Volleyball Ready to Host NIU, Louisville and No. 15 ASU

MOREHEAD, Ky. -- The Morehead State volleyball program will host the Comfort Inn and Suites Invitational on Friday and Saturday at Wetherby Gym.  The Eagles face Mid-American Conference opponent Northern Illinois (10 a.m.) and Atlantic Coast Conference foe Louisville (7 p.m.) on Friday before wrapping up with Pacific-12 Conference school Arizona State (5 p.m.) on Saturday.  U of L has been to 16 straight NCAA Tournaments, while ASU is ranked 15th in the nation.


Tournament schedule:

Friday, 9/12 – Morehead State vs. Northern Illinois – 10 a.m. ET
Friday, 9/12 – No. 15 Arizona State vs. Louisville – Noon ET
Friday, 9/12 – No. 15 Arizona State vs. Northern Illinois – 5 p.m. ET
Friday, 9/12 – Morehead State vs. Louisville – 7 p.m. ET
Saturday, 9/13 – Louisville vs. Northern Illinois – 2 p.m. ET
Saturday, 9/13 – Morehead State vs. No. 15 Arizona State – 5 p.m. ET

Morehead State versus Northern Illinois has been designated as an Elementary School Day match.  More 100 students are scheduled to be on hand, and youngsters will be able to interact with the team and coaches.  The Eagles vs. Louisville will feature a faculty/staff picnic on the Laughlin Lawn at 5 p.m. ET.  All MSU faculty and staff members are encouraged to attend.  For more on marketing and promotions, contact Victoria Cable at 606-783-2387 or v.cable@moreheadstate.edu.


Ways to follow the matches:

LIVE STATS -- FRIDAY AT 10 A.M. | FRIDAY AT NOON | FRIDAY AT 5 P.M. | FRIDAY AT 7 P.M. | SATURDAY AT 2 P.M. | SATURDAY AT 5 P.M.
LIVE VIDEO -- FRIDAY AT 7 P.M. | SATURDAY AT 5 P.M.
TWITTER -- @MSUATHLETICS

Angela McGuire, who played and coached at the collegiate level, is in her third year calling the play-by-play.  Aryn Bohannon, an outside hitter at Morehead State from 2009-13, is in her first season serving as an analyst.  The video streaming platform (OVCDigitalNetwork.com) is free and requires no registration.  All Eagle Vision productions feature play-by-play, multiple cameras, replays and graphics.


Releases and pre-tournament information:

MOREHEAD STATE | NORTHERN ILLINOIS | LOUISVILLE | ARIZONA STATE


Ten notes heading into the tournament:

THE LAST TIME OUT
Morehead State dropped all three of its matches last weekend at the Golden Flashes Classic in Kent, Ohio.  The Eagles suffered three-set setbacks to New Hampshire and host Kent State before losing a four-set decision to Evansville.

LOOKING AHEAD
Morehead State will host Northern Illinois, Louisville and No. 15 Arizona State this weekend in the annual Comfort Inn and Suites Invitational.  The tournament features four matches on Friday and two more on Saturday.

RANKED OPPONENTS
Arizona State is the first nationally-ranked opponent to visit Wetherby Gym since No. 24 Michigan made a stop on Aug. 26, 2011.  Morehead State squared off with No. 3 Penn State on Aug. 24, 2012, but it was at a tournament in Louisville.

FAMILY CONNECTIONS
Marcie Hampton-West, who is in her second season as the volunteer assistant at Morehead State, is the younger sister of Linda Hampton-Keith, who is in her fourth year as an assistant coach at Arizona State.  Marcie was an All-American at Florida, while Linda attended Florida International.

A HOMECOMING ON MY COURT
Senior setter Colbey Cameron grew up in Prospect, Ky., which is approximately 15 miles from Louisville's campus.  She has posted 22 assists and 11 digs in two career matches against the Cardinals.

HITTING AND BLOCKING
Junior middle blocker Hannah Sigala leads Morehead State with 3.63 points and 2.82 kills per set.  She also is hitting a team best 3.19 and ranks second on the team with 0.82 blocks per set.

THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN
Morehead State is 0-6 for the first time since 1999.  The Eagles dropped their first seven contests that year.  MSU started 0-5 in 2012, but came back to win an Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championship.

WE USUALLY WIN AT HOME
Morehead State opened the season at Wetherby Gym by dropping two matches to Radford and one to Northern Kentucky.  MSU had not suffered three straight defeats at home since losing six in a row from Oct. 12-Nov. 11, 2005.  The Eagles tallied a 56-11 home record (.836) from 2010-13.

WHO IS BACK IN 2014?
Morehead State has nine players with at least one full season of collegiate experience.  Colbey Cameron, Laura McDermott and Alex Fitzmorris are the program's seniors in 2014, while the active roster also includes one junior, four sophomores and three freshmen

WE ARE THE HUNTED AGAIN
Morehead State was selected No. 1 in the annual Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Poll.  All three of MSU's seniors also landed spots on the 14-player Preseason All-OVC Team, which is voted on by the league's head coaches and sports information directors.