DURHAM, North Carolina – After six-straight road contests, the North Carolina Central University volleyball program (1-21, 1-4 MEAC) returns home to host the Eagle's final non-conference match against the Charleston Southern Buccaneers (8-14, 0-5 Big South),  on Wednesday, Oct. 15 at 5 p.m., inside McDougald-McLendon Gymnasium.

NCCU will be honoring Breast Cancer Awareness Month during the match, as the Eagle's host their annual "Dig Pink" game.

LAST TIME OUT
NCCU finished 1-1 during the week while on the road, capturing its first victory of the season on Friday (Oct. 10) with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-22) sweep over Savannah State in Savannah, Georgia, before falling to SCSU on Sunday (Oct. 12), 3-1 (23-25, 25-23, 26-24, 25-22) in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

Rookie Paige Phillips (Birmingham, Alabama) was also named Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Rookie of the Week  for her play during the weekend, totaling 31 assists and eight digs.

LAST TIME AGAINST CSU
Junior Kelly Rossip (Port Charlotte, Florida) earned a season-best 16 kills during the Eagles final contest at the 2014 Wingate Invitational as NCCU dropped a 3-1 (21-25, 25-15, 25-14, 25-20) decision to the host, Charleston Southern on Saturday (Sept. 13) morning in Charleston, S.C.

Rossip's 16 kills came on 30 attempts with only three errors (.433) while she also added one service ace and a dig during the loss. The Florida native garnered all-tournament honors after collecting 44 total kills during weekend action with 59 attempts and seven errors (.322).

After a comeback, 25-21 victory in the first set Rossip already collected six kills for the Eagles, trailed by sophomore Kelsey Murphy's (Rancho Cucamonga, California) four and senior Da'sha Brown's (Gaston, South Carolina) three.

It was all CSU during the next three sets as they pulled off the 3-1 match win over the Eagles.

Phillips directed NCCU's offense during the setback as the rookie setter earned her second assist/dig double-double with 38 helpers and 12 digs while junior Marilyn Sherbondy (Fayetteville, North Carolina) collected a game-high 20 digs.

LEADING NCCU
Murphy continues to lead NCCU offensively on the season with 172 kills (2.39 k/s) and 29 service aces, earning her a second place spot in the MEAC standings with .40 aces per set. She has also collected 139 digs and 19.0 total blocks.

Trailing Murphy offensively, senior Ashley McCarthy (Elmont, New York) and redshirt junior Denni Johnson (Ashburn, Virginia) have collected 123 and 120 kills respectively, while running the offense for the Eagles has been rookie Phillips who has dished 405 (5.87 a/s) assist on the season, ranking her 9th in league play.

Defensively, junior Melissa Rabell Piniero (Canovanas, Puerto Rico) heads NCCU with 190 digs on the season (2.64 d/s), in addition to McCarthy's team-best 49.0 blocks.

SCOUTING THE BUCCANEERS
Charleston Southern dropped a Big South decision on Friday (Oct. 10) inside the Buc Dome, falling to visiting Coastal Carolina in four sets, 19-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-14.

Meredith Parrott led the Bucs with 14 kills and a .344 hitting percentage, while Siraya Windsor had a season-high 20 digs in the loss for CSU. Coastal Carolina was led by Leah Hardeman's double-double with 22 kills and 27 digs in the win.

Windsor and Katrina Houston had nine kills apiece for the Bucs on the evening as CSU hit .145 as a team from the floor in the match. Kylie Klein added six kills and four total blocks to pace the Bucs defensively at the net. Cassidy Greer set up the CSU offense with 37 assists and added eight digs and five kills to the mix. Taylor Allman had 16 digs and Ashley Higginbothem had 12 of her own to pace CSU's defensive efforts.

Parrrott sits among both the CSU and Big South leaders on the season in multiple categories, as the junior outside hitter sits 3rd overall in kills, 4th overall in points and 6th in hitting percentage on the season in the conference rankings. For the year, Parrott is averaging 3.46 kills per set while hitting .293 from the floor. She is averaging 3.92 points per game overall.

SERIES WITH CSU
Charleston Southern owns the series lead over NCCU holding a 4-1 record, dating back to the 2007 season.

• 9/13/14 L, 3-1 (Away)
• 8/27/10 L, 3-0 (Home)
• 9/18/09 L, 3-0 (Neutral)
• 9/20/08 L, 3-2 (Neutral)
• 8/31/07 W, 3-0 (Away)

UP NEXT
After an 10-day game break, the Eagles open MEAC home action on Sunday, Oct. 26 as NCCU hosts the rival Aggies from North Carolina A&T at 2 p.m., inside McDougald-McLendon Gym.