PREVIEW: Volleyball Closes Out Season on the Road
11/25/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
| Gameday Central >> Houston at UConn | ||
| Date | Time | Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2014 | 1 p.m. | |
| Location | Harry A. Gampel Pavilion Storrs, Conn. | |
| Coverage | | Live Video  | |
| Gameday Central >> Houston at Temple | ||
| Date | Time | Friday, Nov. 28, 2014 | 6 p.m. | |
| Location | Pearson-McGonigle Hall Philadelphia, Pa. | |
| Coverage | Live Stats | Live Video | |
| Social Media |    | |
| Match Notes HOUSTON - The University of Houston Volleyball wraps up the 2014 season with a two-match road series at UConn on Wednesday and Temple on Friday.
Houston kicks off the road week with a 1 p.m. (CST) match at UConn inside the prestigious Harry A. Gampel Pavilion on UConn's campus. The game time has been moved up from the original time of 6 p.m. due to the winter storm.
On Black Friday, the Cougars face Temple in the Pearson-McGonigle Hall. First serve is set for 6 p.m. (CST).
UCONN HUSKIES
UConn enters the match on a seven game losing streak. Most recently, UConn lost at SMU and Tulsa.
Middle blocker Immanuella Anagu is UConn's top player this season. She leads the Huskies with 288 kills, 39 digs and 103 blocks. Anagu was selected as the American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week earlier this season, becoming the first player to earn an Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week honor in the same season.
Series Record: 3-0 (9-4)
Last meeting: Oct. 19, 2014 - UH 3, UConn 2
TEMPLE OWLS
Temple enters the match off a 0-2 weekend, dropping a five set match to Tulsa and a four set match to SMU on the road. With the loss, Temple drops back to third in the American Athletic Conference. The Owls face Tulane on Wednesday.
Sophomore outside Tyler Davis leads the Owls this season with 298 kills. She is a six-rotation player who has helped the Owls in the back row. Davis picked up a double-double against Houston in October with 17 kills (.326 hitting average) and 13 digs.
Series Record: 2-2 (8-9)
Last meeting: Oct. 17, 2014 - Temple 3, UH 1
QUICK HITS
- Houston went 0-2 this week after hosting USF on Friday and UCF on Sunday. The Knights clinched the American Athletic Conference championship with the win over Houston. Four seniors were honored Sunday for the annual Senior Day - Kaiti Waters, Cortney Warren, Kadi Kullerkann and Natalie Keck.
- Senior libero Natalie Keck led the Cougars with 32 digs this weekend. She has now tallied 597 digs this season, just three shy of 600. Keck stands third in school history for the most digs in a single season. Over four seasons, the senior has collected 2,049 total digs, the second most in school history. She became only the second Cougar to reach the 2,000 digs mark. The first Cougar to reach this feat was Jaci Gonzalez (2002-05), the first Houston libero.
- Senior hitter Cortney Warren led the Cougars this weekend as she hit .261 with 26 kills, six digs and four blocks. She averaged 3.25 kills per set and .50 blocks per set. She has picked up 384 total kills this season, a career high for the senior.
- Senior hitter Kadi Kullerkann picked up 38 kills this weekend against the Florida teams. She has now tallied 597 kills on the season, the fifth most kills in a single season. With the 597 kills this season, She notched her 1,000th career kill. Kullerkann has averaged 5.02 kills per set, the fifth best average for a single season by a Cougar. She ranks in the top 10 nationally in three categories and is close to cracking the top 10 in a fourth category.
- Thanks to Kullerkann and Warren, Houston ranks in the top 40 for Team Kills (41st - 1,590). In Team Assists, Houston is also in the top 40 (40th - 1,483).
LAST TIME OUT
Houston Volleyball went 0-2 last weekend as they hosted South Florida and UCF. In both matches, Houston turned on the heat in the third sets to force a fourth set.
Freshman setter Keandra McCardell picked up her eighth career double-double with 41 assists and 12 digs against the USF on Friday.
In the home finale Sunday, Houston fell to UCF in four sets. Seniors Natalie Keck, Kadi Kullerkann, Cortney Warren, Kaiti Waters and student manager Taylor Whileyman were honored following the match.
Warren hit an impressive .667 (6-0-9) against the Knight defense, leading Houston to a 25-22 victory. But, it was UCF who came out on top with a 25-15 win in set four to take the match, 3-1. With the win, UCF clinched the conference championship and a postseason berth.
KADI `KILLER'KANN
Senior outside hitter Kadi Kullerkann put up 38 total kills this weekend, averaging 4.75 kills per set. She now has collected 597 kills through 30 matches and moved up to the fifth on the single season kills list. With that, Kullerkann has reached 1,000 career kills in just 289 sets played.
Kullerkann has successfully hit double-digit kills in all 30 matches and tallied 20+ kills in 15 matches. Kullerkann also notched 30+kill matches twice this season.
Kullerkann has made a name for herself in the national rankings and leads every category among the conference.
National Rank | Category | Conference Rank |
23rd | Attacks Per Set (11.76) | 2nd |
5th | Kills Per Set (5.02) | 1st |
8th | Points Per Set (5.35) | 1st |
12th | Total Attacks (1,399) | 1st |
4th | Total Kills (597) | 1st |
In her final season as a Cougar, Kullerkann has made her way into the Houston Volleyball record books.
Single Season | ||
5th | Kills Per Set | 5.02 |
Career | ||
9th | Kills Per Set | 3.46 |
TOPPING 2,000
Senior libero Natalie Keck recorded 32 total digs this weekend averaging 4.00 digs per set. She has notched 597 digs so far this season, jumping Amanda Carson's 573 dig season in 2010 for third on the single-season digs list.
With an 18-dig performance during the Memphis match on Nov. 14, Keck tallied her 2,00th career dig, becoming only the second Cougar to reach this feat. She is also listed 10th nationally on the Career Active Leaders for digs.
Keck has recorded double-digit digs in all but two matches this season. She had a 19-match streak of double-digit digs before the UCF game on Friday (Oct. 24) where she was one shy of double-digits. Currently, she is on a nine-match streak with double-digit digs. Keck has notched 20 or more digs in 15 of the 28 matches.
Keck has also made a name for herself in the national rankings this season alongside teammate Kullerkann.
National Rank | Category | Conference Rank |
41st | Digs Per Set (4.98) | 3rd |
24th | Total Digs (597) | 2nd |
Keck has always been a front-runner in the Houston Volleyball record books.
Single Season | ||
3rd | Digs | 597 |
3rd | Digs Per Set | 4.97 |
Career | ||
2nd | Digs | 2,049 |
2nd | Digs Per Set | 4.44 |
STAY CONNECTED
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JOIN POINT HOUSTON CLUB
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