Women's Volleyball set for WHAC tests at Indiana Tech and vs. Madonna

2/15/2021 4:23:00 PM

By: @n_jcamp

Eight Straight

Cornerstone continues their best start since the 2007 season going a perfect 8-0 so far this year dropping a total of two sets with six sweeps. Two more wins would tie the mark in 2007 and three more wins would be their best start since 2006 when they won 11 straight. The program record for wins to begin the year is 13, set in 2004 under Head Coach Steve Burmaster when the team went 48-6. Last week, Cornerstone opened the week with a 3-0 sweep of the defending WHAC Champion Lawrence Tech before hitting the road to sweep UNOH on Friday.

This week, CU sees two of the top teams in the WHAC with a road test at receiving votes Indiana Tech and a home match vs. number 19 Madonna.

WATCH at IIT

Watch vs. MU

Live Stats at IIT

Live Stats vs. MU

Last Week WHAC POW

Prior to the games against Lawrence Tech and UNOH, senior setter Kayla Clark earned her second consecutive WHAC Setter of the Week Award and her fourth of her career. Clark has 2725 assists in her career and ranks 13th in the NAIA with 10.38 assists per set this season. In three of the last four matches, Clark has also recorded double-digit digs with a season best 14 vs. Lourdes and Lawrence Tech.

Prior to this past weeks games, sophomore Libero Patsy Morris earned her first ever WHAC Defensive Player of the Week. Patsy has 776 career digs and is averaging 4.85 digs per set this season. Morris has also been great at the service line with a team third best, 10 aces this year.

Winning is fun :) #TogetherweSOAR #Undefeated https://t.co/m3f2TU8TJ3
— CornerstoneVB (@CornerstoneVB) February 13, 2021

Schedule Update

Cornerstone was scheduled to play Saint Xavier on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Mol Arena, but that match has been rescheduled for Friday, March 5 at 6 p.m. CU will play just the two conference games this week against Indiana Tech and Madonna.

WHAC Standings

Cornerstone sits as the lone team in the WHAC that has yet to be beaten and faces their first matches vs. NAIA Top25/RV opponents this season.

Scouting Indiana Tech

A veteran Indiana Tech roster is off to a good start as they seek their third consecutive 20 win season. Tech currently sits at 8-3, 6-2 WHAC as they were swept by number 19 Madonna last time out.

Defense is the name of the game for the Warriors as they rank 17th in the nation with 19.34 digs per set. Jacey Blust, the team's sophomore Libero, is one of the best in the nation in digs per set averaging 6.26.

Offensively, Indiana Tech is powered by a pair of senior outside hitters in Calista Helinski and Olivia Niekamp who have totaled 157 kills between the two of them this year.

Cornerstone and Tech were supposed to meet last week, but the match was postponed due to inclement weather. Cornerstone has won seven of the last eight meetings against the Warriors.

Scouting Madonna

Madonna sits at 4-1 on the year and 2-1 in WHAC play with their lone blemish coming to Aquinas in four sets. The Crusaders are powered by First Team All-WHAC senior outside hitter Jodi Kelly who averages 4.88 kills per set and 12.76 attempts per set. Kelly has 83 kills this season with the next best on the team sitting at 29 and she is coming off a 2019 season where she led the nation with 719 total kills. Kelly also ranks second on the team in digs and blocks this year.

Last season Madonna finished second in the WHAC behind the unbeaten Blue Devils with a 26-14, 14-6 WHAC record.

Cornerstone and Madonna have gone 5-5 against each other in the last 10 matchups but CU has lost each of the last three all in four sets.

Cornerstone University Athletics