DELAND, Fla. – Stetson Volleyball faces a tough road challenge with a pair of opponents near the top of the ASUN standings, conference-leading Kennesaw State and 19-win Jacksonville State. Both matches will be live streamed, links on the schedule page and in the article.
 
"I think this will be a good test for us," head coach Yang Deng said "It's good to play tough opponents. We know that some teams are supposed to be better than us, but there's 'supposed to' on the volleyball court so this will depend on how we perform. We have a different mindset because we're underdogs going to play in these matches, but we still need to focus on our side of the net. This will be a good test to see how big of a fight we put up against these opponents and it's also preparing us for the future too. We enjoy the process, challenge and the competitive games."
 
Last time out, the Hatters picked up a crucial 3-0 win over Queens after a battle from the Royals, but a compact schedule also gave SU a pair of losses with three matches in four days. This weekend, there is no midweek match, but the high-caliber opponents happen on back-to-back day as Stetson will face the teams on Friday and Saturday evenings.
 
Kennesaw State, Friday's opponent, sits near the top or in the top spot of a few categories and has won nine of its last 11 matches. Kills per set, the Owls take the top position in the ASUN, notching 13.71. with a hitting percentage of .253 [third in the ASUN]. KSU has the fewest sets played in the ASUN at 69 across 20 matches for an average of 3.45 sets per opponent. Kennesaw also scores from the serve, with the highest service aces per set in the conference at 1.95.
 
The quality depth of the KSU bench is visible in the amount of sets played as nine of the 12 players who have entered a match this year have played for 50 or more of the team's 69 total sets. The remaining three players have played in a minimum of eight matches.
 
Dani Ballou paces a balanced attack with 3.81 kills per set with four other players registering 2.5 or more. The side will go through McKinley Ferguson for distribution with the setter recording 721 of the squad's 851 assists. Ferguson also has the most service aces on the club with 33, followed by Ballou's 23 and Emma Schurfranz's 22.
 
A balanced-defensive effort sees the Owls getting 2.09 blocks per set lead by Claire Parsons' 72 blocks on the year, seconded by Jasmine Brown's 48. Ferguson also crashes the net, recording 41 of the team's 144 blocks. Shelby Dennis has notched 300 of KSU's 1,010 digs.
 
Nineteen-win Jacksonville State will close out the weekend but will face FGCU prior to taking on the Hatters in the Saturday match up. JSU has lost three matches in conference, two to Kennesaw and a five-set match at North Florida. The only other blemish on the Gamecocks' schedule was a five-set loss to the SEC's Auburn.
 
JSU has the highest hitting percentage in the ASUN at .282, while ranking fourth in kills per set [13.36]. The side is also clinical as they rank near the bottom of the ASUN in attack errors and reception errors [fourth lowest].
 
Lena Kindermann spearheads a team attack with 3.51 kills per set. Katie Montgomery, Sophie Riemersma and Courtney Glotzbach are all adding two more kills per set. Claire Ochs is directing the attack with 868 of the team's 1,040 assists. Five Gamecocks have recorded 10 or more service aces, including Ochs and Montgomery.
 
JSU's balanced in defense with Ochs filling a dual role notching 199 digs, second highest on the club. Erin Carmichael [308] and Brooklyn Schiffli [188] round out the top three. Montgomery and Kindermann are joined by Zoe Gonzales with each recording 50 or more blocks on the year.
 
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