Volleyball Set to Open Play at Oklahoma Baptist

DURANT, Okla. – After COVID delayed the fall season, Southeastern volleyball will finally serve up some action with an adjusted spring schedule slated to begin on Jan. 26 with a road match against Oklahoma Baptist at 7:00 pm in Shawnee, Okla.
 
Due to ongoing health safety protocols in place, fans will not be permitted in the games to open the season but live video and live stats are available at the following links:
 
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/obuathletics1
STATS: https://obubison.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
 
The abbreviated spring season will be fought in divisional form in the Great American Conference with the Oklahoma schools forming the Western Division and the Arkansas schools making up the Eastern Division.
 
The Savage Storm enter the season picked fifth in the Western Division and will be squaring off out of the gate with the division favorite in Oklahoma Baptist.
 
The Storm are coming off a 3-25 campaign a season ago with a 2-14 mark in GAC play under first-year head coach Nicole Solum.
 
She returns her top three offensive weapons in Aleksandra Rodic who had 2.45 kills per set, Caroline Griffith who averaged 2.43 kps, and Malaysia Burns who posted 2.33 kps.
 
The team also returns setter Arabella Bouchard who led the way in assists per set with 8.75, while Grace Shehadeh returns as the team's top defensive specialist after averaging 2.42 digs per set.
 
The team welcomes a slew of new additions as well, including four transfers and five new freshmen.
 
Oklahoma Baptist was picked to win the Western Division with four of the six possible first-place votes and is coming off a 28-6 record in 2019 with a 14-2 GAC mark.
 
OBU returns its top offensive weapon in Malia Leatherland who turned in 3.98 kills per set last season as well as setter Rylen Moore who posted 7.29 assists per set.