DURANT, Okla. – Four Lady Muleriders recorded seven or more kills and Southern Arkansas attacked at a clip of .313 as they toppled Texas A&M International in straight sets (25-16, 25-20, 25-12) to give first-year Head Coach
Britney Davis her first career victory in the team's season-opener at the South Central Classic in Durant, Okla.
RECORDS
Southern Arkansas (1-0)
Texas A&M International (0-1)
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Lady Muleriders started out hot in all three sets on Friday afternoon as they produced leads of 9-1, 7-3 and 7-3, respectively through the first ten points scored of each set.
- The Dustdevils outhit Southern Arkansas in the second set (.308 to .265) and cut their deficit to 19-17, before SAU used four kills and a TAMI service error to close out the set.
- Southern Arkansas kept Texas A&M International on their heels for most of the afternoon as SAU recorded a plus-20 kill margin (42-22), a plus-19 total attack margin (96-75) and a plus-17 assist margin (39-22).
- Junior newcomer Alexia Southern (Reno, Nev.) led the offensive charge for the Lady Muleriders as the outside hitter led all players with 11 kills in her SAU debut.
- In her Southern Arkansas debut, junior middle hitter Brittany Lampkin (San Marcos, Texas) produced eight kills and an impressive game-high .636 attack percentage. She also led the way with a pair of SAU's six blocks.
- Junior setter Savannah Pillow (Friendship, Tenn.) registered a career-high 35 assists; 13 more than the Dustdevils recorded as a team. She added five kills, four digs, a pair of service aces and a block assist.
- Junior opposite hitter Alli O'Banion (Dos Palos, Calif.) attacked at a clip of .533 as she claimed nine kills, while senior outside hitter Serena LeDuff added seven kills and seven digs.
- Senior defensive specialist Paige Mays (Bernie, Mo.) led SAU with game-highs in digs (11) and service aces (3).
FOR THE OPPOSITION
- Alexis Villa led TAMI with eight kills and an attack percentage of .333, but the Dustdevils hit just .147 as a team.
- Victoria Zamora recorded 11 assists to pace Texas A&M International.
- Defensively, Alejandra Bustamante and Ramey Gardner collected 11 and 10 digs respectively.
OF NOTE
- Friday's season-opening win was the second-straight win for SAU in season-openers having topped Stillman College in three sets to begin the 2015 campaign and in the process ending a three-game losing streak in season openers.
- It was the second meeting between the two programs in the last three seasons. Southern Arkansas topped Texas A&M International in straight sets (25-17, 25-22, 25-19) on September 20, 2014 in San Antonio, Texas.
- Southern Arkansas led the Great American Conference in service aces a season ago (206) and again showed their ability to score off of the serve as they recorded nine aces to TAMI's one.
- The Lady Muleriders were perfect in defending as they committed zero ball handling errors; a feat they garnered just three times in 2015 with the last such effort coming in a three-set sweep of Williams Baptist on October 14.
- A pair of freshmen in defensive specialists Riley Marsh (Sugar Land, Texas) and Whitney Brown (Bryant, Ark.) saw their first collegiate action on Friday afternoon. Marsh recorded two service aces and a dig.
UP NEXT
- Southern Arkansas continues play at the South Central Classic and returns to the court tonight for a 7 p.m. regional nightcap with Cameron University inside Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
