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

SOMERS, Wis. (Oct. 9, 2014)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside volleyball squad finishes off its homestand this weekend, welcoming Great Lakes Valley Conference rivals University of Indianapolis and Saint Joseph's College to DeSimone Gymnasium before traveling up to Marquette, Michigan to face Northern Michigan University on Monday afternoon.
 
The Rangers and Greyhounds hit the court at 7 p.m. on Friday with UW-Parkside and Saint Joseph's squaring off at 3 p.m. on Saturday. The Rangers take on the Wildcats at 5:30 p.m. (Eastern Time) in the Monday night non-league tilt. Live stats and video will be provided for all three contests.
 
About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (9-6, 5-4 GLVC) heads into the weekend riding a three-match win streak. The Rangers run began in Evansville, Indiana on Oct. 3, where visiting Parkside rallied from a 2-0 deficit to snag the 3-2 (20-25, 17-25, 25-22, 25-22, 16-14) win over the University of Southern Indiana. The Rangers continued to roll the following day, sweeping host Bellarmine University in straight sets (25-17, 25-15, 25-22). Parkside played its first home match in 16 days on Tuesday, cruising past NAIA Olivet Nazarene University 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-14).
 
Jackie Langer paces the Rangers with a team-high 171 kills on the year, averaging 3.1 per set while Rebecca Roembke adds 2.7 kills per set. Megan Pekarek is the team's primary setter with 8.8 assists per set while defensively Jessi Mainczyk and Meghan Conley anchor the team, averaging 4.6 and 2.7 digs per set, respectively. Sonja Burnson leads the team at the net with 46 blocks (5 solo) while Roembke has 12 of the Rangers' 46 service aces on the season.
 
About the Greyhounds: Indianapolis (8-6, 7-2 GLVC) had a grueling non-conference slate, facing four teams ranked in the AVCA Top 15 and compiling a 1-4 mark in non-conference play. Since then, UIndy has been firing on all cylinders, winning seven of the last nine with all seven victories coming in three sets.
 
The Greyhounds won the opening set but was unable to hold on, eventually falling 3-2 to McKendree on Oct. 3 for the squad's second blemish in GLVC play. The Hounds rebounded the next day, dismantling University of Illinois Springfield 3-0 to close a three-match homestand at the Ruth Lilly Center.
 
Hailey Brown is the Hounds primary offensive threat, coming into Friday averaging 3.7 kills per set while Lynsey Hazelwood chips in 3.0 per set. Meghan Binkerd averages 11.4 assists per set with Kimberly Trojan averaging 4.8 digs per set.
 
About the Pumas: Saint Joseph's (4-11, 2-7 GLVC) heads into Friday's clash with Lewis University having lost six of its last seven matches. The Pumas lone victory during that stretch was a 3-2 victory over GLVC East rival Illinois Springfield on Oct. 3. All six of Saint Joseph's losses in that span were three set losses, including a 3-0 setback to McKendree on October 4.
 
Kate Wagenaar and Anna Sacco lead the Puma offense, averaging 2.8 and 2.5 digs per set, respectively. Megan Sturm leads the team in assists with 5.7 per set while defensively, Katie Dugan leads the Pumas, averaging 3.2 digs per set.
 
About the Wildcats: Northern Michigan (8-6, 8-1 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) heads into the weekend having won six of its last seven matches. The Wildcats host GLIAC rivals Ohio Dominican University on Friday and Tiffin University on Saturday before closing its three-match homestand on Monday against the Rangers.
 
NMU has yet to tally a win outside of GLIAC play, suffering non-conference losses to the University of Minnesota-Duluth (3-0), Upper Iowa University (3-2), Bemidji State University (3-1), Winona State University (3-1) and Cedarville University (3-1).
 
Lisa Studnicka averages a team-best 3.4 kills per set with Madison Whitehead chipping in 2.7 kills per set. Meghan Seymour is the Wildcats primary setter, logging 7.1 assists per set while Alex Berger is a defensive stalwart, logging 5.8 digs 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 35-13 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 126-83 and a 63-45 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.