Volleyball to welcome Northeastern

UConn's women's volleyball team moved to 5-6 on the season with its 3-1 victory over Samford in its final game of the Dayton Flier Classic this past Saturday.

After losing its initial bout with Dayton on Friday, the Huskies won both tilts on Saturday over Creighton and Samford, riding both Mattison Quayle's career-high 21 kills against Creighton and Jessica Isaac's season-high 24 digs against Samford to two straight victories to improve to 3-1 on their week of play.

With Northeastern coming to Gampel Pavilion on Wednesday, UConn looks to hit the .500 mark with a victory over its fellow Husky counterparts from Northeastern.  Northeastern (4-4) looks to rebound from a 3-2 loss to Boston College on Saturday, as the Huskies head to Chestnut Hill on Friday to take part in the Boston College Tournament. But head coach Holly Strauss-O'Brien stressed the importance of not overlooking their bout with a scrappy Northeastern squad Wednesday.

"Northeastern is a tough team," said O'Brien. "They are scrappy and love a good battle. In saying this, we are focused on us, we are focused on our team taking care of the little things and playing together as a cohesive group."

Only 11 games deep in its 2009 campaign, O'Brien's squad has already been tested, facing three teams ranked in the top 25.  With a revolving door of starting lineups each week and tough competition, the Huskies are still learning and developing their style of play as O'Brien notices a daily improvement from her team.

"We have held our own, learned many different things about our team, we have won different ways and continue to work hard for daily improvements," O'Brien said, "We have had multiple starting lineups this season thus far and to be honest, I like it, it keeps our opponents constantly surprised and never knowing what to expect."

There was no surprise with the news of sophomore Jordan Kirk making Big East Honor Roll this week.  Kirk, for the first time in her career, was honored by the Big East and deservingly so, as Kirk registered her third double-double of the season against Harvard with 12 kills and 13 digs.

The sophomore leads the squad with 123 kills this season.  She also had a career-high five service aces against Samford on Saturday.

With Kirk and company leading the charge for Connecticut, the Huskies have their sights set on a Big East Championship and NCAA tournament berth this season as UConn looks to take care of business against Northeastern before heading to Boston College to take on the Eagles this Friday.  A win on Wednesday will give them a 3-1 record at home as the Huskies are 1-2 on the road and 2-3 at a neutral venue.