MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Southern Arkansas Lady Mulerider Volleyball team treks to Oklahoma for a pair of Great American Conference matches this weekend as the crossover portion of the conference schedule begins across the league. SAU is looking to snap a four-match losing streak beginning on Friday night, October 6, in Weatherford, Oklahoma, against Southwestern Oklahoma State at 6 p.m. Southern Arkansas concludes the road swing with a haul up to Alva for a 1 p.m. first-serve the following day, Saturday, October, 7.
QUICK FACTS
- The Lady Muleriders are just three wins away from matching their win total from a season ago with a dozen regular season games remaining. Eleven of those matches are Great American Conference matchups and seven of the 12 are on the road.
- Southern Arkansas is 2-3 on the road this season with wins over Williams Baptist and Central Baptist.
- SAU currently sits in a tie for eleventh place in the GAC standings with East Central.
- The Lady Muleriders, as a team, are attacking at a clip of .145 per match, while opponents are hitting .201. SAU is one of the league's better blocking teams as they have totaled 126.0 total blocks (5th GAC) at 1.83 blocks per set (6th GAC).
- Southern Arkansas averages 11.16 kills per set behind 10.35 assists per set, while also adding 14.91 digs per set.
WHO TO WATCH
- Offensively, the Lady Muleriders have been led by senior Alexia Southern (2.61) and sophomore Seven Powers (2.26) as both players average over two kills per set. Southern has totaled 172 kills and Powers follows with 149 kills. Senior Alli O'Banion adds 126 kills, while freshman front liner Bailey Cagle is nine kills from the century mark in her rookie campaign.
- With the league's ninth-best assists per set mark of 6.35, sophomore Alexa Bass has been instrumental in developing the Lady Mulerider offense as she has tallied 432 assists this season. Senior Savannah Pillow adds 3.52 assists per set.
- Cagle's 53.0 blocks are tied with O'Banion for the team lead, while the former's 0.79 blocks per set is a team-best. Five additional Lady Muleriders have recorded 10.0 or more total blocks this season.
- Three players have recorded double-digit service aces lead by Bass' 23. Freshman Morgan Gross has added 17 and Cagle currently has 11.
- Sophomore Whitney Brown's 220 digs are a team-best (3.49 per set), while Bass (153), Southern (131) and sophomore Riley Marsh (124) have all surpassed the 100-dig mark. Freshman Alana Perez is just four digs from the century mark this season.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6 – WEATHERFORD, OKLAHOMA – PIONEER CELLULAR EVENT CENTER
OF NOTE
- Southwestern Oklahoma State is 6-13 overall and 3-2 in GAC play and is currently tied for seventh with Ouachita entering the weekend.
- The Lady Bulldogs own league wins over East Central (3-1), Southeastern Oklahoma State (3-0), and Oklahoma Baptist (3-2).
- The last meeting between the two schools resulted in a five-set loss for Southern Arkansas in Magnolia.
- Southwestern Oklahoma owns a 5-3 series advantage over Southern Arkansas since the two became charter members of the GAC in 2011. The most notable match between the two programs came in the league tournament finals in 2015 where SWOSU won the GAC Tournament Championship in four sets.
- The Lady Bulldogs attack at .162 (7th GAC) with 11.21 kills per set, while opponents are hitting .193 (8th GAC). Defensively, SWOSU averages 1.68 blocks per set (7th GAC) and its 17.8 digs per set are the fourth-best mark in the conference.
WHO TO WATCH
- Three players lead the SWOSU attack as Danusia Sipa Borgeau paces the club with 212 kills at 2.68 per set. DeLayni Fine (2.28 per set) and Addie Aman (1.90 per set) combine for 337 kills.
- On the defensive side of the net, Kaitlyn Dillon's 5.12 digs per set are the GAC's third-most in the category, while four other players have recorded 170 or more digs with Lindsey McCauley's 224 at 2.77 per set standing as the second-most on the team behind Dillon.
- JaLisa Hollingshed averages 0.90 blocks per set; the ninth-highest total in the conference. Aman leads the team with 60.0 total blocks at 0.75 per set, while Fine, Avery and Sipa Borgeau have each registered 30.0 or more total blocks.
- Of Southwestern Oklahoma's 10.45 assists per set, 8.26 of those come from Kodee Avery as that total stands as the league's sixth-best assists per set mark. Avery has recorded 671 assists this season and currently leads the league in total assists.
- The Lady Bulldogs average 1.45 service aces per set (5th GAC) due in large part to six players having recorded ten or more led by Klemson Lancaster's 22 service aces and followed by 21 each from Allie Hoang and Aman while Avery has added 19.
LIVE COVERAGE
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7 – ALVA, OKLAHOMA – PERCEFULL FIELDHOUSE
OF NOTE
- Northwestern Oklahoma State enters this weekend of play at 13-5 overall with a 3-1 mark in league action. NWOSU currently sits in fourth place in the GAC standings and will play Arkansas-Monticello on Friday night.
- The Lady Rangers' three conference victories came after they dropped their league opener to Oklahoma Baptist (1-3). The wins include five-set triumphs over East Central and Southwestern Oklahoma State and a straight sets victory against Southeastern Oklahoma State.
- In their most recent match, Southern Arkansas took down NWOSU in three sets last season in Magnolia.
- Southern Arkansas holds a 4-1 series lead over the Lady Rangers. The lone NWOSU win came in a five-set triumph in 2015.
- Northwestern Oklahoma boasts solid play on both sides of the net as the Lady Rangers attack at the third-highest percentage in the GAC at .227 averaging 12.3 kills per set (6th GAC), while forcing opponents to hit at the league's fourth-lowest clip of .146.
- The Lady Rangers average 11.7 assists per set (6th GAC) and 15.8 digs per set (10th GAC), while their 2.0 blocks per set are the fourth-highest mark in the conference. NWOSU leads the GAC in service aces per set at 1.9.
WHO TO WATCH
- Jennifer Eubanks owns the second-highest attack percentage in the GAC at .394 and also averages the fifth-most kills per set in the league at 3.09. Defensively, she averages 0.89 blocks per set which currently stands as the tenth-most per set in the conference.
- Kiauna Clark also ranks in the league's top ten in attack percentage at tenth with a mark of .286, while Hannah Williams is currently seventh in the GAC in kills per set at 2.98. Williams has recorded 200 kills and Eubanks follows closely with 198. Clark has added 115 kills.
- Clark paces the offense with 5.52 assists per set and Lauren Symington's 0.92 blocks per set rank in the top ten of the conference. Symington has recorded 49.0 total blocks so far this season and trails Eubanks in the category as the latter has recorded 54.0 total blocks.
- Three key players vault the Lady Rangers to the top of the league's service aces per set chart as Tobi Barker (0.43 per set), Brooklynn Hesson (0.36 per set) and Kaitlyn Robinson (0.34 per set) all rank in the top ten individually paced by Barker's second-highest per set total. Hesson has also registered 148 total kills this season.
- Five players have recorded 150 or more digs led by Carley Greer's 210 (3.28 per set) and followed by Clark's 179 (3.09 per set).
LIVE COVERAGE
HEAD TO HEAD
| Southern Arkansas |
Team Statistics |
SWOSU |
NWOSU |
| 19 (69) |
Matches Played (Sets Played) |
19 (81) |
18 (64) |
| 770 (11.2) |
Kills (Kills per Set) |
905 (11.2) |
785 (12.3) |
| 427 |
Errors |
410 |
274 |
| 2,364 |
Total Attacks |
3,059 |
2,254 |
| .145 |
Attack Percentage |
.162 |
.227 |
| 714 (10.3) |
Assists (Assists per Set) |
844 (10.4) |
747 (11.7) |
| 88 (1.3) |
Aces (Aces per Set) |
115 (1.4) |
122 (1.9) |
| 119 (1.7) |
Reception Errors (RE per Set) |
114 (1.4) |
62 (1.0) |
| 1,029 (14.9) |
Digs (Digs per Set) |
1,438 (17.8) |
1,012 (15.8) |
| 126.0 (1.8) |
Total Blocks (Blocks per Set) |
133.0 (1.6) |
130.0 (2.0) |
Bold – League Leader
Italics – League's Top 5
