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Southern Arkansas University Athletics

Official Athletics Site of the Southern Arkansas University Muleriders
VB Celebration
Brenna Johnson

Lady Muleriders back on the road; travel to Oklahoma for pair of GAC matches

| By: By: Darian Harris
MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Southern Arkansas Volleyball travels to Oklahoma this weekend for a pair of matches with two of the four teams currently holding the lowest winning percentage in the Great American Conference. The first match is set for 7 p.m. on Friday against Southeastern Oklahoma, following a 2 p.m. start on Saturday against East Central.
 
QUICK FACTS
  • The Lady Muleriders carry momentum into this weekend after ending their longest losing streak of the season on Tuesday night with a straight-sets victory against non-conference opponent Central Baptist College.
  • Southern Arkansas is 7-17 overall and 0-9 against Great American Conference teams. Of the nine league losses, five have come in the fourth set or later, while four have been in five sets.
  • SAU is currently 8th in the conference standings, just two losses behind Friday's opponent, Southeastern (6th GAC) and one loss shy of Saturday's opponent, East Central (T-7th GAC).
  • Southern Arkansas is just three games back of the final tournament spot with seven league contests remaining on the regular season schedule.
  • The Lady Muleriders are currently hitting .150 with opponents attacking at a clip of .206.
  • SAU averages 11.27 kills per set and defensively posts 1.74 blocks per set which stands as the sixth-best mark in the conference.
 
WHO TO WATCH
  • Senior outside hitter Alexia Southern is currently the only Lady Mulerider   exceeding the 200-kill mark for the season with a team-best 234 kills in 756 attempts, while also averaging the most kills per set with 2.72.
  • Just recently, freshman Bailey Cagle eclipsed the century mark in kills for the first time in her rookie campaign with 106. Cagle owns the club's top hit clip at .247 among players with 75 or more total attacks.
  • Rounding out the hitters with 100 or more kills is senior Alli O'Banion (185), and sophomore Seven Powers (180).
  • O'Banion finds herself closing in on several career milestones with just seven games remaining in the 2017 regular season. The Dos Palos, California, native is seven total blocks from 300 for her career and is 63 kills shy from reaching the 1,000 career kills mark. O'Banion could become the third Lady Mulerider to reach 300 or more career blocks in the Rally Scoring Era and just the fourth player to eclipse 1,000 kills in a career in that same time span.
  • Over half of SAU's 10.5 assists per set come from setter Alexa Bass as the sophomore owns the league's ninth-best per set mark at 6.45. Bass also leads four Lady Muleriders in double digit service aces with 35. Senior Savannah Pillow adds 3.48 assists per set.
  • Cagle has produced a team-leading 66.0 total blocks, while O'Banion ranks second in the category with 59.0. Southern (34.0), freshman Lauren Smith (34.0), and Powers (30.0) have provided ample support for the Lady Muleriders' front line defense.
  • Four Lady Muleriders have recorded 170 or more digs paced by sophomore Whitney Brown's 314, in which she recently stands the only team member surpassing the 300-digs mark at 3.78 per set. Bass has added 205 assists with Southern (182) and sophomore Riley Marsh (170) also contributing in the backcourt.
 
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20 – DURANT, OKLAHOMA - BLOOMER SULLIVAN GYM
 
OF NOTE
  • Southeastern Oklahoma is currently 6-17 overall with a 2-7 mark in Great American Conference play.
  • The Savage Storm have won two league contests against East Central in five sets and Henderson State in four.
  • Four of the Storm's seven GAC losses have come in three straight-sets, with the remaining three losses coming in four set matches.
  • SEO enters the weekend with the ninth-best GAC record (2-7) and one win shy of a conference tournament spot behind Henderson State (3-6).
  • In their previous two meetings, each team has claimed a road win with SAU's straight-set victory in Durant, Oklahoma prior to SE's four-set victory in Magnolia last season.
  • Southeastern Oklahoma's offense has an attack clip of .129 and averages 12.12 kills per set with 10-less total kills (400) than SAU (410) on the season.
  • Defensively, SE ranks in the top-five best back line defenses in the conference averaging 19.27 digs per set (5th GAC).
 
WHO TO WATCH
  • Abby Jameson's 3.38 kills per set ranks her fourth in the Great American Conference as she boasts a team-best 254 total kills on the season.
  • Alissa Benson is responsible for developing the Savage Storm's attack with 533 total assists this season and 9.19 per set in 58 sets played. SE averages 11.39 assists per set as a team (8th GAC).
  • Caitlin Cosby boasts the conference's highest average digs per set at 6.27 with 457 total on the year.
  • Two SE players have 30 or more blocks this season as Arianna Baker leads the team with 46.0 (0.59 blk/s) followed by Caroline Griffith's 30.0 at 0.63 blocks per set.
  • Caitlin Cosby and Grace Shehadeh own a team-best 14 service aces with Kristi Carter following with 13.
 
LIVE COVERAGE  
 
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21 – ADA, OKLAHOMA - KERR ACTIVITIES CENTER
 
OF NOTE
  • East Central enters this weekend of play at 6-17 overall with an 1-8 record in conference play.
  • The Lady Tigers are currently tied with Monticello with the seventh-best record in conference play after capturing their only GAC win last week against Henderson State in four sets.
  • ECU is 4-1 against Southern Arkansas since the former joined the GAC in 2012. The Lady Tigers own a 1-2 record at home as their lone win came in four sets.
  • East Central attacks at a clip of .121 and allows opponents to hit .189. The team's 10.49 kills per set ranks the leagues 11th best overall.
  • The Lady Tigers also rank third-best in the league in digs per set at 20.17 and seventh-best in blocks per set with 1.83.
 
WHO TO WATCH
  • Senior Lily Porsa represents the only ECU player appearing in the league's top ten in any individual statistical category as her 5.51 digs per set ranks her fifth in the GAC.
  • Alexis Campbell (185), Madeline Mayer (171), Karina Erreguin (119), and Dianna Etienne (114) are the only Lady Tigers with more than 100 total kills on the year as Campbell averages the most kills per set at 2.50 and Mayer swings at the highest attack clip of .180.
  • Taylor Turner (4.50) and Sydney Dungen (4.23) each average the team's top-two assists per set as Dungen also boasts a team-best 19 service aces this season.
  • Madeline Mayer paces the defensive front line with 69.0 total blocks and is the only Lady Tiger with more than 36.
 
LIVE COVERAGE  
HEAD TO HEAD
 
Southern Arkansas Team Statistics SEOSU ECU
24 (89) Matches Played (Sets Played) 23 (78) 23 (83)
1003 (11.3) Kills (Kills per Set) 925 (11.9) 866 (10.4)
540 Errors 525 495
3,077 Total Attacks 3,023 3,281
.150 Attack Percentage .132 .113
933 (10.5) Assists (Assists per Set) 867 (11.1) 812 (9.8)
113 (1.3) Aces (Aces per Set) 65 (.8) 90 (1.1)
148 (1.7) Reception Errors (RE per Set) 106 (1.4) 126 (1.5)
1,342 (15.1) Digs (Digs per Set) 1,416 (18.2) 1,595 (19.2)
155.0 (1.7) Total Blocks (Blocks per Set) 104.0 (1.3) 141.5 (1.7)
Bold – League Leader
Italics – League's Top 5
 
 
 
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