Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Volleyball Comes Home for 21st Annual Tournament
9/12/2012 8:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 12, 2012
BUCKNELL TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Friday, Sept. 14
- 5 p.m. - Providence vs. Quinnipiac (GameTracker 
)
- 7:30 p.m. - Bucknell vs. Fordham (GameTracker )
- 12 p.m. - Bucknell vs. Providence (GameTracker )
- 5 p.m. - Bucknell vs. Quinnipiac (GameTracker )
LEWISBURG, Pa. - For the first time this season, Bison volleyball will play in its own Davis Gym when it hosts the Bucknell Tournament this Friday and Saturday, featuring competition against Fordham, Providence and Quinnipiac. Play begins on Friday at 5 p.m., while the Bison will take the court first against Fordham at 7:30 p.m. Saturday then gets underway at 10 a.m. with Bucknell's matches scheduled for 12 p.m. against Providence and 5 p.m. opposite Quinnipiac. Live stats on GameTracker for all six of the weekend's matches will be available at BucknellBison.com.
BISON NOTEBOOK
- After 10 matches and a 4-6 record, Bucknell plays at home for the first time this season. The Bison are 15-19 overall in home openers and 8-12 when their first home match takes place during one of their pre-conference tournaments.
- Bucknell has hosted 33 tournaments over the years and played to a 57-62 record in those events. The last time the Bison finished a home tournament with a winning record was in 2006, when they went 2-1 against Wagner (W, 3-0), Princeton (L, 3-0) and La Salle (W, 3-0). Bucknell has faced each of this weekend's opponents in their home tournament in previous seasons as well. The Bison are 1-1 against Fordham in those instances having lost 3-1 in 1989 and won 3-2 in 2011. They also beat Quinnipiac in 2002 and Providence in 2010.
- Bucknell is 4-0 in four-set matches this fall. It is 0-4 when the match goes just three sets and 0-2 in five sets. Both five-set losses came last weekend against Cornell and Stony Brook at the Rose Hill Classic.
- Morgan Mientus (Chicago, Ill./St. Ignatius College Prep) was named to the All-Tournament Team at the end of the Rose Hill Classic. The junior libero finished with 54 digs in three matches, including a career-best 27 against Stony Brook in the tournament finale.
- Jessica Serrato (Millbrae, Calif./Saint Ignatius College Prep) is fast approaching the 100-100 mark in kills and digs and is on pace to do it quicker than she did a year ago. The junior has 91 kills and 73 digs on the season. Last fall, it took her 10 matches (39 sets) to reach 100 kills and 20 matches (69 sets) to record 100 digs. Serrato has played in all 38 sets this season. She was one of two Bison, with Mientus, to hit the century mark in both last categories last year.
- Bucknell has received production from both the veteran and the young on its roster. Juniors account for nearly 42 percent of the Bison's kills total this season, while freshmen have served more than 43 percent of the team's aces. Blocking is a bit more balanced with the senior class at 27.8 percent, juniors at 23.8 percent, sophomores at 13.1 percent and freshmen at 35.2 percent.
- Senior Kebah Edoho (Odenton, Md./Arundel) and freshman Karen Campbell (Chesapeake, Va./Cape Henry Collegiate) are tied for the team lead in blocking with 33 (0.87/set) apiece. As a team, the Bison have 71 total blocks compared to 46 for their opponents.
- Cindy Opalski is searching for her 400th career victory as a head coach. Through four years at Clarion and now in her 23rd year with Bucknell, Opalski is 399-381.
SCOUTING FORDHAM
- Bucknell and Fordham ran into each other last weekend at the Rose Hill Classic where the Rams came away with a 3-0 win. Since that tournament and after defeating Lafayette in four sets on Tuesday night, Fordham is 5-9 on the season.
- Lisa Hipp is fast approaching the 200-kills mark with 195 on the year, and Abigail Konovodoff is already at 416 assists. Like the Bison, the Rams are a strong blocking team with 115.5 total blocks, topping their opponents' 99.5. Helping with those numbers are Carina Thompson and Randi Ewing, who are both averaging better than 0.90 blocks per set.
- Fordham's win over Bucknell last Saturday evened the all-time series between the teams at 9-9. Hipp and Konovodoff put up match highs with 12 kills and 36 assists, respectively. Mientus had 11 digs for the Bison, while Serrato led Bucknell with seven kills. Kat Tauscher (Washington, D.C./National Cathedral School) put up 16 assists and Meghan Wentzel (San Anselmo, Calif./The Branson School) had 10.
SCOUTING PROVIDENCE
- Providence enters the week at 1-12 overall with a match against Brown on Wednesday night before heading to Lewisburg. The Friars' lone win to date is a 3-1 decision over St. Peter's with eight straight losses since then.
- Providence went 8-22 overall and 2-10 in the America East Conference last season. The Friars graduated their lone all-conference selection, Lauren Fletcher, who was named to the first team.
- In the all-time series, Providence has a 5-3 edge against Bucknell. The Friars won the first four meets, but the Bison have taken three of the last four coming from 2002-10. Bucknell is also 2-2 against Providence when the match goes at least four sets, but 1-3 when it ends in straight sets.
- Bucknell and Providence last met in 2010 at the Bucknell Invitational. The Bison came away with a 3-2 victory (25-22, 21-25, 14-25, 25-19, 16-14). Among those still on Bucknell's roster since that win are Tauscher, who had 17 assists, and Leylin Marroquin (Lone Tree, Colo./Highlands Ranch), who added 15 digs.
SCOUTING QUINNIPIAC
- Quinnipiac comes to Lewisburg with a 0-6 record having lost all six of its matches in straight sets. Tanner Celestin has 19 kills and Ashley Kopacki 62 assists on the year. Quinnipiac was picked ninth out of nine teams in the Northeast Conference Preseason Poll.
- The Bobcats finished out the 2011 campaign at 4-25 overall and 3-13 in the NEC. They return nine players from that team but lost setter Kayla Lawler to graduation. Lawler graduated as Quinnipiac's all-time assists leader with 3,431.
- Bucknell and Quinnipiac have met just once in program history and the Bison came out on top in straight sets (30-24, 30-22, 30-24) at the 2002 Bucknell Invitational. Brandi Trapasso had 15 kills, Breean Trapasso had 36 assists and Chelsea Anderson totaled 13 digs.
LOOKING FORWARD
Bucknell's next order of business will be Patriot League play. The Bison's conference opener is Sept. 21 at Lafayette at 7 p.m. Action on Sept. 22 then takes them to Bethlehem, Pa., for a 5 p.m. meeting with Lehigh.
