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

SOMERS, Wis. (Sept. 19, 2014)-- After a seven match road swing to begin the season the University of Wisconsin-Parkside volleyball finally has a home match, welcoming Great Lakes Valley Conference West Division foes Maryville University and the University of Missouri-Saint Louis to the friendly confines of DeSimone Gymnasium this weekend.
 
The Rangers and Saints hit the floor at 5 p.m. on Saturday with the Rangers and Tritons finishing the homestand on Sunday with first serve slated for 1 p.m. Live stats will be available for both contests.
 
About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (4-3, 1-1 GLVC) opened up GLVC play last weekend, splitting a pair of games against West Division rivals. The Rangers fell 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-21) to West Division favorite Truman State University on Saturday before rebounding with a 3-0 (25-16, 28-26, 25-12) win on Sunday over host Quincy University.
 
Offensively, the Rangers are led by Jackie Langer as the freshman averages 3.3 kills per set. Rebecca Roembke adds 3.0 kills/set while Jeni Heller contributes 2.5 kills/set. Megan Pekarek averages a team best 9.9 assists per set, ranking third in the GLVC while Sonja Burnson is a menace at the net, leading the team with 24 blocks on the season, averaging 1.2 per set.
 
Lauren Hickson leads the team with five service aces while Jessi Mainczyk paces the squad with 4.6 digs per set. Langer chips in 2.8 digs per set while Meghan Conley averages 2.8 per set.
 
About the Saints: It's been a streaky season for Maryville (5-3, 1-1 GLVC), heading to Somers riding a two-match win streak. The Saints rattled off three straight wins to open the season, claiming three set decisions over both West Liberty University and Saint Joseph's College before hitting a rough patch and dropping three in a row at the hands of the University of Minnesota-Crookston, Missouri Baptist University and McKendree University.  
 
Maryville rebounded on Sunday, downing the University of Illinois Springfield 3-0 before accruing a 3-0 non-conference win over local rival Webster University on Wednesday.
 
Ashley Selman leads the Saints in kills with 83, averaging 3.0 per set while Laura Welling adds 2.5 kills/set. Taryn Trubich and Hannah Seitter average 5.5 and 4.2 assists per set, respectively while Ali Lampen has a team best 176 digs on the year, averaging 6.3 per set.
 
About the Tritons: Missouri-Saint Louis (5-2, 2-0 GLVC) heads into Saturday's clash with Lewis University looking to rebound after having its four-match win streak snapped on Wednesday in a non-conference match against Missouri University S&T.
 
The Tritons dropped a 3-0 match to the University of West Florida on Sept. 5 before rolling to four straight wins, including three victories in straight sets. UMSL picked up non-league wins over Hillsdale College and University of North Alabama on Sept. 6 before beginning GLVC play with a pair of 3-0 wins against Illinois Springfield and McKendree.
 
UMSL saw its streak come to an abrupt halt on Wednesday, falling 3-1 to the Miners in Rolla.
 
Haley Brightwell and Carly Ochs pace the Triton offense, averaging 2.5 and 2.4 kills per set, respectively. Lindsay Meyer tallies 9.2 assists per set while on defense Emily Bragaw leads the team with 4.7 digs per set.
 
Fifth Set Magic: The Rangers are 2-0 this season in matches extending to a decisive fifth set. UW-Parkside bested both Bemidji State University 3-2 (25-22, 19-25, 14-25, 25-21, 15-3) and Upper Iowa University 3-2 (25-27, 25-23, 25-16, 21-25, 15-10) on Sept. 6 at the Keweenaw Classic in Houghton, Michigan.
 
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 are 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 33-12 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.

Paciero Portfolio: Head Coach Christine Paciero begins her fourth season at the helm at UW-Parkside, owning a career mark of 121-80 and a 58-42 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.