Weekly Notes

DOVER, Del. & PRINCESS ANNE, Md. – The Hampton University volleyball team will close out the regular season on the road this weekend, taking on Delaware State in Memorial Hall on Friday at 7 p.m. and Maryland Eastern Shore on Sunday at 3 p.m. in W.P. Hytche Athletic Center.

The Lady Pirates (14-10, 8-2 MEAC) are in first place in the MEAC Northern Division after sweeping Howard this past Sunday in Holland Hall. With a pair of wins this weekend, Hampton will clinch the top seed from the MEAC North in the MEAC Championships on Nov. 15-17 at Coppin State.

Junior rightside Vendula Strakova (Brno, Czech Republic), a five-time MEAC Player of the Week and the AVCA National Div. I Player of the Week, currently leads the NCAA in points (6.58 per set) and kills (5.72 per set), and she is ninth in the nation with 0.51 aces per set.

She had 19 kills and 14 digs this past Sunday against Howard for her 13th double-double of the season.

Strakova also ranks third in the MEAC with a .308 hitting percentage, and her 2.80 digs per set are the 10th-most in the conference.

Junior middle blocker Marija Kocevska (SkopjeKarpos, Macedonia) is 47th in the nation in aces, averaging 0.39 per set to also rank fifth in the MEAC. She is also third in the conference in blocks, averaging 0.91 per set.

Senior setter Bibiany Fonseca (Uberlandia, Brazil) is averaging a MEAC-best 10.46 assists per set, ranking 75th in the nation. For her Hampton career, Fonseca now has 1,895 assists, the fourth-most in program history.

As a team, the Lady Pirates lead the MEAC in hitting percentage (.249), kills (13.30 per set), assists (12.07 per set), and aces (1.80 per set), and they are fourth in the conference in opponent hitting percentage (.197).

MEAC teams are hitting just .155 against Hampton.

Heading into the weekend, Delaware State is in last place in the MEAC North with a mark of 0-10 in conference play and a 2-20 record overall. UMES, the defending MEAC champion, is sixth in the MEAC North, sitting at 3-19 overall and 2-8 in conference play.

Delaware State has dropped it last four matches, while UMES has lost three straight heading into Friday's action.

The Lady Pirates are 35-12 all-time against Delaware State and have won the last five meetings — including a five-set win in Holland Hall on Oct. 18. Hampton is 28-28 against Maryland Eastern Shore and has won two of the last three meetings — including in straight sets on Oct. 13.

Prior to that, UMES had won 16 straight meetings.

For more information on Hampton University volleyball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.