MATCH 1 | Stony Brook (0-0) vs. Villanova (0-0)
Friday, Aug. 28 | 5 p.m. | Rec Hall (5,812) | University Park, Pa.
Live Stats | @StonyBrookVB

MATCH 2 | Stony Brook at No. 1 Penn State
Saturday, Aug. 29 | 1 p.m. | Rec Hall (5,812) | University Park, Pa.
Live Stats | Live Video | @StonyBrookVB

MATCH 3 | Stony Brook vs. Buffalo
Saturday, Aug. 29 | 5 p.m. | Rec Hall (5,812) | University Park, Pa.
Live Stats | @StonyBrookVB

The Stony Brook volleyball team opens its 2015 campaign with a solid test in the season’s opening weekend as the Seawolves travel to University Park, Pennsylvania, for three matches at the Penn State Classic. Stony Brook will face Villanova on Friday, Aug. 28 at 5 p.m. before taking on No. 1 Penn State Saturday, Aug. 29 at 1 p.m. and Buffalo at 5 p.m.

NOTES | For full PDF notes, click here

Scouting the Wildcats
Villanova returns 11 players to a team that went 13-20 in 2014. The Wildcats did not qualify for the Big East Championship. Villanova plays 12 of its first 15 matches away from home.

Scouting the Nittany Lions
Penn State won the national championship in both 2013 and 2014 and holds a 103-8 (.928) record over the last three seasons. The Nittany Lions open up the 2015 season as the No. 1 team in the land while receiving 54 of 62 first-place votes in the AVCA preseason poll. Penn State is led by 37^th-year head coach Russ Rose, the all-time wins leader in Division I with 1,161 entering the weekend.

Scouting the Bulls
Buffalo begins its first year under new head coach Blair Brown Lipsitz, who was promoted in April after serving as an assistant during the spring. Lipsitz was a four-time national champion under Russ Rose at Penn State. The Bulls went 17-15 last year and fell in the first round of the MAC Championship.

Core Four
The 2015 Seawolves have the benefit of four seniors on the roster, including two redshirt seniors in Kathy Fletcher and Lo Hathaway. Stephanie McFadden and Nicole Vogel round out the group of seniors looking for the Seawolves’ first NCAA tournament appearance in Stony Brook’s Division I era which began in 1999.

Familiar Faces
A total of 10 letterwinners return for the 2015 season as head coach Coley Pawlikowski begins her third year at Stony Brook. The 2014 team won 17 matches, the most for a Seawolves team since the 2007 squad that won the America East regular-season title.

The Freshmen
Three freshmen join the squad for 2015, as McKyla Brooks, Morgan Kath and Taylor Wilson begin their Seawolves careers this weekend.

Around the World
Six members of the Seawolves - head coach Coley Pawlikowski, associate head coach Dan Pawlikowski, seniors Stephanie McFadden and Nicole Vogel and sophomores Cydney Bowman and Courtney Scanlan - represented the United States in the 2015 European Global Challenge in Croatia this summer.

Up Next: Manhattan
The Seawolves will travel to Riverdale for a Tuesday night match at Manhattan. It will be the 13th meeting between the Seawolves and Jaspers in Stony Brook’s Division I era with Stony Brook holding a 7-5 advantage. Stony Brook took last year’s meeting in four sets at Pritchard Gymnasium. Nicole Vogel had 46 assists and 10 digs in the win and Stephanie McFadden tallied 14 kills.