MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Southern Arkansas Volleyball hits the road for Searcy as a Great American Conference tilt with Harding awaits the Muleriders on Thursday at 6 p.m. from inside Rhodes-Reaves Field House.
 
The Muleriders (5-10, 1-3 GAC) carry momentum to central Arkansas as the team is coming off a pair of wins on Tuesday at the SAU Tri-Match. Southern Arkansas earned a much needed GAC victory over Arkansas-Monticello in the afternoon's first match which saw the Muleriders fall behind two sets, before rallying back to take the league clash in five. In the nightcap, SAU toppled Williams Baptist in their most dominating performance of the season landing the Eagles in three sets.
 
Seven Muleriders have recorded 60+ kills this season led by sophomore Bailey Cagle's 115 at 2.30 kills per set. Sophomore Morgan Gross has recorded 87 kills at just under a two kills per set average, while a pair of freshmen in that 60+ kill category are leading the team in attack percentage. Middle Abby Bermudez is swinging at a clip of .253, while classmate Rylea Brimhall is currently hitting .230 with a team-best 2.56 kills per set.
 
Southern Arkansas' attack has been facilitated by three rookies this season. Freshmen Fabiola Rivera, Lexi Kruse, and Caitlin Murdock have combined for 464 of SAU's 541 assists in 2018. With Rivera out with an injury, Kruse, who is also playing hurt, and Murdock are leading the offensive charge for the Muleriders. Murdock is averaging 4.92 assists per set and Kruse owns a 4.56 assists per set rate.
 
In 54 sets played this season, the Muleriders rank in the top half of two GAC per set statistical categories: service aces (5^th | 1.61) and blocks (6^th | 1.74).
 
Kruse holds the league's sixth-best service aces per set clip at 0.36, while sophomore Lauren Smith ranks fifth in the GAC in blocks per set at 0.88 and her 44 block assists are the fourth-most in the league. Cagle follows with 37.0 total blocks at 0.74 per set.
 
Freshman Camryn Bihary ranks fourth in the league in digs per set at 4.52 and leads all GAC rookies in that category. Additionally, Bihary leads the team with 18 service aces.
 
For Harding, the Lady Bisons enter at 8-6 overall, are unbeaten in three league matches and have not lost at home in the team's two contests this season.
 
Harding owns one of the more complete units in the Great American Conference in 2018 as the team owns the second-best hitting percentage at .236, the third-most assists per set with 11.72 and the third-highest kills per set mark at 12.76. Defensively, the Lady Bisons allow opponents to attack at the league's third-lowest clip of .165, while averaging the second-most blocks per set at 1.91 and the fourth-most digs per set at 17.67.
 
The success revolves around one of the league's best in senior Zoe Hardin who ranks second in the GAC in hitting percentage (.362) and in blocks per set (1.07), while also owning the league's fifth-highest kills per set clip at 3.24. All of that adds up to Hardin currently ranking third in the conference in points per set at 4.18.
Sophomore Emily Smith ranks ninth in the GAC with a .279 attack percentage, while senior Rachel Heussner engineers the high-powered attack behind a league-leading 10.17 assists per set. She has totaled 549 assists this season; the 18^th-most in Division II.
 
Senior Taylor Lake is one of two players in the league averaging over five digs per set and her 273 total digs ranks 22^nd in Division II.