George Washington University Athletics
GW Volleyball Hosts American on Wednesday Night
10/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
WHO: GW Volleyball (15-7, 3-2 Atlantic 10)
WHAT: Match #23 vs. American (17-5, 8-0 Patriot League)
WHEN: Wednesday, October 21, 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: Charles E. Smith Center
WATCH: Tickets | | RaiseHigh Live
LAST WEEK: The Colonials extended their road winning streak to four with victories at La Salle (3-0, Oct. 16) and Duquesne (3-0, Oct. 18).
COACH AULT'S TAKE: "I think this past weekend was the best I have seen us play, as a team, this season. We looked relaxed, yet extremely focused with our intent to take care of the volleyball. We didn't get fazed or rattled when things didn't go our way. We just stayed the course. And that was really great to see after our last weekend at home where we struggled. We identified our weaknesses and we focused on correcting them.
SERIES HISTORY: GW beat American, 3-2, last season at Bender Arena to improve to 12-6 all-time against the Eagles.
DISTRICT SUPREMACY: The Colonials are 4-0 this season against local opponents with wins over Navy (3-0, Sept. 11), Maryland (3-1, Sept. 12), Georgetown (3-0, Sept. 16) and George Mason (3-1, Sept. 25). In five seasons under head coach Amanda Ault, GW is 14-3 against local rivals.
HOME SWEET HOME: The Colonials are 5-3 at home this season and 43-16 across the past five seasons under Coach Ault.
CHICHI HONORED, AGAIN: Junior Chidima Osuchukwu earned her fifth Atlantic 10 Player of the Week Award of the 2015 season on Tuesday morning. She is the first player in program history to earn the honor five times in a single season and has now won the award nine times across the past two seasons.
BLOCK PARTY: GW leads the Atlantic 10 in both total blocks (208, 12th in NCAA) and blocks per set (2.48, 48th in NCAA). Osuchukwu ranks second overall in the nation with 122 total blocks and 15th in the NCAA with 1.45 blocks per set.
DOYLE'S DIGS: Senior libero Maddy Doyle enters Wednesday's match with an Atlantic 10 leading 352 digs. She now has 1,523 career digs which ranks second on GW's career-digs list. She also leads the A-10 with 4.19 digs per set.
SCOUTING THE EAGLES: American carries a nine-match win streak into Wednesday's match. The Eagles have won the Patriot League championship and advanced to the NCAA Championship in each of the past two seasons, including a run to the Sweet 16 in 2013. Allison Cappellino paces AU's attack with 226 kills.
COACH AULT ON AU: "This match is a big one for us and it always is. American is a great team; we know they are going to come at us strong. It is always a tough match when we play each other. They do some things extremely well and are balanced with some veteran players. We look at this game just like we look at a conference game. We need to go out and take care of business."
