HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana volleyball team will return to the University Center for the first time in over a month on Thursday, playing host to Southland Conference rival McNeese State at 7 p.m.
Southeastern (6-8, 2-1 SLC) will play in Hammond for the first time since a 3-0 win over Alcorn State on Sept. 1. Live stats for the match between the Lady Lions and Cowgirls (13-4, 1-2 SLC) will be available at www.LionSports.net.
Fresh off an 18-kill performance in last Thursday's five-set road win at Northwestern State, freshman
Taylor Buckner leads the Lady Lions with 2.12 kills per set. Freshman
Kaprice Glover (2.00 kps), senior
Jessica Srajer (1.97 kps) and senior
Lauren Mayer (1.80 kps) are the other primary attackers for Southeastern.
Sophomore
Arianne Cruckshank has been the team's primary setter, ranking 10th in the Southland Conference with a team-high 7.15 assists per set. Senior
Katie Collins has also seen plenty of action at setter and heads into Thursday's match with a 4.70 assist per set average.
Collins has 11 service aces and ranks sixth in the Southland in terms of service aces per set. Collins is one of four Lady Lions with double-digit aces, along with junior
Alex Greer (15), senior
Margaret Pittman (12) and Buckner (10).
Defensively, Greer leads the team and ranks eighth in the Southland with 3.40 digs per set, followed by Mayer (2.41), Cruckshank (2.15) and Buckner (2.03). Freshman
Alexis Braghini leads the team with 26 kills, followed by senior
Julie Elliott (25) and Srajer (20).
McNeese State is paced offensively by Chanel Tyler, who currently ranks fifth in the Southland with 3.31 kills per set. Priscilla Massengale (2.98 kps) and Nicole Bowden (2.50 kps) are the other top offensive performers for MSU. Cowgirl setter Sarah Cartie is second in the conference with 9.73 assists per set.
Whitney Ellisor is the team's top defender with 3.54 digs per set (fifth in the Southland), followed by Tyler with 3.24 digs per set. Bowden is third in the Southland with a team-high 68 blocks.
Southeastern and McNeese State split the season series last season. Each team successfully defended their respective home courts in the two matchups last season. Srajer had 16 kills, while Mayer contributed 14 kills and 15 digs in last season's 3-1 Southeastern win over the Cowgirls in Hammond.
Thursday's match is the first of two at home this week for the Lady Lions. On Saturday, Southeastern welcomes Stephen F. Austin for a 2 p.m. match in the University Center.
