Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Volleyball team continues the Skyline Conference Tournament Thursday night when it travels to second seeded Sage for the semifinal round. The match will be played at Kahl Gym in Albany, N.Y. with Live Stats and Video available for those who cannot attend the match.
 
At A Glance: Mount Saint Mary enters Thursday's semifinal with a 16-18 overall record and winners of its last five outings, including a 3-0 sweep of Maritime on Tuesday in the Opening Round of the conference tournament. Kayla Kurka (Islip, N.Y.) led the Knights will 11 kills in the match, with freshman Jennifer Hanley (Sayville, N.Y.) adding 10 winners. Kristen Maddock (Medford, N.Y.) matched her career-high with 39 assists and Jennifer Gries (Hicksville, N.Y.) lifted the 1,500^th dig of her career in the win.
 
Heading into Thursday's tilt with the Gators, junior Rachel Sabatini (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) leads five players with at least 100 kills on the season with a team-high 196. Kurka enters the match with 188 winners and is followed by Hanley (125), Megan Williams (Glenmont, N.Y.) (123) and Angelia Cirigliano (Newburgh, N.Y.) (115).
 
Jennifer Gries leads the Knights with 560 digs on the season, averaging 5.38 digs per set. She leads the Skyline Conference in both categories and against Farmingdale State on October 31 became the program's all-time leader in digs. In the opening round win over Maritime, Gries led the team with eight digs, moving her career total to 1,501.
 
Senior Kaitlin O'Brien (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Maddock each pace the Knights with 61 service aces, with O'Brien adding 206 digs and Maddock handing out 371 assists. Kimberly Gries (Hicksville, N.Y.) has handed out a team-high 517 helpers for the Knights and Williams and Kurka lead the team in blocking with 59 and 40 total blocks, respectively.
 
Head Coach: In his 13^th season as the head coach at Mount Saint Mary, Mike Strano has amassed 206 victories, with his 200^th victory coming early this season in a 3-2 road victory at Rutgers-Newark. Strano has guided the Knights to the Skyline Conference Tournament nine times, claiming the tournament championship and berth into the NCAA Tournament in 2012.
 
Under Strano, Mount Saint Mary has won the conference regular season crown three times and posted four 20 win seasons, including a program record 23 in 2012. Strano was named the Skyline Conference Coach of the Year in 2011 after posting a second straight unbeaten year in conference play.
 
A Look At Sage: Sage enters Thursday's match at 22-10 overall on the season, closing the regular season with conference wins over Sarah Lawrence and St. Joseph's-Brooklyn. The Gators, the defending conference champion, earned the second seed in the conference tournament after posting a 9-1 mark against league rivals in 2015.
 
Michayla Berard is one of two players to have at least 200 kills for Sage coming into tonight's action, leading the team with 247 winners. Mickey Mango has put away 210 kills for the Gators and leads the team with 63 total blocks.
 
Rachel Liebeg is averaging 8.27 assists per set, handing out 893 on the season and Siena Wilder paces Sage in both service aces with 82 and digs with 512, averaging 5.07 digs per set.
 
The 2015 Matchup: The Knights and Gators got together in Newburgh on October 17 with the visitors coming away with a 3-2 victory. The Knights took a 2-1 lead in the match before Sage rallied for 25-17 and 15-9 wins over the final two sets to secure the win.
 
Williams led the Knights with a career-high 12 kills in the match, hitting .333 for the Knights. Kimberly Gries closed out a double-double with 22 assists and 10 digs, with Jennifer Gries posting a career-high 39 digs in the match.
 
Sage was led by 14 kills from Berard and got a match-high 38 assists from Liebig. Mango totaled seven kills and six blocks for the Gators with Alyssa Nellis adding five blocks and four kills.
 
The Series: The Knights and Gators have met at least once a season since the start of the 2003 campaign, with Sage winning 12 of the 16 meetings, including all three previous matchups in the conference tournament. The Knights won three straight matches from 2010-12, but Sage has won the last five meetings, including two conference tournament matches and the 3-2 regular season tilt in 2015.
 
The Skyline Conference Tournament: The winner of Thursday's match will take on the winner of the Mount Saint Vincent and St. Joseph's-L.I. meeting also taking place Thursday night. The two winners will play on Saturday for the right to represent the Skyline Conference in the NCAA Tournament. 

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