MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Head Coach Alli Harrell is set for her second trip to the Great American Conference Championship Tournament with her Muleriders, as the group will enter the tournament for the second time in three years. Southern Arkansas (13-18 | 6-10 GAC) goes into the bracket as the eight seed and will take on the 2024 tournament champions, and the 2025 regular-season champions, the Ouachita Baptist Tigers (25-4 | 15-1 GAC). The two squads will face each other for the third time this season for the opening round on Thursday (Nov. 20) at 3:00 PM in Shawnee, Oklahoma, inside FireLake Arena.
 
Southern Arkansas is still led in scoring by junior Brinklee Dauenhauer, as the native of Springtown, Texas, has currently accumulated 344 kills this season and averages 3.02 per set. For the conference, Dauenhauer is second in the GAC for total kills, while also ranking fifth in the league for her kills per set.
 
On the defensive side of the net, the Muleriders are led by one of, if not the nation's best libero, in Sadie Kabisch. The senior from Henrietta, Texas, leads Southern Arkansas and the nation in total digs and digs per set. The Texans' nation-leading numbers consist of 706 digs and 6.19 digs per set.
 
Overall, as a team, the Muleriders finished off the regular season ranked as the top team in the GAC for team assists (1,433 | 2^nd DII), team kills (1,533 | 4^th DII), and team total attacks (4,621 | 2^nd DII).
 
SAU vs. OUA | Nov. 18 | 12:00 PM
79th Meeting, SAU leads 42-36
First Meeting: 9/30/1977 – 3-2 OUA win (Arkadelphia, Ark.)
Last Meeting: 10/30/2025 - 3-1 OUA win (Arkadelphia, Ark.)
Streak: W2 OUA
 
While junior Kailey Thedford leads the Tigers in scoring, the group is spread out in terms of scoring. For kills, Ouachita Baptist accounts for four Tigers with at least 200 kills, which includes Thedford (298), Riley Braziel (256), Emily Adams (254), and Leah Gardner (231). While Thedford leads the unit in kills, she is not OUA's leader in points. Junior middle blocker Leah Gardner leads the Tigers in points with her kills and then her 16 service aces and 106.0 total blocks.
 
The Tigers house one of the conference's top setters, as Courtney Hanson ranks second in the league for assists with 986, but at the same time is first in the conference for assists per set with 9.67.
 
Ouachita Baptist, among the conference, ranks at the top in many statistical categories such as digs per set (19.90 | 2^nd DII), hitting percentage (.232), kills per set (13.40 | 48^th DII), and team attacks per set (40.27 | 4^th DII).
 
The single-elimination tournament bracket will get going on Thursday (Nov. 20), with No. 3 Southwestern Oklahoma State taking on No. 6 East Central at 10:00 AM. For the remainder of the bracket, click on the Tournament Central link provided above.
 
The night prior to the tournament beginning, the Great American Conference will announce its All-GAC members, academic honors, as well as its individual award winners on Wednesday night.
 
Broadcast Information
All live coverage links for the Great American Conference Volleyball Championship Tournament can be found within the Tournament Page link found above.
 
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