Volleyball Visits Loyola Friday, Plays at American Saturday

Setting the Scene, Part I
Who: Bucknell (10-3, 3-1 PL) at Loyola (3-8, 1-3 PL)
When: Friday, Sept. 30 at 7 p.m.
Where: Reitz Arena – Baltimore, Md.
Live Video: ESPN+
Live Stats: LoyolaGreyhounds.com

Setting the Scene, Part II
Who: Bucknell (10-3, 3-1 PL) at American (8-6, 1-3 PL)
When: Saturday, Oct. 1 at 4 p.m.
Where: Bender Arena – Washington, D.C.
Live Video: ESPN+
Live Stats: AUEagles.com

About Bucknell

The Bison go on the road for matches at Loyola and American this weekend. They'll be tested by two more teams that have been regulars in the Patriot League tournament in recent years and that were each picked among the top five in the preseason poll in August.
Bucknell is 3-1 in league play after sweeping Holy Cross on Saturday and falling 3-2 to Colgate on Sunday. Bucknell is one of four teams with a winning league record through two weeks.
Bucknell's 3-0 sweep over the Crusaders was its sixth of the season and its third against a league opponents. It gave the Bison their best start to league play since 2003. Bucknell then took the reigning champion Raiders five sets after coming back from a 2-0 deficit. The Bison had set-point at 14-13 in the fifth but weren't able to seal it.
Bucknell is hitting .220 for the season and .258 in Patriot League play, which ranks second to only Colgate. It also leads the league in opponent hitting percentage (.145), kills (13.79/S), assists (12.57/S), service aces (1.86/S) and digs (16.79/S) when facing league opponents.
Junior outside hitter Catherine Jamison put together an outstanding weekend against Holy Cross and Colgate, totaling 34 kills and a .232 hitting percentage. She posted a career-high 23 kills against the Raiders, and she now ranks fifth in the league in both kills (3.48/S) and hitting percentage (.300) for the season.
Ranking just above Jamison in the Patriot League for kills is Bri Frazilus (4th, 3.51), who was named an honorable mention for PL Rookie of the Week on Tuesday. Frazilus racked up double-digit kills for a fourth and fifth time this season, including 15 with 11 digs in Sunday's match against Colgate. Frazilus has been named PL Rookie of the Week three times this fall.
Joining Frazilus with a double-double last time out was fellow freshman Laura Caro, who posted 30 assists and 14 digs. She leads the team with 5.8 assists per set.
Junior middle blocker Allie Lopez supplied a career-high nine blocks on Sunday, and she ranks fourth in the league with 1.03 blocks per set. Also on the defensive side of things, sophomore libero Jordan Hardy added a career-high 35 digs in the last match and has ranked first in the league in the category throughout the season.
Bison head coach Tyler Hagstrom is in his third season with the program. He's joined by second-year assistant Jeremy Young. Hagstrom is looking to guide the Bison back to the Patriot League Tournament for the first time since 2010.

Scouting Loyola/Series History

Loyola, which was picked fifth in the Patriot League preseason poll, is 3-8 overall with a 1-3 league record. The Greyhounds picked up a 3-1 win over Holy Cross during the opening weekend of league play and have losses to Colgate, American and Navy. They took the Mids to five sets in the most recent match.
Loyola finished 17-11 (9-7 PL) last season and represented the No. 5 seed in the Patriot League tournament, falling to No. 4 American in the quarterfinals.
Graduate student Katie Forsythe is a four-time Patriot League Libero of the Year, and her 5.93 career digs per set mark ranks fourth in NCAA Division I all-time history. Her 2,381 career digs are a Patriot League record. She's currently averaging 4.9 per set in 2022.
The Greyhounds are eighth in the league with a .160 hitting percentage, while junior Lauren Link leads the league with 4.43 kills per set.
Loyola head coach Alija Pittenger is in her eighth season with the Greyhounds and has a 70-123 record with the team. She has a 183-200 career record, having spent six seasons at Fairfield.
Bucknell is 16-12 all-time against the Greyhounds, dating back to 1984, and is 5-6 when playing at Loyola. The series is even at 5-5 over the last 10 matches.
Loyola won both meetings last year. Bucknell's 2021 season ended with a 3-0 loss to the Greyhounds.

Scouting American/Series History

American is 8-7 overall and 1-3 in Patriot League play this season. The Eagles opened the year on a six-match winning streak but have gone 2-7 since. Their one league win was over Loyola. American was picked third in Patriot League preseason poll after falling to Colgate in the championship in 2021.
American has been dominant in the Patriot League over the last two decades, winning the league title 16 times since 2000.
Senior outside hitter Zeynep Uzen was named the Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year and is a two-time First Team All-League selection. She currently ranks second in the league with 4.04 kills per set. She was joined on the Preseason All-League Team by graduate student Carlie Fikse, who currently ranks eighth in blocks (0.91/S).
American head coach Barry Goldberg is in his 34th year at the helm of the program and is 805-303 for his career, including a 278-29 Patriot League record. He's a 10-time PL Coach of the Year.
Bucknell has won just two of the 52 meetings between the teams since 1989, including one five-set victory during Bison head coach Tyler Hagstrom's first season in the spring 2021 campaign. Bucknell's other win was in 1996. The Eagles won both matchups last fall.
Lisa Zoch and Libby Nieporte combined for 28 kills in the most recent 3-1 loss, and Bucknell hit .231 as a team, but American hit .397 for the match and posted seven service aces while Uzen racked up 21 kills and 12 digs.