Women's Volleyball | 9/26/2017 11:31:00 AM

MAGNOLIA, Ark. – A pair of Great American Conference teams will clash inside Steelman Field House on Tuesday night with the hopes of jumpstarting their respective seasons as Southern Arkansas travels to Arkansas-Monticello in a league affair between two programs looking for their first conference win of the season. First-serve from Drew County is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
 
OF NOTE

• Southern Arkansas (6-11, 0-3 GAC) has dropped three-straight league contests to begin conference play: a three-set loss at home to then-#24 Arkansas Tech, a tough five-set home loss to Ouachita and most recently a three-set setback at Henderson State.
• The Lady Muleriders are currently tied for 10^th in the conference standings with Tuesday night's opponent Arkansas-Monticello (5-9, 0-3 GAC) and East Central (4-11, 0-3 GAC), but their six wins overall are the sixth-most in the conference.
• UAM also enters their fourth GAC match of the season having suffered three-straight losses to begin league play. The Blossoms dropped its league opener at Ouachita in four sets, before falling in straight sets to both Henderson State and Harding.
• Tuesday night will be the fifth match inside Steelman Field House for Arkansas-Monticello this season. UAM is currently 2-2 at home in 2017 and tonight's meeting with SAU will be "Ovarian Cancer Awareness" night. For more information behind tonight's special teal match, visit http://uamsports.com/news/2017/9/25/-uamvolleyball-to-host-teal-match-tuesday.aspx?path=wvball.
• The Lady Muleriders are 9-3 against Arkansas-Monticello in the dozen meetings the programs have had since the two joined the Great American Conference in 2011. UAM took both matches last season: a five-set win on the road in Magnolia and a four-set victory at home.

 
WHO TO WATCH

• Southern Arkansas has been led by senior outside hitter Alexia Southern who has recorded three-consecutive double-doubles entering Tuesday night. Southern leads SAU with 143 kills at 2.51 per set and sophomore Seven Powers follows with 126 kills at 2.21 per set.
• Sophomore Alexa Bass has paced the offense with 361 assists at the league's eighth-best clip of 6.12 assists per set. Senior Savannah Pillow adds 3.55 assists per set.
• A pair of middle hitters currently lead the team in total blocks as senior Alli O'Banion's 50.0 total blocks at 0.83 blocks per set are the current team-high. Freshman Bailey Cagle follows with 46.0 total blocks at 0.79 per set. The Lady Muleriders average 1.81 blocks per set; the fifth-highest blocks per set rate in the GAC.
• Three players have recorded 100 or more digs this season led by sophomore Whitney Brown's 170 at 3.15 digs per set. Bass follows with 121 (2.05) and Southern has added 115 digs at 2.02 digs per set.
• Just under half of SAU's service aces have come from Bass and freshman Morgan Gross who have combined for 35  of SAU's 75 total service aces led by Bass' 18.
• For Arkansas-Monticello, Maggie Pyles leads the Blossom attack with 156 kills at 3.12 kills per set and a .181 attack percentage. Vanessa Pawlak follows with 96 kills.
• Similar to Southern Arkansas, UAM employs a two-setter approach as Toryn Cox leads the team with 253 assists at 5.06 per set, while Shayna Daniels adds 4.52 assists per set. Additionally, Kendall Vondra adds just over two and a half assists per set at 2.58.
• Three Blossoms have recorded ten or more total blocks led by Aubrey Harrison's 21.0.
• Macy Mitchell leads four UAM players that own ten or more service aces with a team-leading 21, while also pacing a back court with 240 digs at 4.80 per set. Pyles (133) and Cox (107) combine for 4.80 digs per set as they together meet Mitchell's current dig total of 240.

 
HEAD TO HEAD
 

Arkansas-Monticello (5-9, 0-3 GAC)	Team Statistics	Southern Arkansas (6-11, 0-3 GAC)
14 (52)	Matches Played (Sets Played)	17 (60)
589 (11.3)	Kills (Kills per Set)	672 (11.2)
301	Errors	363
1,988	Total Attacks	2,022
.145	Attack Percentage	.153
551 (10.6)	Assists (Assists per Set)	619 (10.3)
76 (1.5)	Aces (Aces per Set)	75 (1.2)
86 (1.7)	Reception Errors (RE per Set)	107 (1.8)
890 (17.1)	Digs (Digs per Set)	858 (14.3)
52.0 (1.0)	Total Blocks (Blocks per Set)	110.0 (1.8)

Bold – League Leader
 
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