Appalachian State University volleyball will look to continue its dominance and extend its 13-match winning streak this weekend when it hosts both UL Lafayette and South Alabama. The Mountaineers are also 10-0 in Sun Belt Conference play and will look to remain unbeaten this weekend.
App State will face-off against the Ragin' Cajuns on Friday, Oct. 30 at 6:30 p.m. at the Holmes Center. Appalachian will also be hosting a Halloween costume contest on Friday with the best costume winning a prize.
On Sunday, first serve for the Mountaineers and Jaguars is slated for 12:30 p.m.
CATCH THE MOUNTAINEERS:
Live Stats: appstatesports.com
Live Video: ESPN3
SOCIAL MEDIA:
Twitter: @appstatesports and @AppStateVB
Instagram: @appstatesports and @appstatevb
Facebook.com/AppStateVB
NATIONAL LANDSCAPE:
As a team, the Mountaineers are currently 6th nationally in hitting percentage (.289), 6th in kills per set (14.60) and 7th in assists per set (13.64)
Paige Brown is currently 5th in the nation in assists per set (11.82) and 29th in total assists (922), while Jess Keller is 29th in total kills (354) and 14th in kills per set (4.54).
AROUND THE SUN BELT:
App State continues to pace the conference in hitting percentage (.289), assists per set (13.64), kills per set (14.60) and digs per set (15.88).
Ashton Gregory leads in hitting percentage (.358), while Cassidy Stephenson sits fifth (.339). Paige Brown continues to lead in total assists (922) and assists per set (11.82).
Three Mountaineers are in the top ten in kills per set: Jess Keller is first (4.54), Emily Corrigan is second (3.69) and Ashton Gregory is 10th (3.06).
Meghan Mahoney is sixth in the league in digs per set with 4.71.
HOME SWEET HOME:
Dating back to the 2013 season, Appalachian State is 33-8 at the Holmes Center –good for a .805 winning percentage, including a 22-3 mark dating back to 2014 - good for a .880 winning percentage.
2014 was a banner year at home for the Mountaineers that saw the Black and Gold turn in a 14-2 (.875) record on their home court. So far in 2015, App State is 8-1 on its home court.
SENIOR LEADERSHIP:
So far in 2015, both Jess Keller (354, 4.54) and Emily Corrigan (288, 3.69) are currently top two on the team in kills and kills per set, while senior setter Paige Brown is far and away the assist leader for the Mountaineers (922).
Meanwhile, senior libero Meghan Mahoney is leading the squad with 367 digs on the year.
CHASING HISTORY:
Senior Emily Corrigan came into the 2015 season with 988 career kills. After four matches, the senior cracked the 1,000 kill club and currently has tallied 1,276 career kills. Following last weekend, Corrigan has claimed the seventh position in the program's top ten list for career kills.
Jess Keller has upped her kills career total to 1,057 this season and remains 74 kills away from cracking the top ten in the program record book.
Senior Paige Brown entered this season with 3,143 career assists. This season, Brown has recorded 922 assists – bumping her career total to 4,065 - just the fourth student-athlete all-time to eclipse 4,000 assists. That tally is currently good for fourth all-time in program history and just 343 assists to hold the all-time record.
On the defensive side, senior libero Meghan Mahoney has tallied 367 total digs on the year. Entering 2015, Mahoney had recorded 1,329 career digs, which was good for fifth to begin the year. With 1,696 career digs, Mahoney has vaulted from fifth to fourth all-time in program history and remains 173 digs away from tying Courtney Rhein for the all-time program record of 1,869 career digs.
SCOUTING UL LAFAYETTE:
Entering Friday's match at the Holmes Center, the Ragin' Cajuns are 5-19 overall and 1-10 in the Sun Belt Conference. Both programs last met on Oct. 3 and the Mountaineers swept the Ragin' Cajuns in straight-sets.
Sara Mossakowski leads the squad with 2.37 kills per set, while Chanelle Gardner leads in total kills with 201 - Gardner averages 2.31 kills per set.
As a team, the Ragin' Cajuns are hitting just .141 and generate just 10.30 kills per set.
Jessica Bartczyszyn leads the team with 521 assists on the year - good for an average of 8.40 assists per set. Keely Hayes is also over 200 kills this year with 201 and an average of 3.47 per set. As a team, the Ragin' Cajuns average 9.37 per set.
Defensively for the Ragin' Cajuns, Sydney Davis leads the way with 3.34 digs per set and 294 overall digs on the year. UL Lafayette has four other student-athletes over the 100 dig barrier this season and averages 14.02 digs per set as a team.
THE SERIES WITH THE RAGIN' CAJUNS:
The all-time series with UL Lafayette is in favor of the Mountaineers. App State owns a 2-1 overall record in the series after splitting matches last season and sweeping the Ragin' Cajuns earlier this season in Louisiana.
SCOUTING SOUTH ALABAMA:
The Jaguars enter play this weekend with a 13-9 overall record, including a 7-4 mark within the Sun Belt Conference. Earlier this season Appalachian State downed the Jags in Mobile in four sets, 3-1.
As it stands, Mechell Daniel leads the way with 3.64 kills per set and 328 total kills for the Jaguars. Nikki Gittens (196) and Sarah Richardson (121) are the other student-athletes with over 100 kills for South Alabama.
As a team, the Jaguars are hitting .204 and average 11.60 kills per set.
Emma Anderson is far and away the Jaguar's assist leader with 707 total assists and averages 8.84 assists per set. Parker Harrell has also contributed with 133 assists and averages 6.65 per set.
Defensively for the Jaguars, Emily Hundt leads with 4.02 digs per set and 362 total digs. For the season, the Jags average 15.48 digs per set.
THE SERIES WITH THE JAGUARS:
All-time against the Jaguars, the Mountaineers are 2-2, splitting both matches last season, including a win earlier this year.
