CLARKSVILLE – Austin Peay State University's volleyball team will host the six-team season-opening Culvers Govs Challenge, Friday-Sunday, to kick off its 2017 campaign. Friday's matches will be played at the Foy Fitness and Recreation Center on the Austin Peay campus before moving back to the Dunn Center for Saturday's and Sunday's contests. Admission to all matches is free to the public.

CULVERS GOVERNORS CHALLENGE HOMEPAGE AND LINKS

HOME FOR THE SEASON OPENER

• Austin Peay begins its 42nd season of women's volleyball when it hosts the Culvers Governors Challenge, Friday-Sunday.
• The Govs will face UMKC, Marshall, Missouri and Northern Iowa in the three-day tournament. Middle Tennessee also will participate but will forgo a meeting with APSU until their Nov. 1 matchup in Murfreesboro.
• It is the first time since 2008 Austin Peay has opened a season at home, they swept a five-team tournament that season with wins against SIUE, Northwestern State, Texas A&M Corpus Christi and UT Martin.
• The Governors own a 15-3 record in home in-season tournaments since 1980. They have been unbeaten in three of the four events they have hosted.
• Austin Peay returns 11 players (lost two) from last season's team that posted the fifth-best win-loss record improvement among Division I teams and finished with the most wins (24) of any Tennessee Division I team.
• 2016 First-Team All-OVC selections Kristen Stucker and Ashley Slay return for the 2017 campaign. Stucker is the reigning OVC Setter of the Year.
• Austin Peay led all OVC teams with a .223 attack percentage last season and ranked second in kills per set (13.37), assists per set (12.41) and service aces per set (1.46).
• Defensively, the Govs ranked fifth in digs per set (15.91) among OVC teams and held opponents to a .182 attack percentage that ranked sixth in the league.

GOING ON TWO

Setter Kristen Stucker ranked 14th among all Division I setters in total assists (1,338) and 59th in assists per set (10.54) last season… Middle blocker Ashley Slay was the only OVC hitter to rank among the league's top 10 in both attack percentage (5th, .297) and kills per set (3.31); she finished fourth among league scorers (4.06 points per set)… Libero Ginny Gerig was one of two athletes ranked among the OVC top 10 in both digs (8th, 3.95) and service aces per set (6th, 0.29)… Middle blocker Logan Carger posted double-digit kills in six of her last seven matches played, averaging 2.70 kills per set in that stretch… Defensive specialist Allie O'Reilly amassed 301 digs primarily off the bench last season, playing in 121 of the team's 127 sets… Outside hitter Christina White posted four double-digit kill outings in the season's first eight matches and led team with 2.68 kills per set before an injury derailed season… Outside hitter Kaylee Taff was named to the 2016-opening ETSU All-Tourney team, posting a .388 attack percentage, but saw an injury shorten her season… Outside hitter Cecily Gable was named "MVP" of The Citadel tourney in Week 4 last season after averaging 4.23 kills per set and posting a .322 attack percentage.