The University of Akron Athletics
Volleyball Set To Play Wright State, Saint Francis In ESPN3 Matchups
September 10 | Women's Volleyball
Follow Akron Volleyball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram | Buy Tickets
Akron (4-3) at Wright State (5-2)
Friday, Sept. 11 | Saturday, Sept. 12
C.J. McLin Gymnasium
Dayton, Ohio • 7 p.m. | 7 p.m.
Live Stats: Click Here
ESPN3 (Friday): http://es.pn/1JEK7mY
ESPN3 (Saturday): http://es.pn/1NfqHv5
Akron (4-3) against Saint Francis (2-7)
Saturday, Sept. 12
C.J. McLin Gymnasium
Dayton, Ohio • 3 p.m.
Live Stats: Click Here
ESPN3: http://es.pn/1OhBXEd
AKRON, Ohio -- The University of Akron volleyball team ventures to Wright State to participate in the Holiday Inn Invitational. UA will play a single match on Friday versus the Raiders at 7 p.m. ET, followed by a doubleheader on Saturday against Saint Francis (3 p.m. ET) and Wright State (7 p.m. ET).
MATCH INFORMATION
Dates: Sept. 11-12
Location: Dayton, Ohio
Site: C.J. McLin Gymnasium
The Series: Akron trails Wright State, 7-12; Akron leads Saint Francis, 12-0
Head Coaches: Tom Hanna (143-137 overall, 4-3 at UA); Susan Clements (179-176 overall, 18-81 at Wright State); Jason Kozak (72-84 overall, 14-24 at St. Francis)
Akron Assistant Coaches: Kacie Ehinger (Assistant Coach); Orlando Gonzalez (Assistant Coach)
ZIP LINES
• Akron is in its 42nd season of collegiate volleyball. Head coach Tom Hanna is in his first season at the helm and holds a 143-137 (.511) overall record and a 4-3 record leading the Zips.
• The Zips were projected to finish sixth in the Mid-American Conference East Division by the league's head coaches after finishing with an 8-23 overall mark in 2014.
• Akron is led by junior Julia Smagacz and senior Kelsey Wilson. Smagacz, who has played in all 27 sets, leads the team with 64 kills and 2.37 kills per set. Wilson leads the Zips in points (83.5), service aces (12) and total blocks (23).
• Karley Kusan and Ashley Holder have been running Akron's offense, as the setters dished out 6.74 and 6.00 assists per set on the season thus far. Kusan has totaled 128 assists while Holder has contributed 114 assists in 19 sets.
• Defensively, Brenna Mack and Dragana Micic have paced the Zips with 79 and 61 digs, respectively. Mack has only committed six receiving errors in 100 total attempts for a .940 reception percentage.
• Akron is third in the MAC with a .213 hitting percentage led by senior Kelsey Wilson who is second overall with a .357 percentage. The Zips lead the MAC with 2.26 service aces per set (seventh in NCAA) and have six players in the top ten overall in service aces. These players include Ashley Holder (.53), Kelsey Wilson (.44), Dragana Micic (.41), Kayla Gwozdz (.40) and Callie Mack (.39).
• Akron currently ranks fifth in the nation in total aces (64) while Holder (34th) and Wilson (95th) sit in the top 100 in aces per set.
• Assistant coaches Kacie Ehinger and Orlando Gonzalez begin their first season on Akron's staff as well.
• Ehinger, who worked with Hanna at Marist for three seasons, has more than 13 years of experience in collegiate volleyball. She joins Akron after spending the 2014 season at Lamar University.
• Gonzalez has more than 25 years of volleyball experience. He was a former Division I head coach at Rutgers and former Division II head coach at Michigan Tech. During his tenure at Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights registered the second highest team grade-point average in the Rutgers athletics department. At Michigan Tech, he led his team to the 2009 NCAA Tournament while mentoring six All-Conference selections and nine All-Academic honorees.
WHAT IS A ZIP?
• One of the unique nicknames in collegiate athletics belongs to The University of Akron.
• Originally Zippers, athletic director Kenneth "Red" Cochrane officially shortened the nickname to the Zips in 1950. Twenty-five years earlier a campus-wide contest had been conducted to choose a nickname for the University's athletics teams.
• Suggestions submitted by students, faculty, and alumni included Golden Blue Devils, Tip Toppers, Rubbernecks, Hillbillies, Kangaroos, and Cheveliers.
• The winner, freshman Margaret Hamlin, received a prize of $10 for Zippers, a $6 pair of rubber overshoes and a brand name of the BF Goodrich Company.
• The evolution of Zippy, UA's mascot, began 40 years ago when the student council decided the University needed a mascot.
• "Zippy" the kangaroo was officially declared the school's mascot on May 1, 1953. The first known printed reference to the mascot as "Zippy" was a 1965 Zip football press brochure. The Buchtelite's first use of the name "Zippy" came Sept. 24, 1965, in an identification of a photo of the cheerleaders listing "Mascot - 'Zippy' - Charles Huettner."
• In 2007, Zippy was named the Capital One National Mascot of the Year.
LAST TIME OUT
• UA hosted its own Akron Invitational on Sept. 4-5, welcoming Navy, Saint Francis and Canisius to James A. Rhodes Arena. The Zips wrapped up the tournament with a flawless 3-0 record to claim the Championship trophy.
• Senior Dragana Micic led the team with 26 kills and 36 points, while Amanda Bedell also finished with 26 kills and 28 points. Kelsey Wilson paced Akron with 33.5 points and a .524 hitting percentage. Madi Baer was also an offensive threat for Akron as she contributed 17 kills for a .341 attack percentage. At setter, Ashley Holder and Karley Kusan tallied 50 and 49 assists, respectively.
• Micic and Brenna Mack added 29 and 28 digs apiece in the three matches while Jessica Kloehn led the team with eight total blocks.
• On the weekend, the Zips hit .256, highlighted by a season-high .284 percentage against Canisius.
• Micic and Baer were named to the All-Tournament Team for their weekend performances while Wilson was named tournament MVP.
• The Zips will then travel to Morehead, Ky. for the Comfort Inn and Suites Invitational starting on Friday, Sept. 18. Akron will take on Samford (10:30 a.m.) and Morehead State (2:30 p.m.) followed by a single match on Saturday, Sept. 19 against East Tennessee (11 a.m.).
SCOUTING WRIGHT STATE
• Wright State was picked to finish ninth in the Horizon League this season by the conference's head coaches. The Raiders went 5-23 overall and 2-12 in the conference in 2014.
• Wright State's 2015 roster includes leaders in every major statistical category last year. Jessie Thornton was named to the Horizon League all-freshman team after leading the Raiders with 532 digs. Sophomore Katie Klusman led the team with 230 kills while sophomore Maddie Lohmeier accumulated a team-high 913 set assists. Senior Marisa Aiello had 79 blocks and sophomore Rachel Kremer posted 15 service aces in 2014.
• Junior Alana Smith, recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, is joined on the roster by four freshmen: Meghan Weber, Hadley Sterett, Bailey Wheatley and Alannah Lemming.
• The Raiders began its 2015 season by hosting the Holiday Inn Classic and claiming victories in all three matches against Niagara, Tennessee Tech and Evansville. Wright State suffered a loss to Miami (OH) before beating Bowling Green and IPFW at the Hampton Inn Invitational. The Raiders most recently dropped a 3-0 decision to Loyola.
• Wright State is led by Susan Clements who is in her fourth year at the helm of the program. Klusman leads the Raiders with 4.30 kills per set and 92.5 points so far this season.
• The last time Akron has competed against Wright State was in 2007 at the Sheraton Hilton Invitational after a five set victory (3-2) over the Raiders.
SCOUTING SAINT FRANCIS
• Saint Francis was projected to finish fourth in the Northeast Conference preseason poll after compiling a 12-17 overall record and an 8-6 conference mark in 2014.
• Head coach Jason Kozak leads the Red Flash in his second season.
• Saint Francis dropped three matches while taking home one victory in its opening weekend at the Towson Invitational, falling to Manhattan, Tennessee and host Towson in straight sets. The Red Flash defeated the Delaware State Hornets in four sets and also fell to Youngstown State, 3-1 in a midweek matchup.
• Sophomore libero Jenna Veres recorded 465 digs in her rookie season to set a new SFU record in the category. Second team All-NEC picks Hannah Kutny and Breanna Opera also have big roles on the team. Kutny, a senior, ranked fifth in the NEC last season with 3.21 kills per set, while Opera, a junior, finished right behind in sixth with 3.15 kills per set.
• Kutny leads the team this season with 106 points, 91 kills and 2.84 kills per set while Opera averages 2.27 kills per set. Amelia Metzler has contributed 5.63 assists per set whereas Veres has added 3.97 digs per set.
• The Zips will be facing Saint Francis for the second time this season as Akron defeated the Red Flash in straight sets 3-0 (25-14, 25-15, 28-18) at the Akron Invitational.
