MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Alli O'Banion's Muleriders prepare for the Sooner State excursion as they look towards their road matchup against Oklahoma Baptist on Thursday (Oct. 12) night at 6:00 p.m. The following day (Friday, Oct. 13), Southern Arkansas heads to OKC to square off with Southern Nazarene in Bethany, Oklahoma at 4:00 p.m. The Muleriders are coming off a split week that saw junior Kayte Delong claim her first Great American Conference weekly honor as the Offensive Player of the Week.
 
WHO TO LOOK FOR
The reigning GAC Offensive Player of the Week is currently leading the charge for the SAU offense as she has recorded 143 kills on the campaign with the 162.5 points. Isla Olivas is currently leading the squad with her .291 hitting percentage, Delong currently sits at .285. Ranked fourth in the conference and leading SAU in service aces is Morgan Schuster with 28 (three behind first in GAC). Schuster also leads the offensive orchestration with 359 total assists and is being aided in that area by junior setter Macie Shaver with 283 of her own. Lauryn Moultrie looks to continue her defensive reign as the Muleriders block leader accounts for 67 total blocks that also ranks second in the league. Mary Insalaco currently leads the Southern Arkansas defense with 203 digs while Alessia Sonzini has a recorded an average of 3.42/set.
 
OKLAHOMA BAPTIST (11-7 | 5-2 GAC)
The Bison are coming off their own split week after they return home from Arkansas with a 0-3 loss to Harding (12-7 | 7-0 GAC) and a sweeping victory over Arkansas Tech (1-16 | 1-6 GAC).
 
Since Oklahoma Baptist joined the GAC, the Muleriders have yet to overcome the Bison as the series record sits at 0-7 in OBU's favor. Mulerider offense was piloted by sophomores Landry Rogers with 9 kills and Isla Olivas with 7 kills. Schuster recorded 24 assists along with her one service ace. Sophomore Ava Tanner led the team with her .250 attack percentage and Olivas followed with .222%.
 
The Bison lead the conference in assists/set (12.17 | 34^th nationally) and kills/set (12.90 | 47^th nationally), while they also rank second in blocks per set (2.11) and hitting percentage (.225). Oklahoma Baptist comes in third for attacks/set with 36.59 and fourth for total blocks with 133.
 
Maci Langford leads the conference in digs/set as she has averaged 4.71/set (50^th nationally). She also sits at fifth in total digs with 297. Jill Leslie ranks second in the conference with hitting percentage with a recorded .347. Leslie also sits at sixth in the GAC with blocks/set with 0.84/set.
 
SOUTHERN NAZARENE (12-7 | 3-4 GAC)
Over the last five games, the Crimson Storm went 2-3 with sweeping wins over Arkansas Tech and Newman (0-16 | 0-8 MIAA). SNU's three losses came from Oklahoma Baptist, Southwestern Oklahoma State (11-5 | 5-2 GAC), and Harding.
 
Since Southern Nazarene joined the GAC, Southern Arkansas has only defeated the program twice and has yet to conquer the Storm in the last nine opportunities. SNU swept the Riders last fall in Magnolia after two quick set wins to start. SAU pushed Southern Nazarene in the third, but came up just shy in a 27-29 set three loss.
 
The squad ranks inside the top 5 for 10 of the 14 team statistics available. Within those they rank fourth in assists/set (11.32), blocks/set (1.96), and hitting percentage (.204). They rank third in digs/set (16.81), opposing hitting percentage (.160), and total blocks (145). Finally, the Storm ranks second in assists (838 | 21^st nationally), digs (1,244 | 13^th nationally), kills (904 | 24^th nationally), and total attacks (2,669 | 17^th nationally).
 
Madeline Lynch leads the league in total digs with 338 which also ranks 18^th nationally (4.57/set | 3^rd GAC). Kaley Brubaker ranks second in the conference in assists with 672 (20^th nationally) on the campaign while also being second with assists/set (9.08). Whitney Bowie leads the Storm in total blocks with 59 this season (5^th GAC) and Sunny Batschelett commands the offense with 236 kills in the campaign (fifth GAC | 39^th nationally).
 
Southern Arkansas looks to take their first ten-win season since 2015 to new heights as they enter the plains of Oklahoma on Thursday and Friday. For more information on these or other events, check out www.MuleriderAthletics.com.