany.
Muses has double digits in digs each of the last eight matches and in 16 of 21 matches overall.
Of those 16 matches, she recorded 15 or more digs eight times. That includes 20+ three times the past eight matches with a season-high 22 at UMass Lowell.
The last three matches, Muses is averaging 19 kills and 16.7 digs per match.

The Leaderboard

Demi Muses leads UNH in points (345), points per set (4.37), kills (295), kills per set (3.75), hitting percentage (.300), and digs per set (3.53). She is also tied for the lead in blocks per set (0.85), ranks second with 67 blocks and is tied for second in digs (279).
Keelin Severtson is atop the assist leaderboard (987) – no other 'Cats has more than 45 assists – as well as the list of service aces with 32.
Sara Carlson (Hutchinson, Minn.) is the team leader in digs (309).
Also on the defensive side of the net, Gabri Olhava has a team-best 68 blocks and is averaging 0.85 per set.
Emily Tanski is second in points (306), points per set (3.26), kills (260) and kills per set (2.77); she is tied with Severtson for the lead in service aces and tied with Muses for second in digs.

Increased Playing Time

Hannah Petke (Rancho Santo Margarita, Calif.) has seen increased playing time the past five matches. The stretch began Oct. 16 at Albany, when she recorded seven kills, eight digs and two blocks vs. the Great Danes.
Petke recorded career highs in both kills (10) and blocks (three) Oct. 22 at Maryland Eastern Shore.
Last weekend at UMBC, she tallied seven kills and four digs.

Conference Call

New Hampshire is atop the America East conference leaderboard in kills per set (13.26), hitting percentage (.216) and assists per set (12.35).
Also of note, the Wildcats are No. 2 in opponent hitting percentage (.179) and digs per set (16.57), as well as No. 3 in service aces (1.54/set).
On the individual leaderboards, Demi Muses averages a league-best 4.37 points per game and 3.73 kills per set. She ranks second in hitting percentage (.300), as well as fifth in digs per set (3.52) and tied for eighth in blocks per set (0.85).
Keelin Severtson is the assist leader (10.85/set) and is third in service aces (0.35/set) with league-best 32 aces.
Emily Tanski is No. 6 in points/set (3.26), No. 9 in kills/set (2.77), No. 8 in digs/set (2.97), and No. 4 in aces/set (0.34) with a league-high 32 aces.
Gabri Olhava ranks fifth in hitting percentage (.251) and eighth in blocks (0.85/set).
Sara Carlson is sixth in digs per set (3.32).
Kennedi Smith ranks seventh in service aces/set at 0.31.

She Doesn't Take a Set Off

Emily Tanski is the only Wildcat who has played in all 94 sets.
Sara Carlson is next (94), followed by Severtson (91).
Demi Muses has played 79 of 81 sets since missing the first four matches of the season.

3, 4 or 5

Nine of New Hampshire's 25 matches have been decided in straight sets with a record of 6-3.
The Wildcats have a 7-6 record in four-set matches and are 2-1 in matches that go the five-set distance.

UMass Lowell Scout

UMass Lowell enters Friday's game with a 6-18 overall record that includes 1-8 in America East and 3-6 on the road.
Last weekend, the River Hawks were swept by Binghamton University and then held a 2-1 lead against Albany before falling in five sets.
UML ended a 13-match losing streak Oct. 22 with a 3-2 win at Hartford. The River Hawks rallied from 2-1 down to win 15-7 in Set 5.
One-third of UMass Lowell's matches have gone five sets; UML has a 3-5 record when that happens. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the River Hawks are 3-9 in matches decided in the minimum three sets.
Haley Shimon and Madi Bell lead the attack with 212 and 208 kills, respectively. Bell also ranks second in blocks (63) and third in digs (129).
Delaney Mendez is the primary setter and is averaging 6.91 assists/set.
Lindsey Visvardis is the defensive specialist averaging 4.01 digs/set.
UML is hitting .127 as a team in comparison to the opponents' .225 hitting percentage.

Hartford Scout

The University of Hartford enters Saturday's match with a 5-17 overall record that includes 2-7 in America East and 1-5 in road matches.
Last weekend, the Hawks were swept at home by both Albany and Binghamton.
Hartford has lost three consecutive matches since defeating Stony Brook, 3-1, on Oct. 15.
The Hawks have played six straight home matches since last going on the road Oct. 2 (3-1 loss at Albany).
Paulina Modestow leads the team in kills (258) and kills/set (3.00). She also ranks third in service aces (17) and fourth in blocks (35).
Katy Henchy is second in kills (197) and blocks (40).
Astrid Mangual is the primary setter with 749 assists (8.71/set) and she also has a team-high 198 digs.
Hartford has lost in straight sets 10 times in 22 matches. The Hawks are 1-3 in four-set matches and 4-4 when it goes to a decisive Set 5.
The Hawks hit .141 as a team in comparison to the opponents' .208.

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Sara Carlson

Demi Muses

Gabri Olhava

Hannah Petke

Keelin Severtson

Kennedi Smith

Emily Tanski

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