MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Southern Arkansas University volleyball team will host two schools from the Sooner state this week, as Southeastern Oklahoma State University and East Central University are set to come to town on Thursday and Friday evening.
Southern Arkansas will look to pick up their second and third GAC victories of the year as they are set to welcome both squads into the W.T. Watson Athletic Center. The Mulerider offense has relied heavily on
Victoria White (157 kills) and
Landry Rogers (147 kills) this season.
Abby Bermudez (97 kills) and
Isla Olivas (93 kills) have also shown great offensive firepower for SAU this season. Bermudez leads the squad in attack percentage as she is hitting .294 on the year.
Morgan Schuster leads SAU with 486 assists, and only trails the GAC leader by one assist. Schuster also ranks second on the defensive side of the ball as she has collected 123 digs, which ranks second on the team to
Bailey Kirk's team leading 140 digs.
Samantha Still has played well for the Muleriders in recent weeks collecting 99 digs on the year. Bermudez leads the team in blocks with 44, followed by Olivas (28), White (25) and Schuster (23).
Southeastern comes into Thursday's matchup with a 5-8 record and a 2-3 record in Great American Conference play. The Savage Storm have lost three straight matches including two 3-0 losses to East Central and Oklahoma Baptist last week, and a 3-1 loss last night against Dallas Baptist University.
Skylor Lewis leads the SEOSU offense with 159 kills on the year, while Ruthie Forson leads the team with 433 assists. On the defensive side, Grace Shehadeh leads the team with 252 digs, while Caroline Griffith leads the team with 28 blocks.
East Central comes into Friday night's match up with a five game win streak, and a 4-1 record in GAC play. The Tigers sit at 8-9 on the year. ECU is coming off of a 3-1 win over Texas A&M Commerce this past Tuesday.
The Tigers have three players with 155+ kills, as they are led by Nyah Walker (162), Emma Strickland (158), and Thalianette Garcia (157). Sydney Dungen leads ECU with 306 assists. Alejandra Delgado finds herself leading the defensive with 319 digs, which ranks in the top five in the conference. ECU has two players that have collected 42 blocks in Kemyra Landry and Aloni Jordan.
Thursday night's match up against SEOSU will begin at 6:00 p.m., while Friday's match up against ECU will begin at the same time.
You can stay up-to-date with all things Mulerider Volleyball by visiting www.muleriderathletics.com or by following Mulerider Athletics on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @muleridersports.
