ATHENS, Ohio – Winners of six of its last seven matches, Eastern Kentucky University will travel to Athens, Ohio this weekend for the Green & White Invitational presented by Athens County Convention & Visitors Bureau.
 
The Colonels will open up with Oakland on Friday at 4:30 p.m.  EKU will face Liberty on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. before closing out the event against host Ohio on Saturday at 7 p.m.  The matches against Oakland and Ohio will air live on ESPN+.  The match against Liberty will be shown live on YouTube.
 
THE COLONELS
-  The Colonels (7-3) went on the road and beat Marshall, 3-1, on Tuesday.  Four players had nine or more kills in the win, led by AG Vandagriff with 13.  Josie Schmitendorf led all players with 26 digs.
 
-  Sarah Mitchell is fourth with 4.01 points per set, sixth with 3.43 kills per set and seventh with 0.38 aces per set.
 
-  Schmitendorf is now eighth in program history with 1,431 digs.  Becky Galati (1999-02) is seventh with 1,478 career digs.
 
-  As a team, EKU leads the Atlantic Sun Conference in points (17.11/set) and kills (12.97/set).  The Colonels are second in assists (12.16/set) and hitting percentage (.206).
 
-  Paige Wagers leads the ASUN and is 18th in the nation with 1.46 blocks per set.  She is 10th in the conference with a .279 attack percentage.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
-  Oakland is 3-6 overall.  This past weekend, the Golden Grizzlies beat Saint Francis (3-0), and lost to Sacramento State (3-0) and Michigan (3-1).  Tyler Linkhart leads the team in kills (3.03/set) and aces (0.39/set).  
 
-  Liberty is 4-5 this season after suffering back-to-back losses to Virginia and West Virginia.  Kate Gammer (3.03/set) and Kamryn Bacus (3.00/set) lead the team in kills. 
 
-  Ohio sits at 3-5 and has lost four straight.  The Bobcats fell to Loyola Marymount (3-2), No. 23 Southern California (3-1) and Utah State (3-2) over the weekend.  Kam Hunt averages 3.52 kills per set.
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
-  The series with Oakland is tied 1-1.  The first meeting was in 1999 and the most recent matchup was in 2012. 
 
-  Liberty is 2-1 against the Colonels.  The teams last met twice in 2022 with each winning on its own home court. 
 
-  EKU is 1-3 all-time against Ohio.  The two programs have not met since 2009.