Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Volleyball team will close out the regular season home schedule with three matches this week. The Knights finish off a four match home stand with a non-conference match against FDU-Florham on Thursday and then host league rivals Purchase and St. Joseph's-Brooklyn on Saturday.
 
At A Glance: The Mount has been off since picking up its first home win of the season last Thursday and stand at 9-16 overall and 2-3 in Skyline Conference play. The Knights are 1-3 at home thus far and are winners of three straight outings overall.
 
Junior Nicole Spinelli (Wantagh, N.Y.) is in the midst of a strong all-around season for the Mount, leading the team in service aces with 46 and tied for the team lead in total blocks with 40. Spinelli ranks second for the Mount in kills with 126 enter Thursday's match with FDU-Florham. Sophomore Morgan Burke (Ringwood, N.J.) is tied with Spinelli for the team lead in blocks and paces the Mount's offensive attack with 135 kills.
 
Senior Julimar Figueroa (Dorado, Puerto Rico) has lifted a team best 309 digs, good for 3.6 per set, and is second in service aces with 44 entering the week. Junior Kim Gries (Hicksville, N.Y.) has helped a trio of Knights reach the 100 kill mark with a team-high 517 assists, good for better than seven helpers per set.
 
Among the Skyline Conference leaders, Gries ranks second in the league in both total assists and assists per set, while Figueroa stands fourth in digs per set for the Knights.
 
Last Time Out: Mount Saint Mary blanked SUNY Delhi by scores of 25-11, 25-18 and 25-19 on October 12 to pick up its first home win of the season. The Knights hit .238 as a team and finished the match with the edge in kills 34-20, service aces 9-3 and total team blocks 5-1.
 
Spinelli finished the match with a team-high seven kills, hitting .583, to go along with four total blocks. Figueroa lifted a team-high 11 digs and led the way with three service aces, while Gries rounded out the victory with 27 assists and 10 digs.
 
Weekly Honors: Freshman Danielle Kralik (Bedford Hills, N.Y.) was named the Skyline Conference Rookie of the Week on Monday after averaging 3.4 kills, including a career-high 11 against Maritime, and 1.2 aces per set in a 2-0 week for the Mount.
 
A Look At FDU-Florham: The Devils, who topped the Mount 3-0 at the Ramapo Invitational on September 16, come to town on Thursday sporting a 20-6 overall record. FDU-Florham has won three of its last five outings, including a 3-1 victory over Misericrodia on Tuesday.
 
A trio of Devils reached double-figures in kills in their latest victory, led by 18 from Lauren Harris. Rachel Catena lifted a team-high 15 digs and Courtney Conte led the way with 41 assists on 52 team kills.
 
Five FDU-Florham players have reached 100 kills on the season, led by 290 from Harris and 286 from Melissa Gaffney. Harris is hitting .252 on the season and is averaging better than three kills per set, while Gaffney is hitting .228 and also averaging better than three kills per frame.
 
Catena has lifted 379 digs, averaging 4.4 per set, and paces the team with 48 aces, while Conte has handed out 873 assists, good for better than nine per frame. Marissa Lehnert leads the way in blocking with 60 on the season through 26 matches.
 
Previewing Purchase: The Panthers enter a Thursday match with Skyline front runner College of Mount Saint Vincent winless in 15 outings. The Panthers have won just five sets on the season and fell 3-1 to Baruch in their last outing.
 
Maura Gribbins leads Purchase in nearly every statistical category heading into the match with Mount Saint Vincent, pacing the team in kills (118), service aces (22) and digs (152). Alex Lally leads the way with 141 assists and eight total blocks, with Noelle Miller contributing 102 helpers for the Panthers.
 
Scouting St. Joseph's-Brooklyn: The Lady Bears will open play on Saturday with a 6-9 overall record and a 2-4 mark in Skyline Conference play. St. Joseph's has split its last four outings, topping York and Sarah Lawrence and getting tripped up by USMMA and Brooklyn.
 
Nina DiCioccio and Tiffany Garcia-Lawson lead the offensive attack for St. Joseph's-Brooklyn with 123 and 112 kills, respectively, with Garcia-Lawson posting a team best 16 total blocks. DiCioccio is tied for the team lead in services at 26 along with Briana Marrazzo.
 
Paige Csikortos sits atop the team leaderboard in a pair of categories, leading the way with 273 assists and 152 digs.
 
What's Next: The Knights finish off the regular season with four straight road matches, traveling to Yeshiva (10/24), Bard (10/25) and Sarah Lawrence for a tri-match with the host Gryphons and St. Joseph's-L.I. on October 28.