After bookending their four-game set at the South Central Classic in Durant, Oklahoma, with a pair of wins, the Southern Arkansas Lady Mulerider Volleyball team continues their tournament tour as they prepare for a four-match slate at the Bettye Wallace Invitational in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, on September 9-10.

    Southern Arkansas (2-2) enters the second weekend of their 2016 campaign at .500 for the second-consecutive year and eyes four teams that have started their respetive seasons a combined 11-5, including three regional opponents.

    All four of SAU's matches in Arkadelphia will be on the campus of Ouachita Baptist University as the Tigers are jointly hosting the invitational with Henderson State.

    Friday's slate for the Lady Muleriders includes a pair of matchups against 3-1 clubs in the MIAA's Lindenwood and former Gulf South Conference foe Western Alabama. Saturday's schedule highlights their second matchup with an MIAA team in a Missouri Southern club that has matched their win total from a season ago, while SAU's final game in Arkadelphia is against the NSIC's Northern State who spent 12 weeks in the AVCA Top-25 last season, including five weeks in the poll's top-5.

    Statistically, Southern Arkansas is currently in the top-five in ten Great American Conference categories: kills (T2nd | 198), digs (2nd | 274), digs per set (3rd | 17.12), assists (3rd | 182), total attacks (3rd | 593), service aces (4th | 26), service aces per set (5th | 1.62), assists per set (5th | 11.38), kills per set (5th | 12.38), and opponent hitting percentage (5th | .162).

    Junior transfer Alexia Southern paces the Lady Mulerider offense with the eighth-best kills per set average of 3.31 in the GAC, while owning the league's tenth-best points per set mark at 3.41.

    Senior libero Paige Mays is ranked in the top-five in four individual categories: digs (3rd | 75), digs per set (3rd | 4.69), service aces (4th | 9) and service aces per set (4th | 0.56). Senior defensive specialist Hannah Rice is tenth among GAC players in digs (51) and digs per set (3.40).

    A pair of setters rank in the top-nine of the league's assist category as junior Savannah Pillow places 6th in assists per set at 8.45, while freshman Katy Cooper ranks ninth at 7.78 assists per set.

    Live stats for Southern Arkansas' entire time in Arkadephia can be found here: http://www.sidearmstats.com/ouachita/wvball/.

    Be sure to check out the new muleriderathletics.com for all pregame and postgame updates and recaps of Lady Mulerider Volleyball.