Women's Volleyball | 9/28/2017 8:48:00 AM
MAGNOLIA, Ark. – After taking a pair of Great American Conference opponents to five sets in two of their last three outings, the Southern Arkansas Lady Mulerider Volleyball team is hopeful of snapping a three-match losing streak, but faces a tough test in a visiting Harding program that has won 14 of their first 16 matches to begin the season. First-serve from inside the W.T. Watson Center is scheduled for 6 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 11th in the conference standings with East Central (4-12, 0-4 GAC), but their six wins overall are the fifth-most in the conference.
- Harding (14-2, 3-1 GAC) comes to Magnolia with the GAC's second-best record overall and are in third-place in the current league standings. The Lady Bisons have won their last six sets: league sweeps over Ouachita and UAM.
- Thursday's matchup inside the W.T. Watson Center will be the sixth match in Magnolia this season. The Lady Muleriders are 3-2 with all three of those wins coming at the Dr. Margaret Downing Invitational, while the two losses came at the hands of league opponents.
- Harding has won the last two matches vs. Southern Arkansas in straight sets and since the two joined the GAC in 2011, the Lady Bisons have won 9 of the past 12 meetings.
- The three Lady Mulerider wins during that time all came during the 2015 season: a straight-sets victory in Magnolia, a five-set win at Searcy, and a five-set victory in the opening round of the GAC Tournament.
WHO TO WATCH
- SAU senior outside hitter Alexia Southern enters the Harding match having logged four consecutive double-double effort in kills and digs. Sophomore setter Alexa Bass has also got in on the double-double act as she has recorded ten-plus assists and digs in each of the past four matches.
- For Southern, her previous four match double-double average is 15 kills and 12.5 digs, while Bass is averaging 25.8 assists and 11.8 digs in her last four matches.
- The two are leading their respective high output positions as Southern paces the club with 160 total kills at 2.58 per set with Bass having recorded a team-best 392 assists at 6.12 per set (9th | GAC).
- Behind Southern and Bass in output are sophomore outside hitter Seven Powers who has collected 140 kills at 2.26 per set and senior setter Savannah Pillow who has accounted for 183 assists at 3.52 per set.
- Southern Arkansas sits with the league's sixth-most blocks per set at 1.80. A pair of middle hitters in senior Alli O'Banion and freshman Bailey Cagle are leading that charge as O'Banion has recorded 51.0 total blocks with Cagle following closely with 50.0 total blocks.
- Cagle is one of three Lady Muleriders with ten or more service aces as she currently has ten, following classmate Morgan Gross' 17 and Bass' team-leading 18.
- Sophomore Whitney Brown continues a solid campaign as a top backcourt player for Southern Arkansas as the defensive specialist has racked up 198 digs at 3.36 per set to lead four players with 100 or more: Bass (136), Southern (125), and classmate Riley Marsh (111).
- Harding currently ranks third or better in five major team categories including hitting percentage (.229 | 2nd), opponent hitting percentage (.116 | 2nd), assists (12.57 | 2nd), kills (13.53 | 2nd), and blocks (2.09 | 3rd).
- Zoe Hardin, the GAC's reigning Player of the Year, leads the Lady Bisons as a front line force. Hardin owns the league's fifth-highest attack percentage at .309 and ranks tenth in kills averaging 2.85 per set. Defensively, Hardin, who was also tabbed as the league's Defensive Player of the Year in 2016, is the conference leader in blocks per set with 1.28. She is currently averaging more blocks per set than three Great American Conference teams.
- Rachel Heussner averages the GAC's second-most assists per set at 10.2, while Taylor Lake's 4.16 digs per set place her tenth in the conference category.
HEAD TO HEAD
| Harding (14-2, 3-1 GAC) |
Team Statistics |
Southern Arkansas (6-12, 0-4 GAC) |
| 16 (53) |
Matches Played (Sets Played) |
18 (65) |
| 717 (13.5) |
Kills (Kills per Set) |
721 (11.1) |
| 265 |
Errors |
394 |
| 1,977 |
Total Attacks |
2,193 |
| .229 |
Attack Percentage |
.149 |
| 666 (12.6) |
Assists (Assists per Set) |
666 (10.2) |
| 62 (1.2) |
Aces (Aces per Set) |
79 (1.2) |
| 49 (0.9) |
Reception Errors (RE per Set) |
116 (1.8) |
| 868 (16.4) |
Digs (Digs per Set) |
947 (14.6) |
| 111.0 (2.1) |
Total Blocks (Blocks per Set) |
117.0 (1.8) |
Bold – League Leader
LIVE COVERAGE
