LAKEWOOD, NJ (Dec. 5, 2024) - After a thrilling five-set win in the East Region quarterfinals, Georgian Court Volleyball gets right back on the court tomorrow for the semis.
Opponent
No. 3 American International (20-6, 10-0 NE10)
Where
Waltham Mass. - Dana Center, hosted by Bentley
When
Friday, Dec. 6, 2024 - 4 pm
Should GCU continue to advance, the Regional Championship is Saturday, Dec. 7.
How to Watch
• All NCAA East Region Tournament matches are available via a free-to-view broadcast on the Bentley portal of Northeast-10 Digital Network, powered by FloVolleyball. Live stats are available on the Lions Volleyball schedule page.
Ticketing
• Tickets for all Regional Championship games can be purchase online at the link above or in person.
• $8 adults
• $5 seniors/students
Previously vs. American International
• Just twice have these teams met previously.
• Each team has a win with the most recent game coming in 2021.
• The Lions picked up 3-2 win in Newark, Del. back in 2019.
• AIC returned the favor defeating the Lions in four in 2021.
Last Time Out
• The Lions played earlier this morning, but in case you forgot, they advanced to the Regional Semifinals with a 3-2 win over No. 2 seeded Daemen.
• GCU got down 1-0, but won the next two sets before needing an epic 17-15 win in set five to pull off the upset.
• Georgian Court was facing a season-ending match-point, but scored the final three to secure the win.
•
Giorgia Cappelletti hit 14 kills and four aces while
Nylene Mateo landed 11 kills with four aces.
Individual Milestones
•
Nylene Mateo has already set a new Lions program record for kills. She's only adding to her total now. She's also eight digs away from 900. She'd be just the ninth Lion to ever reach 900 digs in a career.
•
Giorgia Cappelletti is now tied for second in single-season service aces with 80. The program record for a season is 92.
•
Carmen Rivera is one ace away from 50. She can also crack the single-season top-10 in digs with 25 more.
•
Iciar Zayas needs 45 assists to get to 2,000, something just four other Lions have ever done.
•
Amiyah Woods can move to seventh all-time in total blocks with one more.
•
Chelsea Ross is currently tied for second in single-season blocks, but is jsut six behind second.
CACC Leaders (Based on NCAA Stats before the tournament)
•
Giorgia Cappelletti is leading the country in both total service aces and aces per set.
•
Chelsea Ross is leading the CACC with 1.11 blocks per set and hitting percentage at .372.
•
Carmen Rivera is in the CACC top-10 at No. 7 for digs per set with 3.57.
•
Iciar Zayas with 5.62 assists per set ranks eighth.
•
Nylene Mateo's 3.92 points per set is fifth in the conference. She's also seventh at 0.50 service aces per set.
• Georgian Court is second in the CACC with 1.82 blocks per set.
• The Lions 2.29 aces per set is second in the league and 11th in Division II.
• GCU's 0.194 hitting percentage is third in the CACC and their 0.176 opponent hitting percentage is the fourth-best in the league.
Who's Hot?
•
Chelsea Ross has hit .300 or better in 16 of her last 21 matches including hitting at least .500 in two of the three CACC Tournament games.
•
Giorgia Cappelletti has 10+ kills in seven of her last eight matches.
•
Nylene Mateo hit at least .250 in all three CACC Tournament games and totaled 45 kills.
•
Iciar Zayas has 20+ assists in six of her last seven matches.
•
Dayna Diaz has at least 12 assists in 11 straight matches.
•
Amari Morales had five service aces in the semifinals and finals of the CACC Tournament.
•
Amiyah Woods hit over .300 in the CACC Tournament semifinals and finals.
• At the service line, GCU hit a season-high 15 aces against Daemen.
Three and Free, but Five is Okay Too
• After playing their share of long matches earlier in the season, Georgian Court is finishing things quick.
• Eight of the Lions last 14 matches have finished in three sets with the Lions going 7-1 in those three-set matches.
• On the other hand, if matches do go long, Georgian Court is quite comfortable.
• The Lions are 7-0 in five-set games this year. They are also 9-8 when losing the first set.
The NCAA Regional Tournament
• This is Georgian Court's seventh trip to the NCAA Regional since 2006.
• The Lions made it four straight seasons from 2006-09 along with 2013 and 2019.
• GCU competes in the East Region along with teams from the Northeast-10 and ECC Conference.
• All eight teams that qualify for the regional compete three straight days at one site. This year's host is No. 1 seed Bentley.
• The Lions are the only CACC team to advance to this year's Regional Tournament.
• The rest of the field sees No. 1 Bentley, No. 2 Daemen, No. 3 American International, No. 4 New Haven, No. 5 Adelphi, No. 6 Mercy and No. 8 D'Youville.
• Of the now seven trips to the NCAA Regional, this is just the second time GCU has advanced to the semifinals, joining the 2008 team.
• The only CACC team to advance to a regional final was Holy Family in 2018.
• This not Coach
Shana Rayside's first foray into the NCAA Regional. She was also on that 2019 team that qualified, as a player.
All-CACC Team
• Before the conference tournament, the CACC announced their All-CACC team.
• The Lions put three on the All-CACC squad.
•
Nylene Mateo was a First Team selection at outside hitter.
Chelsea Ross made the Second Team at middle blocker and
Giorgia Cappelletti was a Third Team Outside Hitter.
• In addition to the three that made the All-CACC team, second-year head coach
Shana Rayside was named the league's Coach of the Year.
• Cappelletti and Mateo are the second pair of outside hitters to make the same All-CACC team. Mateo also becomes the seventh Lion to ever make three all-conference teams.
•
Chelsea Ross is the first middle blocker at GCU with repeat selections since 2018-19.
• After the tournament, the CACC came out with the All-Tournament featuring Ross as the Tournament MVP.
• Cappelletti, Mateo,
Amiyah Woods and
Iciar Zayas also made the All-Tournament team.
About American International
• As impressive as Georgian Court's nine-game winning streak is, American International has more than doubled it.
• With their win over Mercy in the quarterfinals, AIC has now won 19 consecutive matches.
• Ironically, the Yellow Jackets last loss was to the team Georgian Court just defeated. Daemen swept AIC back on Sept. 14, which was the last time AIC took a loss.
• American International ran through conference play going a perfect 10-0 and won the Northeast-10 Tournament.
• The Yellow Jackets feature the AVCA East Region Player of the Year in Victoria Mendez.
• They also have the Rookie of the Year in Aleksandra Lucic, who also made the First Team.
• If that wasn't enough, Matt Cribbin took home Coach of the Year honors.
• Like Georgian Court, the Yellow Jackets can pour in points at the service line. They average 2.22 per set and hit 10 in three sets against Mercy.
• AIC has four regulars in the lineup averaging more than two kills per set. Mendez is the team leader with 2.72 while hitting .257 overall.
• Lucic averages just 1.59 from the middle, but is hitting .368 and averages 1.23 blocks per set.
• The Yellow Jacket split their setting duties with Alice Di Francesco averaging 5.49 and Mendez who steps in to average 4.97. Di Francesco also leads the team with 44 service aces.
• AIC's defense is also superb giving up just 1.17 aces per set on the season, nearly half as many as they land on offense. They have a 93% reception percentage and average more than 16 digs per set.
• Perla Rosa is coming up with 4.13 digs per set and was an All-NE10 Second Team selection.
