MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Southern Arkansas Mulerider Volleyball team is preparing for their Great American Conference opener with defending champion Arkansas Tech on Tuesday, September 14, with a 7 p.m. first-serve from inside the W.T. Watson Athletic Center.
 
The Lady Muleriders (4-5) will play at home for the second time this season after opening in Magnolia on September 8 with a 3-0 victory over Division I Grambling State. Southern Arkansas has also competed in a pair of tournaments (UAH Volleyball Classic & Tiger/Savage Storm Classic) so far this year going 3-6 with the margin of defeat coming at an average of only four and a half points/set.
 
Heading into the opening GAC match, Southern Arkansas is third in attack percentage in the conference at a mark of .200 per match. Senior Emilie Aase (4^th) and junior Kaitlyn Reiner (18^th) rank in the top twenty in the GAC in hitting percentage with clips of .329 and .235 respectively. SAU boasts the most kills in the conference with 443 as a pair of Lady Muleriders, junior Serena LeDuff (7^th) and senior Shelby Lauterbach (15^th), are amongst the top-15 individually in the GAC kills category averaging 3.57 and 2.63 kills per set respectively.
 
Great American Conference Setter of the Week Taylor Reaume is second in the conference with 339 assists, while boasting the third-best assist per set average at 9.69. The Lady Muleriders have the most assists in the conference with 407 and the fourth-best assists per set average at 11.63.
 
Southern Arkansas leads the GAC with 67 service aces for the second-best per set average of 1.91 courtesy of three Lady Muleriders ranked in the top twenty in the GAC in the category: junior Paige Mays (4^th), junior Gillian Newman (T15th) and senior Allie Cecil (18^th) Defensively, SAU boast the second-most digs in the conference with 554 (15.83 digs/set) lead by junior Hannah Rice's 171 digs at 5.03 digs/set; the fifth-best mark in the conference. Two Lady Muleriders place in the top twenty in blocks as Reiner produces at .75 blocks/set (6^th GAC) and sophomore Alli O'Banion averages at .59 blocks/set (20^th GAC).
 
For Arkansas Tech, the Golden Suns enter Tuesday night's conference opener with a 5-3 record and are tied with Ouachita Baptist for the top spot in the Great American Conference. ATU currently has the fourth-best hitting percentage in the conference at a mark of .198, while boasting the highest assists per set (13.33) and kills per set (14.30) through the first two weeks of play. The Golden Suns block at an average of 1.87 per set and allow opponents to hit at the fifth-highest clip in the conference at .184.
 
The defending Great American Conference Champions are led by senior Katie Huff, junior Kaylee Konsella and freshmen Hunter Eshnaur and Sarita Stegall. Huff has the eighth-best hitting percentage in the league at .278, while averaging 2.56 kills per set. She also averages a block a game; one of only two players in the GAC to do so. Konsella attacks at a clip of .252 with 2.41 kills per set. Eshnaur leads the Golden Suns in kills per set with 3.70, while classmate Stegall averages the tenth-most assists per set in the GAC at 7.33.
 
First-serve from inside the W.T. Watson Athletic Center is scheduled for 7 p.m. Fans are encouraged to wear blue in support of the Lady Muleriders. Live stats will be available here: http://www.sidearmstats.com/saumag/wvball/ and live video can be accessed here: http://livestream.com/accounts/10140781/events/4347957