ROCK HILL, S.C. – Winthrop volleyball is back on the road this week when it heads to Durham, N.C. to take on Duke Thursday night and Harvard on Friday afternoon.Both games will be played at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
SERIES HISTORY VERSUS DUKE
This marks the 8
th meeting all-time between the Blue Devils and Eagles. The first meeting came back in 1975 with the Eagles falling 2-0. The Eagles first win came on Sept. 25, 1981. This is the first meeting since 2007 when the Eagles lost 3-1 at Duke and just the second meeting since 1982.
SERIES HISTORY VERSUS HARVARD
Winthrop and Harvard have only met once and that meeting came back in 2002 at the Harvard Invitational. The Eagles took the match 3-2 to claim on the Invitational with a perfect 3-0 mark.
GLANCE AT THE EAGLES
- Eagles are coming off a 1-2 weekend at their home tournament with a win over Wyoming and losses to Delaware and Davidson
- In the win over Wyoming, senior Alayna Jansky had a career-high 20 kills and also tallied 20 digs for her first collegiate 20-20 match
- It was also the fourth 20 dig match of her career (her career-high for a 4-set match is 24 at Presbyterian College on Nov. 6, 2021)
- Jansky ranks third in the Big South for kills per set (3.63) and points (4.07)
- She is 1-of-3 players in the league averaging 4.0 points or more per set
- Jansky ranks 9th in digs per set (2.93)
- Freshman Avery Jolley and junior Brookelynn Thomas are 2nd and 3rd on the team in kills per set at 2.42 and 2.41 respectively
- Jolley is 9th in the conference in hitting percentage at .268
- Graduate senior Alicia Roberts, along with Thomas are ranked among the top blockers in the Big South
- Roberts is 2nd at 1.00 blocks per set and Thomas is 3rd at 0.91 per set
- Thomas is also 7th in the league in points per set (.322)
- Sophomore Isabella Murray tops the Big South in assists per set at 10.61
- Murray's 53 assists in the win over Wyoming are the most by any player in the league this season
- Sneaking into the Top 10 in digs per set this week is Madison Gorniak at 2.88 per set
- As a team the Eagles lead the conference in blocks per set at 2.45
- Winthrop leads the Big South in blocks per set (2.12) and is second in assists per set (11.82)
- Senior Leah Metzger surpassed 800 career digs at the Liberty Tournament and now has 833 in her career
- This year's team has 12 returnees and six newcomers
- This will be the Eagles have played 1,755 matches all-time as the program holds a mark of 1,045-710
INTERIM HEAD COACH HEATHER GEARHART
Heather Gearhart was promoted to interim head volleyball coach in July after previous head coach
Chuck Rey became the full-time athletic director. Gearhart served as the assistant coach for the Eagles in 2021, helping Winthrop to 18 wins and an appearance in the conference tournament semifinals.
After playing collegiately at North Carolina from 2012-15 and making four NCAA Tournament appearances, she played professionally overseas before embarking on her collegiate coaching career. Gearhart worked at Tennessee during the 2018 season and moved to Akron in 2019, and both programs saw good success. The Vols reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament and the Zips qualified for the MAC tournament for the first time in seven years.
2022 SEASON HONORS
Brookelynn Thomas – Liberty Tournament Best Attacker
- Averaged 3.09 kills per set with a .342 hitting percentage
- Totaled four service aces and 7 digs
- Totaled 47.5 points (4.32 per set)
- Had 15 total blocks (4 solo, 11 assisted) for an average of 1.36 per set
Alayna Jansky – All-Tournament Team (Winthrop Tournament)
- Averaged 4.09 kills per set and totaled 48 points (4.36 perset)
- Had four service aces, 5 blocks and 41 digs (3.73 per set)
- Posted a career-high 20 kills vs. Wyoming and also had 20 digs for her first 20-20 game
BIG SOUTH PRESEASON POLL
Winthrop was voted to finish third in the Big South Conference preseason poll. High Point is the preseason favorite with 81 points (nine first-place votes) while Campbell was second with 72 points. The Eagles had 61 points and are followed by USC Upstate (52), Presbyterian (43), Charleston Southern (32), Gardner-Webb and UNC Asheville (23), and Radford (18).
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