Utica, NY (10/8/14)- The Utica College volleyball team travels to Cobleskill looking to get its second win against SUNY Cobleskill in non-conference action Wednesday. The match is set to start at 7 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT: Utica dropped a pair of Empire 8 Conference games against Ithaca College (3-0) and Houghton College (3-0) last weekend putting the Pioneers at 7-11 overall... Utica's Brandi Blaszak (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro) finished the day with a team-best 14 kills over the course of two games...  Alaina Wickwire (Towanda, PA/Towanda) tallied 12 kills on the day, while Laura Homer-Gunther (Sauquoit, NY/Sauquoit) added 11 kills of her own.

KILLING THE DEFENSE: Sophomore Brandi Blaszak (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro) leads the Pioneers with 161 kills on the season averaging 2.68 per set… Not far behind her is freshmen standout Alaina Wickwire (Towanda, PA/Towanda) with 114 kills, averaging 1.9 per set… Blaszak is also second on the team with 32 blocks, while Wickwire ranks third on the squad with 72 digs. 

ASSISTING THE KILL: Junior Lora Allen (Dolgeville, NY/Dolgeville) has tailed 425 assists in 60 sets played averaging 7.08 assists per set... Allen sits fifth in the E8 for assists... She has also added 72 digs and a team-best 19 service aces this season.  

ENNY LEADING THE DEFENSE: Senior Briona Enny (Queensbury, NY/Queensbury) leads the defense with 231 digs in 60 sets played, which ranks sixth in the conference.

SCOUTING COBLESKILL: The Fighting Tigers (10-10, 1-7 NEAC) are coming off a long weekend at the NEAC North Division Tournament where they fell to to Cazenovia, Wells College, Morrisville, and Keuka…   Cobleskill is led by junior Melissa Spears, who has a team-best 117 kills to go along with her 41 blocks and 55 digs… Since 2012, Utica is 4-1 against Cobleskill… The Pioneers defeated the Fighting Tigers 3-0 in their first meeting this season. 

COMMON OPPONENTS: Both teams have played SUNY IT and Keuka... The Pioneers beat Keuka 3-1, the Fighting Tigers lost to Keuka 1-3... UC has played SUNY IT twice splitting its bill with a 3-0 win and a 3-1 loss, while Cobleskill fell to SUNYIT 3-0 in their only match up this season. 

LOOKING AHEAD: The Pioneers will travel to Ithaca for the two-day Ithaca College Invitational on Friday and Saturday. The Pioneers will be play Kings College, Wells College, Ithaca College, and Carnegie Mellon University… The action kicks off Friday evening as the Pioneers face Kings College at 5:30 p.m.


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