MAGNOLIA, Ark. – On Thursday night inside the W.T. Watson Center, the Southern Arkansas Lady Mulerider Volleyball team will play host to league-rival Arkansas-Monticello in a Great American Conference matchup that will serve as the former's annual "Dig Pink" night. First-serve is scheduled for 6 p.m. and fans are encouraged to wear pink in support of "Breast Cancer Awareness" Month.
 
QUICK FACTS

• Thursday night's clash with UAM will be the first of two remaining home games for Southern Arkansas this season. The final home contest will be in the regular season finale on November 9 at 6 p.m. vs. Henderson State.
• SAU (7-19, 0-11 GAC) owns a 4-5 record at home this season, but carries a 3-14 mark away from the W.T. Watson Center, while UAM (10-15, 2-9 GAC) is currently 4-7 on the road in 2017.
• The Lady Muleriders dropped a five-set thriller (11-25, 22-25, 25-21, 25-23, 15-13) on the road at UAM in late September. Southern Arkansas trailed two sets to none in the match and rallied to force a fifth set.
• Since 2011, the first year of the Great American Conference, SAU owns a 9-4 mark against the Blossoms. However, UAM has claimed the last three matches including a five-set victory in Magnolia in their last trip to Columbia County.
• Southern Arkansas, through 26 matches, is hitting .152, while opponents are hitting .204. The Lady Muleriders average 11.38 kills per set and 1.29 service aces per set.
• SAU's current blocks per set average of 1.79 ranks fifth all-time in a single season for a Lady Mulerider team in the Rally Scoring Era (RSE). The Lady Muleriders are just 1.5 total blocks from cracking the top ten in the program's single season category, while the team's 268 block assists this season are the sixth-most in a single season in the RSE.
• For the Blossoms, UAM is hitting at an average of .139, while forcing opponents to attack at the fifth-lowest mark in the GAC at .183. UAM averages 11.36 kills per set and 1.22 blocks per set, while its 1.56 service aces per set ranks second in the league.

 
 
WHO TO WATCH (Southern Arkansas)

• Statistically speaking, last week proved to be a historic one for a couple of Lady Muleriders.
• Senior opposite hitter/middle hitter Alli O'Banion became just the third Lady Mulerider in the RSE to register 300 or more career blocks. The Dos Palos, California, native currently has 301 total career blocks and is third all-time on that career chart. She is 22 total blocks away from moving into second place on the list. Her 263 block assists are the second-most in a career in the RSE and she is just three away from becoming the program's all-time leader in the category. Her 38 career block solos are currently eighth all-time in the RSE.
• Offensively, O'Banion is just 33 kills shy of the 1,000 career kill milestone. She could become just the fifth RSE player to eclipse 1,000 kills in a career. She is currently nine kills back of fifth-place on the RSE all-time list.
• Since 2000, a triple-double has been recorded by a SAU Volleyball player just four times with two of those instances happening this month in a span of eight days. Sophomore setter Alexa Bass became just the third Lady Mulerider to record a triple-double in the RSE with a 10 kill, 29 assist, 10 dig effort vs. Oklahoma Baptist (10/13). The Fort Worth, Texas, native followed that performance up with a 14 kill, 38 assist, 11 dig showing at East Central (10/21) to become the first SAU player with two triple-doubles in the RSE.
• Over half of SAU's 10.6 assists per set come Bass who owns the league's ninth-best per set mark at 6.49. Senior Savannah Pillow adds 3.56 assists per set.
• Bass also leads five other Lady Muleriders in double digit service aces with 41 and has been on a tear in the month of October recording 18 service aces in seven matches, which includes a pair of five ace performances. She currently ranks second in the GAC in service aces per set with 0.42.
• Senior outside hitter Alexia Southern and O'Banion have each registered 200 or more kills this season. Southern leads the team with 261 at 2.75 kills per set and O'Banion follows with 215 kills at 2.19 per set.
• Sophomore Seven Powers (197) and freshman Bailey Cagle (113) round out players with at least 100 kills. Cagle owns the club's top hit clip at .230.

• Cagle owns a team-leading 79.0 blocks at 0.82 blocks per set and leads four other players with at least 30.0 total blocks. O'Banion follows with 67.0 total blocks at 0.68 per set, while rookie Lauren Smith (40.0), Southern (40.0), Powers (31.0) have provided ample support for the Lady Muleriders' front line defense. Cagle and O'Banion (twice) have recorded 8.0 block assists in a match this season which is tied for the fourth-most in a single match in the RSE.
• Four Lady Muleriders have recorded 190 or more digs paced by sophomore Whitney Brown's 355 at 3.86 per set. Southern has added 223 assists with Bass (222) and sophomore Riley Marsh (193) also contributing in the backcourt.

 
 
WHO TO WATCH (Arkansas-Monticello)

• Maggie Pyles owns the league's third-highest kills per set average at 3.40 and ranks fourth in the GAC in points per set with 3.86. She leads UAM in kills (291) and kills per set (3.40).
• Vanessa Pawlak (173) and Aubrey Harrison (144) join Pyles as players with 100 or more kills and who average 1.7 kills per set or more.
• Three players average three or more assists per set led by Toryn Cox's 481 total assists at 5.66 per set. Shayna Daniels follows with 4.37 assists per set and Kendall Vondra adds 3.32 assists per set.
• Four Blossoms have produced 20 or more total blocks this season led by Harrison's 49.0 at 0.58 per set. Laurene Cushinberry (37.0 total blocks) adds 0.45 blocks per set, with Pyles (0.31 per set) and Kassidy Pomeroy (0.29 per set) contributing to the front line defense as well.
• Macy Mitchell currently sits in the top four of a pair of conference categories: digs per set (3^rd | 5.57) and service aces per set (4^th | 0.41).
• Mitchell leads the team with 35 service aces, while Pyles and Harrison have combined for 47 service aces this season. Mitchell's 479 digs pace four other players with 100 or more digs for UAM this season. Pyles averages 2.33 digs per set.

 
LIVE COVERAGE

• Live Video – https://livestream.com/accounts/10140781
• Live Stats – http://www.sidearmstats.com/saumag/wvball/

 

Southern Arkansas	Team Statistics	Arkansas-Monticello
26 (98)	Matches Played (Sets Played)	25 (88)
1,115 (11.4)	Kills (Kills per Set)	1,000 (11.4)
589	Errors	528
3,452	Total Attacks	3,388
.152	Attack Percentage	.139
1,040 (10.6)	Assists (Assists per Set)	931 (10.6)
126 (1.3)	Aces (Aces per Set)	137 (1.6)
161 (1.6)	Reception Errors (RE per Set)	137 (1.6)
1,503 (15.3)	Digs (Digs per Set)	1,515 (17.2)
175.0 (1.8)	Total Blocks (Blocks per Set)	107.0 (1.2)