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

SOMERS, Wis. (Oct. 31, 2014)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside volleyball squad gears up for its final interdivisional matches of the season this weekend, hosting Great Lakes Valley Conference West Division foes Missouri University S&T and Drury University.
 
The Rangers and Miners square off at 5 p.m. on Saturday inside DeSimone Gymnasium while UW-Parkside takes on Drury on Sunday at 1 p.m. Live stats and video will be available for both contests. Saturday's match against S&T is the Rangers' annual Dig Pink game with the team donning pink to raise funds to help fight for a cure for breast cancer.
 
About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (14-10, 7-7 GLVC) looks to rebound after falling 3-1 to Lewis University on Wednesday night. The Rangers snagged the opening set 26-24 and owned a one-point advantage late in the second set before Lewis tallied five of the final six points to claim the 25-20 win in set two to level the score. The Flyers utilized a late run in the third set, scoring four of the final six for the 25-23 set win before netting the 25-17 win in set four to wrap up the match.
 
Rebecca Roembke led the Rangers against Lewis, collecting a double-double with 15 kills and 18 digs.
 
On the season, Jackie Langer is the team leader in kills, averaging 3.0 per set while Roembke and Jeni Heller add 2.7 and 2.3 per set, respectively.
 
Megan Pekarek is the Rangers' primary setter, averaging 8.2 assists per set while Lauren Hickson chips in 2.3 per set. Defensively, Meghan Conley paces Parkside averaging 3.3 digs per set while Jessi Mainczyk and Roembke average 2.9 and 2.7 digs per set, respectively. Sonja Burnson has a team-best 91 blocks on the season, helping the Rangers rank fourth in the GLVC in blocks with 195 on the season (2.1 per set)
 
Langer, Roembke and Pekarek are the only three Rangers to appear in all 91 sets this season while Conley has seen action in 86 of the team's 91 sets.
 
About the Miners: Missouri S&T (14-11, 9-5 GLVC) heads into the weekend riding a two-match win streak. The Miners fell 3-1 to McKendree University on Oct. 25 before rolling the University of Illinois Springfield 3-1 the following day. S&T continued its winning ways with a 3-2 win over Drury on Wednesday.
 
Against Drury, Missouri S&T trailed 2-1 before winning the final two sets 25-22 and 15-10.
 
Krista Haslag enters the weekend averaging a team-leading 2.8 kills per set while Alison Mueller adds 2.5 per set. Allie Plunk averages 9.4 assists per set and Jackie Pyles contributes 4.4 digs per set.
 
About the Panthers: Drury (14-9, 5-9 GLVC) saw its six match win streak come to a halt on Wednesday, falling in five sets to Missouri S&T. The Panthers win streak began on Oct. 11 with a 3-0 win over non-conference foe Southern Arkansas University before winning three matches at the GLVC/GLIAC Crossover Tournament. Drury was back in GLVC play on Oct. 25, downing UIS 3-0 before rolling McKendree 3-0 the following day.
 
Sara Borneman leads the Panthers in kills, averaging 2.7 per set with BJ Specht adding 2.6 per set. Brooke Antenen serves up 10.3 assists per set while defensively, Bridget Justis contributes 4.5 digs per set.
 
Crossover Magic: Over the past three seasons, the Rangers have compiled a 8-1 mark at the annual Mizuno GLVC-GLIAC Crossover Tournament. UW-Parkside steamrolled the GLIAC with a perfect 3-0 mark in both 2012 and 2013 while posting a 2-1 mark at the event this season.
 
NCAA Stat Rankings: UW-Parkside ranks 39th nationally (out of 287 teams) in total blocks with 189 on the season. Individually, Sonja Burnson sits 27th, averaging 1.14 blocks per set.
 
GLVC Preseason Prognostications: UW-Parkside was picked to finish sixth in the East Division in the 2014 GLVC Coaches' Preseason Poll, released on Aug. 26 by the league office. The Rangers collected 58 points in the rankings and was four points shy of fifth place McKendree University. Defending champion University of Indianapolis was picked to win the East Division followed by Lewis University, University of Southern Indiana and Bellarmine University. In the West, Truman State University claimed the top spot followed by Rockhurst University, University of Missouri-Saint Louis and Missouri University S&T.
 
Road Warriors: UW-Parkside's opening seven matches were all on the road along with 12 of the first 14. The schedule balances out towards the end of the season with the final five regular season matches all at home inside DeSimone Gymnasium.
 
DeSimone Advantage: Over the past four seasons, UW-Parkside has compiled a record of 36-15 in home matches at DeSimone Gymnasium. The Rangers were 9-5 at home last season with two of the five losses coming at the hands of nationally-ranked foes.

Parkside's Paciero: Head Coach Christine Paciero begins her fourth season at the helm at UW-Parkside, owning a career mark of 131-87 and a 68-49 record with the Rangers. Paciero compiled a 63-38 record in three seasons at Dominican University (2008-2010) before taking over the reins at Parkside. She notched her 100th career win in the 2013 season opener, downing Anderson University on Sept. 6.
 
All-Academic: The UW-Parkside volleyball squad earned both the Team Academic All-GLVC Award and the AVCA Team Academic Award for the first time in program history during the 2013-2014 academic year. The Rangers boasted a team grade point average of 3.38.