PHILADELPHIA – La Salle (6-10) opens up its conference slate this weekend when it hosts a pair of Atlantic 10 foes this weekend. The Explorers welcome Saint Louis (10-4) to Tom Gola Arena Friday at 7 p.m. before hosting Dayton (10-4) on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
Scouting the Billikens...La Salle Explorers (6-10) vs. Saint Louis Billikens (10-4)Friday, Sept. 26 | 7 p.m.Live Statistics | Live Video | Sign Up For Text Alerts The Billikens enter Friday's matchup coming off a solid end to non-conference play. Saint Louis went 2-1 at the Active Ankles Challenge, hosted by Purdue this past weekend. Saint Louis started off the event pulling off the 3-2 upset over the host Boilermakers, who came into the match ranked 11
th in the nation. The Billikens finished off the weekend with another win over Morehead State (3-0) while dropping a match to ACC member Notre Dame (1-3).
Saint Louis utilizes a very balanced attack, as four players enter the weekend with at least 100 kills on the year. Danielle Rygelski leads the pack, with 191 kills on the year, followed closely by Megan Gilber who has added 162 of her own, while hitting at a very effective .298 clip. As a team, Saint Louis is averaging 13.6 kills per set which is good for second in the Atlantic 10.
The Billikens have been led by libero Anna Church defensively; the junior has 245 digs on the season. Church has been aided in the defensive effort by Rygelski and freshman Nenye Okoro, who has been named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week twice already, who both have over 100 digs on the season.
Meredith Boe has been the primary handler of the ball for Saint Louis, averaging 11.09 assists per set with a total of 588 on the year. Boe ranks second in the Atlantic 10, and 25
th nationally in assists per set.
Scouting the Flyers...La Salle Explorers (6-10) vs. Dayton Flyers (10-4)Saturday, Sept. 27 | 5:30 p.m.Live Statistics | Sign Up For Text Alerts Dayton enters conference play coming off a strong performance last weekend at the UNF/JU Radisson Invitational, going 3-1 in their trip to Jacksonville, Fla. The Flyers picked up wins over Nicholls State (3-0), North Florida (3-0), and Jacksonville (3-0) while dropping a tight 1-3 decision to Charlotte.
Offensively the Flyers are led by juniors Alaina Turner and Jill Loiars who have 216 and 139 kills respectively on the year. Turner is averaging 4.24 kills per set which is good for third in the Atlantic 10. Dayton, also utilizes freshman Amber Erhahon who while only having 60 kills on the year, is hitting at a .417 rate which leads the conference. Erhahon also earned Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week honors during the second week of the season.
Freshman Jane Emmenecker has been the primary handler of the ball for the Flyers, racking up 544 assists on the season, averaging 10.6 assists per set which ranks third in the A10.
Defensively Dayton has been led by junior Janna Krafka who already has 227 digs on the young season. Krafka was named co-Defensive Player of the Week in the second week of the season. The junior is also third in the conference averaging 4.45 digs per set.
Scouting the Explorers...La Salle (6-10) enters conference play after struggling in their final non-conference tournament of the year, the Big Five Tournament. The Explorers dropped matches to Temple (0-3), Penn (1-3), and Villanova (1-3).
The Explorers have been aided by a strong service game so far this season. La Salle enters the weekend the top team in the nation with 116 service aces on the year. Individually junior
Michelle Healy, and freshman
Bryanna Davis have led the Explorers with 27 aces each, which ties them for best in the conference, and sixth in the nation in total service aces.
Healy has been a constant as the team transitioned to a 5-1 formation this season. Healy has tallied 588 assists on the season, which is tops in the Atlantic 10, and third nationally in total assists on the season. The junior has also added in 27 kills, using the element of surprise to grab the Explorers some vital points and keep opponents honest in their defense.
Junior
Kelly Perillo has been a center point of the team's offense so far this season. She has carried a large part of the workload, totaling 627 attacks on the season, with 207 kills. Her 207 kills is good for 21
st overall in the nation. She has also added in 185 digs and 17 aces on the season.
Defensively, the Explorers have been led by freshman
Bryanna Davis, and junior
Erin Noga. Davis and Noga have tallied 199 and 198 digs respectively on the year, which is good for fourth and fifth overall in the Atlantic 10. Davis has the most digs of any freshman in the conference entering conference play.
Next UpLa Salle heads north for their first conference road trip of the season next weekend. The Explorers play Rhode Island on Friday at 7 p.m., before traveling to New York City to battle Fordham on Saturday at 7 p.m.
