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Live Stats vs. Youngstown State
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RICHMOND, Ky. – Eastern Kentucky University’s volleyball season begins Friday in East Lansing, Mich., at the Spartan Showcase.  The Colonels will face Youngstown State at 4:30 p.m.

On Saturday, EKU takes on McNeese State at 10 a.m., and will conclude the event against host Michigan State at 7:30 p.m.

The following is a season preview for the 2012 volleyball team.

One year after having to replace seven seniors, including four starters, head coach Lori Duncan finds her team in a great situation in 2012.  Duncan – in her 15th season at EKU – has six starters and nine total letter winners returning this season.  Included in that group is junior Ashley Edmond, who won the OVC Freshman of the Year award two seasons ago and was an all-conference selection last season.

Other returning starters include setter Abbey Cvelbar, outside hitters Alexis Plagens, Kelsey Kuehner and Marissa Tashenberg, and defensive specialist Dena Ott.  The only starter not returning is sophomore Hannah Burkle.  She led the team with 105 blocks and had the second most kills a year ago.  Kuehner will move to the middle to fill the void.

“I really like the maturity, the leadership and the overall commitment of this group to be successful,” Duncan said.  “Our goal is no longer just to make it to the tournament, this group wants to be successful right now.”

With much of her team back, Duncan pinpointed two areas that her team had to improve upon during the spring and summer in order to take the next step up the conference standings – team defense and conditioning.

“One area that we really wanted to improve was our defense and our ball control,” said Duncan.  “That’s not a criticism of our liberos and defensive specialists.  We’re talking about overall ball control all the way around.  Over the course of the spring, we focused on playing a lot better defense with our outsides and middles.  When we talk about ball control, we’re talking about backcourt defense and serve reception.  We want to be very consistent with the balls we’re putting in play for our setter.  By giving them consistent balls to set, it gives the offense the opportunity to be in system as opposed to being very predictable.”

In the past, Duncan feels her team has been more susceptible to injuries because of a lack of strength and conditioning.  Many of the players spent a portion of the summer on campus improving those areas in hopes that it will mean less court time lost to injury during the season.

“Their commitment as a group to condition and work out has been impressive,” said Duncan.  “You have to have kids that have done a lot during the summer and have kept themselves in good physical condition.  Going into this preseason, more than any since 2004, we’ve had more kids here, more kids conditioning and more kids ready.  That goes a long way in preventing injuries.”

OUTSIDE HITTERS
With Kuehner’s move from the outside to the middle, what would have been one of the deepest positions becomes a bit thin in quantity, but certainly not in quality. 

“Ashley and Alexis are our one-two punch,” said Duncan.  “We don’t have the depth I’d like at this position but with improved shot making over the spring we’ve become even stronger on the outside.  These two have more than one or two shots in their arsenal and it makes them very dangerous to opponents.” 

Edmond led the team with 404 kills and 441 points and was second on the team with 51 blocks and 302 digs.  She ranked sixth in the conference with 3.28 kills per set and eighth with 3.59 points per set.  The Michigan City, Ind., native recorded 20-plus kills six times, including a career-high 24 on two occasions. 

Plagens missed some time with an injury as a freshman, but made a big impact when she was on the court.  In her first season the Strongsville, Ohio native averaged 2.33 kills per set, third best on the team.

“I look for Ashley to have an outstanding season,” Duncan added.  “I look for Alexis to emerge.  She did some wonderful things as a freshman but I think this is an opportunity for her to really blossom.”

MIDDLE BLOCKERS
The middle blocker position is deep for Eastern, but lacks experience.

Kuehner was third on the team in kills and third in the conference with an average of 0.32 aces per set while playing outside as a sophomore.  Duncan calls the transfer from Appalachian State a natural middle blocker.  She began the transition early in spring practice and impressed her coaches.

“Kelsey has the ability to play both positions,” Duncan said.  “Over the course of the spring, we gave her a lot or reps at middle and we’re excited about her development.  Kelsey is a natural middle.  The fact that she can hit outside and has done those types of things is a testament to her athleticism and versatility.”

Senior Toni Michalski, Tashenberg and freshman Rachel Vick provide plenty of depth but not much in the way of experience.  Michalski has only played in 13 matches over the past two seasons.  Tashenberg started 18 times in 2011 but has only played in 36 of the team’s 61 matches the past two seasons.  Vick will be making her collegiate debut in 2012.

SETTERS
Cvelbar was selected to the OVC All-Newcomer team after leading the team in assists, service aces and attack percentage.  She played in all 32 matches and all 127 sets.  She posted the fifth best single season hitting percentage and tied for the eighth most assists in one season in program history.  Cvelbar led the OVC in attack percentage, ranked sixth in aces per set and ranked ninth with 8.74 assists per set.

“Abbey did some incredible things for us as a freshman,” Duncan said.  “She’s in full command, she’s very independent and makes great decisions.”

Much like Cvelbar a year ago, freshman Mallori Moffat is ready to step in and contribute immediately.  She led her high school team to two state championships and helped her AAU squad capture a national title.

Having two quality setters will allow more flexibility in the offense.  Duncan hopes to be able to run a 6-2, which will ensure three attackers in the front row at all times, as opposed to a 5-1 that takes away a hitter when the setter is in the front row

“This creates some scenarios for us that we haven’t had the opportunity to use in the past,” said Duncan.  “It makes us much more versatile.”

RIGHT SIDE
Tashenberg, Michalski and senior Jessica Mueller will see action on the right side.  Two of the three will see a lot of court time when the team runs a 6-2 offense.  Mueller has spent much of her career as a setter, but recorded three kills and three blocks against Eastern Illinois last season while filling in along the front row.

DEFENSIVE SPECIALISTS
As a freshman a year ago, Ott was charged with filling the shoes of two-time All-OVC selection Abby O’Connor.  She was up for the challenge.  Ott played all 127 sets while leading the team with 618 digs, fourth most in one season in program history.  She ranked fifth in the OVC, and 61st in the nation, with an average of 4.87 digs per set.  The Wauconda, Ill., native was second on the team with 91 assists and third with 22 service aces.

Moffat, junior Candice Biltz and transfer Julia Mindlina will join Ott in competing for the libero position.  Biltz appeared in all 32 matches last year.  Mindlina joins the Colonel program after spending her freshman season playing for Syracuse.  She had the fourth most digs on the team as a freshman.

“This group offers an outstanding set of skills that we haven’t had from top to bottom,” Duncan said.  “This core increases our ability tremendously when it comes to defending the court.”

SCHEDULE
The Colonels will play 12 non-conference matches and a slate of 16 Ohio Valley Conference contests.

EKU will begin the season with three invitationals.  The second weekend of the season will feature a trip to play in the Shamrock Invitational hosted by Notre Dame.  Eastern will play Buffalo, Alabama-Birmingham and Notre Dame over a three-day period.  The final invitational of the season will be at Cleveland State where the Colonels will take on Oakland, Cleveland State and Buffalo for a second time.

After a non-conference road match at Marshall on Sept. 11, Eastern Kentucky will open its nine-match home schedule on Sept. 21 against conference-foe Tennessee State.  This season’s OVC schedule includes home-and-home matches against TSU, newcomer Belmont, Morehead State, Tennessee Tech and Jacksonville State.  EKU will face Austin Peay, Tennessee-Martin and Southeast Missouri at home while taking to the road for matches against SIU Edwardsville, Eastern Illinois and Murray State.

The final two non-conference matches fall on Oct. 23 at NCAA Division I newcomer Northern Kentucky and on Oct. 31 at home against Wright State. 

The regular season concludes with four straight OVC road matches in November.  The OVC tournament is scheduled for Nov. 15-19.  First round NCAA tournament action begins on Nov. 29.