SE Heads to the Natural State for Back-to-Back Matches Against SAU and UAM

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern heads to the Natural State on Thursday and Friday for the start of the Arkansas swing of GAC play, beginning with Southern Arkansas and Arkansas-Monticello.
 
The Savage Storm will meet the Muleriders at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 9, inside the W.T. Watson Athletic Center before heading to UAM to battle the Blossoms on Friday at 4 p.m.
 
SERIES NOTES

• Southeastern and Southern Arkansas face off for the 31^st time since the first meeting in 1998. SE leads the series 17-13 after picking up a 3-0 win at home last season to make it seven wins in the previous eight matches.
• The Storm and Blossoms first shared the court in the 2005 season, and since then, Southeastern leads the all-time series 11-6. The blue and gold have won the last two contests, including a 3-1 win in Monticello in 2023.

 
STORM REPORT
Southeastern (6-10, 1-4 GAC) met Oklahoma Christian for the second time this season on Tuesday night and fell behind early 2-0 in the match to the Eagles. SE battled back to win the third set, and the fourth came down to the wire with the Storm's rally falling short against OC 3-1. Southeastern had three players record a double-double, while Alexis Williams saw a career-high 13 kills.
 
Riley McFarland recorded her best match of the season in the blue and gold on Tuesday, posting a career-high 20 assists and 19 digs for her first double-double of the season. The sophomore from Prosper, Texas, is second on the team in assists with 3.65 per set and has already doubled her totals from a year ago with 84 total assists across eight matches. Jasmin Dion also notched a double-double against OC for her fifth of the season, with 16 assists and 11 digs. Dion paces the side with 7.80 assists per set this season.
 
The attack ran through Williams on Tuesday night, as the sophomore middle blocker notched a career-high 13 kills to put over 100 on the season (101). The Lawton, Okla., native carries the second-best attack average on the team at .306, and is averaging 1.98 kills per set. In addition to helping the attack, Williams helps lead the defensive efforts, as she is tied for a team-high 42.0 total blocks with Maci Morrison, who are both averaging 0.82 blocks per set.
 
Southeastern ranks fifth across the attacking categories in the GAC this season, closing in on the halfway point of conference play. SE is averaging 12.3 kills per set on a .195 attack average, while dishing out 11.3 assists per frame. Defensively, the Storm have recorded the ninth-most blocks (87.0) in the league and are averaging the seventh-most digs per set with 16.00.
 
SCOUTING SOUTHERN ARKANSAS
The Muleriders recently ended a six-match losing streak after picking up a 3-0 win on the road against Arkansas-Monticello and later defeated Central Baptist 3-0. Southern Arkansas carries a 6-12 record into Thursday and is 1-4 in the GAC. SAU has struggled at home early this season with a 1-3 mark, which also matches its road record of 1-3.
 
Allie Cooper led the SAU attack in the win over UAM with ten kills and is one of three players with 100 or more kills this season for the Muleriders. Leading the attack is Brinklee Dauenhauer with 148 kills and is averaging 2.51 on a .132 attack average. Dauenhauer has also chipped in 163 digs this season, while the Muleriders are led by Sadie Kabisch with 5.77 digs per set, which ranks third across the GAC.
 
SCOUTING ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO
Arkansas-Monticello is still searching for its first conference win this season, having started 0-5 in the GAC and is 3-12 overall. The Blossoms dropped a home match in three sets most recently to Arkansas-Fort Smith to extend their streak of losses to six matches. Ahead of Friday's meeting with the Storm, the Blossoms will first host East Central on Thursday evening.
 
Setting the tone for UAM is setter Mia Smalls, who paces the side with 159 assists and is averaging 4.08 per set. In addition to setting the attack, Smalls ranks second on the team with 59 kills, while Sophia Grubbs leads the way with 84.