Weekend Tourney at St. John's to Open 2017 Season

UNH VOLLEYBALL

Jack Kaiser Classic • Aug. 25-26 • St. John's University
Friday, Aug. 25
UNH vs. Holy Cross, 4 pm (Carnesecca Arena) • Stats
UNH vs. UConn, 8 pm (Taffner Field House) • Stats

Saturday, Aug. 26
UNH vs. St. John's, 12 pm (Carnesecca Arena) • Video • Stats
UNH vs. Sacramento State, 5 pm (Taffner Field House) • Stats

TOURNAMENT OVERVIEW

The Jack Kaiser Classic is a two-day, five-team tournament played in two venues at St. John's University (Queens, N.Y.).
Live stats are available for every match. Only the matches involving St. John's will be videostreamed.
UNH is the designated home team both Friday matches and is the road team both Saturday matches.
Click to visit the Tournament Central page

UNH vs. HOLY CROSS

New Hampshire has won all 15 previous matches against College of the Holy Cross.
Most recently, UNH was a straight-set victor at home last September as part of the program's annual Holly Young Invitational.

UNH vs. UCONN

New Hampshire has a 12-19 lifetime record against UConn.
In the most recent matchup, UConn won in straight sets on its home court in 2014.
UConn tourney notes

UNH vs. ST. JOHN'S

New Hampshire and St. John's have split the previous four meetings between these programs.
The last time these teams met was at the 2014 Jack Kaiser Classic with the home team prevailing.
St. John's game notes

UNH vs. SACRAMENTO STATE

Saturday's matchup vs. Sacramento State will be the second between the Wildcats and Hornets. Sacramento State won the previous meeting in 2009.
Sacramento State tourney notes

THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

UNH has won four consecutive America East regular-season and tournament titles and, as a result, the Wildcats have advanced to the NCAA tourney each of the past four years.
New Hampshire returns 14 letterwinners from last year's squad that finished 21-11 overall, including 10-2 in America East.
Included among the returning 'Cats are four conference award winners – Courtney Bowman (Elite 17), Gabri Olhava (Second Team), Kennedi Smith (All-Rookie Team) and Emily Tanski (First Team and All-Rookie Team).
UNH was picked atop the 2017 America East Volleyball Preseason Poll.
The 'Cats lost both the two-time Player of the Year (Demi Muses) and Setter of the Year (Keelin Severtson) to graduation last May.

TOP 'CATS

Sophomore hitter Emily Tanski ranked she ranked second on the team in points and points per set, kills and kills per set, and assists; Tanski also recorded a team-high 41 service aces. Defensively, she was third in digs and digs per set as well as fourth in blocks.
Tanski recorded 11 double-doubles, which ranked second.
Junior middle blocker and captain Gabri Olhava led all Wildcats in solo blocks, assisted blocks and total blocks, and was second in hitting percentage. Furthermore, Olhava was third in points and fourth in points per set as well as both kills and kills per set.
Sophomore hitter Kennedi Smith ranked third on the team in kills and kills per set as well as points per set, service aces and blocks.
Senior captain Courtney Bowman ranked fifth on the squad in both kills and kills/set and points and points/set. She was fourth in digs and digs/set.
Hannah Petke emerged as an offensive weapon midway through her freshman year in '16 and she finished with a .235 hitting percentage that ranked third on the team.

READY TO ASSIST

The starting setter position will be inherited by either junior Mali Jereczek or freshman Emma Patlovich, both of whom were impressive in preseason.
Jereczek saw limited action last year with 13 sets played in nine matches; she averaged 3.23 assists and 1.15 digs per set.
Patlovich was a three-year captain and four-year starting setter at Lake Forest High School; as a senior, she averaged 8.7 assists per set with 80 service aces, 199 digs and 64 kills; Patlovich was named to the All-Tournament Team at the 2015 Junior Nationals.

FOR OPENERS

In the past decade, UNH has a 4-6 record in season openers.
All 10 of those matches were away from Durham.
The most recent time the Wildcats started a season 1-0 was 2013, when they prevailed in a five-set match at Lehigh University.

FOUR-PEAT

UNH is the first team to win four consecutive America East tournament titles. The Wildcats have won seven titles overall, which is also an America East record.

ROARING 20's

UNH has won 20+ matches each of the past four years, and last year's 21 wins marked the highest total since the 2003 team had 23.
UNH head coach Jill Hirschinger has reached 20 wins 10 times at New Hampshire and 19 times in her 38 years overall.

HIRSCHINGER'S HISTORY

This is the 22^nd year as UNH head coach for Jill Hirschinger. She recorded her 750^th career victory when the Wildcats prevailed 3-1 at UMBC last October.
Of her 755 career wins, 346 have been at UNH's helm.
Hirschinger has been named America East Coach of the Year six times.

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Courtney Bowman

Mali Jereczek

Demi Muses

Gabri Olhava

Emma Patlovich

Hannah Petke

Keelin Severtson

Kennedi Smith

Emily Tanski

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