HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana begins its final homestand of the season Saturday with a Southland Conference match against in-state rival Northwestern State in the University Center.
 
First serve between the Lady Lions (2-21, 1-9 Southland) and Northwestern State (8-12, 4-6 Southland) is scheduled for 1 p.m. The contest is the first of two meetings this season for Southeastern and the Lady Demons, with a rematch slated for Nov. 6 in Natchitoches, Louisiana.
 
Admission to Saturday's contest is free and fans are asked to enter the arena down the ramp at Gate 3. Volleyball posters and magnet schedules will be available in the Fan Zone.

Fans can watch the match live on LionVision, Southeastern's video stream ($), or follow live statistics. Links for stats, video and promotions info are available on the volleyball schedule page at www.LionSports.net or can be accessed by using the new Lions' Gameday Experience app.

OPPONENT NOTES

• Reagan Rogers (3.30 kills/set), Hannah Brister (2.75 k/s), Alexis Warren (2.21 k/s), Skylar Besch (9.00 assists/set) and Cayman Sutton (5.32 a/s) pace the Northwestern State offensive attack.
• Rogers also leads the squad with 25 service aces.
• The Lady Demons and their opponents have each posted identical .192 attack percentages this season.
• Channing Burleson (5.15 digs/set), Rogers (2.92 d/s) and Warren (2.51 d/s) are Northwestern State's top defenders along the back line.
• Brooke Wood (1.23 blocks/set), Madeline Drake (0.92 b/s) and Brister (0.63 b/s) are the squad's leading blockers.

 
SLU NOTES

• Jodi Edo (2.01 k/s), Caroline Golden (1.90 k/s), Elyssa Purcell (1.84) and Maddy Katchen (1.65 k/s) lead the Lady Lions' offense under the direction of setters Haley Baker (4.51 a/s) and Michelle Mirarchi (3.68 a/s).
• A sophomore from Mandeville, Louisiana, Golden leads the squad with 18 service aces.
• Southeastern has posted a rapidly-improving .135 attack percentage this season, while opponents are hitting .271 against the Lady Lion defense.
• Lexie Torres (3.03 d/s), Golden (2.32 d/s) and Alexis Pratt (2.08 d/s) anchor the defense along the back line.
• Sam Gomez (0.84 b/s) and Tempestt Vaughn (0.60 b/s) are Southeastern's top blocking threats.

 
LAST MATCH
Southeastern rallied to take the third set Tuesday, but Southern Miss bounced back to take the final set and pick up the victory in a non-conference match, 25-15, 25-21, 22-25, 25-18, at Reed Green Coliseum in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
 
The Lady Lions recorded a .202 attack percentage, hitting or topping the .200 mark for the fourth time in five matches, but Southern Miss (12-12) posted a .336 percentage on its way to the win.
 
Edo (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) and Golden (Mandeville, Louisiana) each picked up a team-high 11 kills, with Edo posting a career-best .579 attack percentage (double-digit attempts) and getting a hand in on four of the Lady Lions' eight total blocks. Golden also served up a pair of aces.
 
UP NEXT
The Lady Lions' final homestand of the season concludes next week with a pair of conference matches at the University Center, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Nov. 3 at 10 a.m. against Houston Baptist. The match against HBU has been moved up from its original time to accommodate the change in kickoff time for Southeastern's football game that afternoon against McNeese.
 
DIGGIN' IT CLUB / S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the Southeastern volleyball program are encouraged to join the Diggin' It Club. Lion volleyball alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners.
 
All membership fees and donations to both the Diggin' It Club and S Club (volleyball) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern volleyball program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Lady Lions Volleyball, follow @SLU_VBall on Twitter, @Southeastern_vb on Instagram, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.