FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Media Relations

SOMERS, Wis. (Nov. 1, 2013)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside volleyball squad gears up for its final homestand of the season, welcoming a pair of Great Lakes Valley Conference foes from Missouri to DeSimone Gymnasium. The Rangers open the weekend against William Jewell College on Saturday before hosting Rockhurst University on Sunday for Senior Day.

The Rangers and Cardinals square off at 5 p.m. on Saturday while UW-Parkside and Rockhurst hit the floor at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (15-9, 5-6 GLVC) wrapped up its six-match road swing red hot, winning the final four contests and posting a 5-1 record during the road trip. The Rangers were the only GLVC squad to finish the Mizuno GLVC-GLIAC Crossover Tournament undefeated with three wins over the weekend before the Rangers' snapped Cardinal Stritch University's 13-match win streak on Thursday night, downing the Wolves 3-1 (25-16, 25-15, 22-25, 25-19).

Makenzie Fahnestock leads the Rangers in kills with 212 on the season (2.7 per set) while Bridget Nickel leads the squad in kills per set, averaging 2.8. Lauren Hickson paces the Rangers in assists, averaging 8.5 per set while also collecting a team-best 31 service aces. The freshman ranks ninth in the GLVC in assists while sitting third in the conference in service aces per set.

Kendyl Danelski leads the Rangers with 63 blocks on the season (0.86 per set) while Sarah Mlachnik leads the defensive efforts and ranks fourth in the GLVC, averaging 5.1 digs per set.  

About the Cardinals: William Jewell (4-21, 2-9 GLVC) opened the season by dropping 19 of its first 21 games but has since posted a record of 2-2. The Cardinals edged host Maryville University 3-2 on Oct. 19 before posting a 1-2 record at last weekend's Mizuno GLVC-GLIAC Challenge in Aurora, Ill. Jewell fell 3-2 to Lake Superior State University before ending day one with a 3-0 win over Walsh University. The Cardinals concluded the tournament by falling 3-0 to the University of Findlay on Saturday.

Kaylee Marquardt is the Cardinals' leader in kills, averaging 2.5 per set while Cailynn Hayter is the team's primary setter, accumulating 506 assists (6.2 per set) on the season. Defensively, Katie Damgar leads the Cardinals and ranks seventh in the GLVC in kills, averaging 4.4 per set.

The Rangers and Cardinals met last season on Oct. 21 in Somers with the Rangers rolling to a 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-22) victory.

About the Hawks: Rockhurst (18-5, 9-2 GLVC) heads into the weekend in second place in the GLVC West and have won six of its last seven matches. The Hawks finished the Mizuno GLVC-GLIAC Crossover Tournament with a 2-1 record, falling 3-0 to Ferris State University to open the event on Friday before rolling Wayne State University (3-0) and Northwood University (3-1) on Saturday.

The Hawks have been victorious in their last three GLVC matches, defeating Quincy University 3-0 on Oct. 12 while earning road wins over Maryville University on Oct. 18 (3-1) and on Oct. 19 against the University of Missouri-Saint Louis (3-0).

Morgan Rietzke has 286 kills on the season to pace the Hawks, averaging 3.5 per set. Katie Lescher and Alyssa Arnold both add 2.6 kills per set while Whitney Kotsal leads the team and GLVC in assists, averaging 11.1 per set. Defensively, Victoria Mahl leads the way with 5.1 digs per set.

RU leads the league in opponent hitting percentage (1.48). assists (12.77) and kills (13.41) while ranking third in the GLVC in digs (17.32).

The Rangers and Hawks last met on Oct. 20, 2012 with UW-Parkside prevailing 3-2 (21-25, 25-23, 25-21, 23-25, 15-12) inside DeSimone Gymnasium as Bridget Nickel tallied a game-high 23 kills.

Senior Salute: UW-Parkside will honor its four seniors on Sunday in a pregame ceremony. This year's class consists of Cayla Flood, Sarah Mlachnik, Chelsea Neave and Bridget Nickel. Flood owns the school record in service aces (119) and ranks sixth in assists with 1,332. Mlachnik is eighth in program history in digs with 955 while 2012 All-GLVC and All-Region selection Bridget Nickel sits fifth on the all-time list in kills (850) and seventh in total blocks (152).

DeSimone Advantage: Over the past four seasons, UW-Parkside has compiled a record of 32-11 in home games at DeSimone Gymnasium. The Rangers are 8-4 in home games this season with two of the four losses coming at the hands of nationally-ranked foes.

100-Club: Head Coach Christine Paciero notched her 100th career win in the season opener against Anderson University on Sept. 6. Paciero, now in her third season at UW-Parkside, owns a career mark of 114-73 and a 51-35 record with the Rangers. Paciero compiled a 63-38 record in three seasons at Dominican University (2008-2010) before taking over the reins at UW-P.

Preseason Prognostications: UW-Parkside was selected to finish third in the GLVC East Division by the league's 16 head coaches in the annual preseason poll. The University of Indianapolis was the preseason favorite in the East followed by Lewis University. Truman State was picked to win the West Division with 2012 GLVC Champion Rockhurst University selected to place second.

GLVC in the Top 25: Truman State University is the lone GLVC squad in the Top 25, sinking five spots to 20th. UIndy, Lewis and Rockhurst University all appear in the "others receiving votes" section.