SE Gears Up for Weekend Tournament at Texas-Permian Basin

DURANT, Okla. – The Southeastern Oklahoma State volleyball team heads to the Lone Star State to compete in the Dr. Steve Aicinena "Iceman" Invitational hosted by Texas-Permian Basin on Sept. 13-14.
 
The Savage Storm open the tournament with two matches on Friday, starting at 2 p.m. against the hosts UTPB followed by Sul Ross State at 7 p.m. SE concludes its trip on Saturday with a contest at noon versus New Mexico Highlands.
 
STORM WATCH
Southeastern returns from the Reddie-Tiger Invitational 1-3 after picking up a 3-0 win over Montevallo in the final match of the tournament. Ruthie Forson and D'Nari Mills put up big numbers in the four contests, earning All-Tournament honors and Mills would later be named GAC Offensive Player of the Week for her performance over the weekend.
 
Forson dished out 129 assists across the four matches and notched 26 kills while seeing a triple-double in the Missouri S&T match with 34 assists, 13 kills and ten digs. Mills racked up a team-high 64 kills, averaging 4.0 per set, and had three double-doubles in four matches. The Cypress, Texas native is closing in on 1000 career kills, having reached 911 over the weekend, and now ranks tenth all-time for Southeastern.
 
The SE attack tallied 188 kills at the weekend, averaging 11.8 per set, and held a team attack percentage of .201. Helping Mills in attack, Noelia Rocha played in all 16 sets during the tournament and recorded 36 kills and averaged 2.25 kills per frame. Defensively, Amaya Constantino paced the side with 3.50 digs per set for 56 total digs, while Michera Moffett led the team with 5.0 total blocks, including 4.0 denials in the 3-0 win against Montevallo.
 
In the Storm's first match of the Dr. Steve Aicinena "Iceman" Invitational, they will face Texas-Permian Basin for just the third time. Heading into Friday's contest, the head-to-head series is tied 1-1, with UTPB having the most recent win from 2022. Mills paced the attack that evening with 19 kills, while Forson had 31 assists and Patience Lewis had 23 digs.
 
SE's second match of the day will be a first-time matchup between the Storm and Sul Ross State, followed by the fifth meeting between Southeastern and New Mexico Highlands in the final contest. The Storm and NMHU are tied in the all-time series 2-2, having last met in 2021.
 
PREVIEWING TEXAS-PERMIAN BASIN
UTPB recently participated in the Kathleen Brasfield Invitational to get its season underway and would go 2-2 over the weekend. The Falcons two wins came on the final day in a 3-1 win over New Mexico Highlands and a sweep against Emmanuel (Ga.).
 
The Texas-Permian Basin offense saw three players record 30 or more kills over the weekend, led by Gloria Geurin, who tallied 40 on a .214 attack percentage. At the net, the Falcons had 44.0 total blocks in the four matches, led by Chyra Thompson and April Egwu, who each had 18.0 denials.
 
PREVIEWING SUL ROSS STATE
Sul Ross State starts its 2024 season with the Dr. Steve Aicinena "Iceman" Invitational. The Lobos were picked 17^th in the Lone Star Conference Preseason Poll and landed three on the Preseason Players to Watch lists. Highlighting the returners, Cassandro Espinoza led Sul Ross State with 247 kills last season, while libero Tatyana Colon tallied 348 digs and 30 service aces in 2023.
 
PREVIEWING NEW MEXICO HIGH LANDS
NMHU is still searching for its first win after going 0-4 at the Kathleen Brasfield Invitational to start the season. Seraiah Morgan led the Cowgirls over the weekend with 31 kills, followed by Angelina Burton and Jaylee Gonzales with 26 and 25, respectively. Sophia Hendricks-Montes played in 15 sets for New Mexico Highlands and paced the side with 72 digs, averaging 4.80 per set.
 
HOW TO WATCH
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