DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern Oklahoma State wraps its Arkansas swing of GAC action with Arkansas-Monticello and Southern Arkansas at home on Oct. 24-25. The Savage Storm will face the Blossoms on Thursday at 6 p.m. before taking on the Muleriders at 4 p.m. on Friday.
STORM WATCH
Southeastern (8-11, 4-5) will be looking to get back in the win column after a pair of defeats in Arkadelphia last week. The Storm dropped a match at Ouachita Baptist 3-1 before falling to Henderson State by the same score the following day.
Ruthie Forson saw a triple-double in both matches and now has eight on the year, which still leads all Division II. The Denton, Texas native totaled 61 assists, 24 kills and 26 digs across eight sets and is leading the team with 8.41 assists per set, which ranks sixth in the GAC. Forson is also closing in on her first 200-kill season with the Storm with 184 this season and is fifth in the conference in hitting percentage, attacking at a .313 clip.
Michera Moffett racked up another nine blocks last week, bringing her to 62.0 total blocks on the year, which is a new season-high for the senior. The Pflugerville, Texas native is averaging 0.82 blocks per set and has seen 12 solo blocks and 50 block assists through 19 matches.
Patience Lewis remains one of the GAC's leaders in digs, averaging 5.28 per set for 401 total digs.
Southeastern snapped a four-match losing streak to Arkansas-Monticello last year, defeating the Blossoms 3-1 on the road. The Storm hold a slight edge over UAM in the all-time series 11-6, and the two sides are 5-5 in the last ten meetings. Forson paced the team in the 2023 meeting with a team-high 12 kills and added 26 assists and a pair of blocks to her totals.
The Storm have seen more success in the Southern Arkansas series recently heading into the 31st meeting, with eight wins in the last ten contests. Southeastern leads the head-to-head matchup 17-13 in a series dating back to 1998. Last season, SE picked up a 3-1 road win where
D'Nari Mills notched 31 kills and 13 digs, and Forson saw a triple-double with ten kills, 45 assists and 11 digs.
PREVIEWING ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO
The Blossoms come into Thursday's match searching for their first conference win of the season. UAM started the year winning four of its first seven contests but has since lost 12 straight matches to sit 4-15 overall and 0-9 in the league standings. Abrielle Jordan leads the Blossoms' defense with 72.0 total blocks and is third in the GAC with 1.06 per set, while Natalie White is averaging the sixth most kills per set (3.34) in the conference.
PREVIEWING SOUTHERN ARKANSAS
Like the Storm, SAU (9-8, 3-6) is looking to get back on track after losing its last five matches. During this stretch, the Muleriders have won just three sets in their last five contests, with their last win coming back on Oct. 1 against UAM.
The Mulerider lineup features the GAC's leader in digs, as Sadie Kabisch paces the conference with 6.21 digs per set, which also ranks third best in Division II. As a team, SAU is sixth in the conference with 17.20 digs per set and also ranks second in blocks with 2.12 per set. Isla Olivas leads the Muleriders' efforts at the net with 1.03 blocks per set and has 61.0 total denials this season.
