Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Volleyball team opens Skyline Conference play Wednesday night when it travels to Purchase for a 7:00 p.m. match with the Panthers. Live Stats will be available for those who cannot attend the match.
 
At A Glance: Mount Saint Mary stands at 3-6 overall on the season following a 3-0 road loss at Montclair State on Saturday afternoon. The Knights have dropped six of their last seven matches overall, with the lone win coming in a sweep of FDU-Florham on September 10.
 
Freshman Grace Riddle (Wantagh, N.Y.) leads the Mount Saint Mary offensive attack with 86 kills and 22 service aces. Riddle is hitting .160 on the season and is averaging 2.69 kills and 3.48 points per set through nine matches. In addition to her offense, Riddle is second on the team in digs with 98 and total blocks with six.
 
Senior Morgan Burke (Ringwood, N.J.) leads the way in total blocks for the Knights with 25 and checks in second on the team in kills with 51. Burke is hitting .211 on the season out of the middle and adds seven aces and 13 digs.
 
Emily Mazzurco (Middletown, N.Y.) paces the Mount in assists with 140 and is scattered throughout the team leaderboard, ranking second in aces with 13, third in digs with 51 and fifth in kills with 23.
 
Sophomore Alyssa Barbara (Islip Terrace, N.Y.) is anchoring the backline for the Mount with a team-high 128 digs and has chipped in with eight service aces. Through nine matches in 2019, Barbara is averaging just shy of five digs per set for the Knights.
 
League Leaders: A pair of Knights sit atop the league leaderboard heading into Wednesday night's tilt, with Burke pacing the league with 0.86 blocks per set and Barbara leading the conference with 4.74 digs per frame.
Riddle ranks ninth among Skyline Conference players in kills per set with 2.69 and find herself ranked 15^th in service aces per set with 0.69. Mazzurco currently sits 11^th in assists per set with an even 5.00 per frame for the Knights.
 
Last Time Out: The Mount returned to the road on September 14 and suffered a 19-25, 9-25, 17-25 loss at Montclair State. Riddle led the way with six kills for the Mount, while Barbara rounded out the day with 11 digs, three aces and six assists.
 
Montclair State finished the match with a 31-21 advantage in kills, an 11-7 edge in service aces and controlled the blocking game with a 7-2 edge in total team blocks.
 
Previewing The Panthers: Purchase enters Wednesday's match with a 3-1 overall record and a 1-0 mark in league play after sweeping Yeshiva on September 10. The Panthers are coming off a 3-0 loss to Brooklyn on September 12 in a match in which they were limited to eight kills and a -.183 attack percentage.
 
Gia Gwin leads the way for Purchase with 24 kills and is averaging 2.00 kills per set, while Pamela Gonzalez checks in with a team-high 14 service aces. Esmee Johns is handing out a team-high 5.42 assists per set, while Skyla Schoppmeyer has lifted 2.83 digs per frame. Joetta Francis is tops on the team in blocks with seven through the team's first four contests.
 
Recent History: Since the start of the 2007 season, Mount Saint Mary has won all 12 meetings with the Panthers and has not dropped a set, winning each outing 3-0.
 
What's Next: Following Wednesday's Skyline Conference opener, Mount Saint Mary travels to Bard on Saturday for a non-conference tri-match with the host Raptors and Hartwick. The Knights and Bard will get underway at 11:00 p.m. with the Mount and the Hawks to follow at 1:00 p.m.