MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Muleriders prepare for conference play following an electric weekend from head coach Alli O'Banion's crew in the Yellowhammer State. Southern Arkansas prepares to take on conference rival Arkansas Tech (1-9 | 1-0 GAC) in the W.T. Watson Center on Tuesday, September 19 and Arkansas-Monticello (0-12 | 0-1 GAC) on the road Thursday, September 21.
Heading into the thick of GAC play, Southern Arkansas won three of the four matches from the Warhawk Invite that saw them sweep Miles College, overcome former GSC rival West Georgia in a five-set match, and take down Albany State in four sets. Southern Arkansas looks to keep pace for their first double-digit win season since 2015.
At the Warhawk Invite, SAU saw juniors
Kayte Delong (23 kills | .511) and
Carlin Whaley (28 kills | .375) make the invitational's All-Tournament Team in which they each recorded 20+ kills and 25+ points. The two Muleriders combined together for 14 blocks with each having seven blocks assisted. Tying Whaley's kills was the Peach State native
Lauryn Moultrie (28 kills | .351) leading the team in scoring with 39.5 total points on the weekend.
Morgan Schuster recorded her 3,000
th career assist in the victory over Albany State and is now just the eighth player in the GAC to reach the milestone. Schuster recorded the majority of the team's assists with 73 while junior
Macie Shaver aided the senior with 68 assists of her own.
Moultrie held the frontline with 11 total blocks (2 solos | 9 assisted).
Isla Olivas recorded eight total blocks on the weekend. When the ball got through the frontline, junior transfers
Mary Insalaco (36 digs) and
Alessia Sonzini (34 digs) kept opposing points off the board.
The Golden Suns are coming off a two-game losing streak since receiving their sole win of the 2023 against Arkansas-Monticello in sweeping fashion. Arkansas Tech has yet to see defeat by the Muleriders since March 11, 2021 when SAU bested the 18
th ranked Golden Suns in Magnolia. Since then, Southern Arkansas has been 2-15 in sets against ATU.
Leading the Suns offense is sophomore Kaitlyn Neal with 62 kills freshman Savannah Meyer with 61 on the campaign. Senior setter Gracie Palmer commands the offense as she has recorded 177 assists in 2023. Palmer ranks seventh in the GAC in assists per set with 5.90 a/s. The junior from Bentonville, Arkansas Jamie Myrick leads Arkansas Tech in service aces with 12 so far. She also leads her team in digs with 117. Leading the defense at the net is freshman Lauren Grier with 26.0 total blocks this fall. Grier's blocks per set ranks third in the conference at 0.96 b/s.
O'Banion bested Arkansas-Monticello the last two meetings by a total of 6-1 sets. The Cotton Blossoms are still in search of their first victory of 2023 as they came up just short against Lee University (Tenn.) in a five-set contest. The two sets won by Arkansas-Monticello in that match was its only sets won on the season. Before competing against the Muleriders, UAM looks to earn their first win of the year against Ouachita Baptist in Arkadelphia on Tuesday.
Sophomore Jasmine Welton leads the charge for the Blossom offense as she has recorded 81 kills in 2023. Bruna Silva orchestrates the offense as she has recorded 98 assists for UAM this fall. Freshmen Zoe Finkler has recorded 15 service aces in the team's 12 matches. Senior Stasha Adams has received 149 digs in the campaign. Junior Abrielle Jordan is the team's top blocker with 22.0 recorded thus far.
Southern Arkansas looks to keep the momentum from the weekend against the two Natural State foes this week and to possibly gain the program's first above .500 record in conference since the 2015 campaign. First serve against the Golden Suns is set for 6:00 PM in the W.T. Watson Center while the Muleriders will commence play against UAM at 6:00 PM inside Steelman Field House in Monticello, Arkansas. For more information on these games check out
www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
