JONESBORO, ARK. – Appalachian State volleyball competes in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference tournament on Thursday, Nov. 16 at 6 p.m. EST. The #7 Mountaineers will take on the #6 UT Arlington Mavericks on the campus of Arkansas State.
App State faced UT Arlington once before this season in Boone, N.C. on Oct. 1. The Mavericks defeated the Mountaineers in three sets (25-20, 25-15, 25-15). Since then, App State has improved their record with five Sun Belt wins.
Grace Morrison and
Lexi Kohut each offered seven kills for the Mountaineers in their last match against UTA.
Amanda Krahl assisted 23 times.
Olivia Loeffler had 13 digs during the match.
Melissa McMath, a member of the 2017 second team all-Sun Belt, led the Mountaineers in kills this season with an impressive 342. Following is
Lexi Kohut with 333 kills.
Ashlyn Brown has 1,237 assists of the team's 1,488 total for the season.
Emma Reilly had a team high of 29 service aces this year, and
Olivia Loeffler led on defense with 461 digs.
Facing the Mavericks
UTA finished their regular season 13-16 overall. In Sun Belt play, they wrapped up their season ranking sixth in the conference with a 7-9 record. Qiana Canete, a first team all-Sun Belt player, topped the team in kills this season with 389 and led the defense with 334 digs. Tessa Harfield held up the net with 67 total blocks on the season.
Madison McConnell and Taylor Murata are both freshmen to watch as they have been previous Sun Belt players of the week. Zhanelle Geathers is another top performer for the Mavericks as a member of the second team all-Sun Belt.
The winner of this opening match between the Mountaineers and the Mavericks will continue on Friday, Nov. 17 at 6 p.m. EST against #3 Louisiana.
Fans can watch the Mountaineers live in the first round of the tournament on ESPN3
here.
Live Stats will be available
here.
