BOONE, N.C. -- Sitting at a perfect 4-0 in Sun Belt play, Appalachian State volleyball will look to keep its perfect conference record intact with a pair of matches in Boone this weekend. On Friday, the Mountaineers will welcome Little Rock to the High Country for a 6:30 p.m. contest inside
VARSITY GYM. App State will host Arkansas State on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. back inside the Holmes Center.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State (12-4, 4-0 SBC) pushed its winning streak to six, overcoming a 2-0 deficit to defeat Louisiana 22-25, 24-26, 25-19, 25-20, 15-9 on Sunday. The victory marked the first time the Mountaineers came back from 2-0 down since the 2015 season. The six-match win streak is the longest for the Mountaineers since the 2015 season, when the Black and Gold reeled off 16 consecutive wins. In the victory on Sunday,
Emma Longley had 16 kills with
Melissa McMath right behind with 13.
Victoria Wilform reached double figures with 13 kills on a .323 hitting percentage.
Becky Porter had a near triple -double with 51 assists, 13 digs and seven kills.
Emma Reilly was one of four Mountaineers to post double figure digs with 21, with
Sydney Hinds tying her season-high with 13 and
Jana Owens adding a career-best 10. Longley has recorded double digit kills in seven consecutive contests and 13 of App State's 16 contests on the season. Longley's average of 3.64 k/s sits third in the Sun Belt. Porter is the league leader in assist average, posting 10.88 a/s. The Black and Gold also own the top two individual spots in service aces per set in the Sun Belt with Reilly (0.47 sa/s) leading the way and
Kara Spicer sitting second (0.42 sa/s).
SCOUTING THE TROJANS
Little Rock enters play with a 10-7 overall mark and sits in a tie for third place in the Sun Belt West with a 2-2 mark in conference action. Last weekend, the Trojans fell 3-1 (25-22, 25-15, 30-28, 25-18) at Texas State on Friday and 3-2 (22-25, 25-21, 16-25, 25-22, 15-13) at UT Arlington on Saturday. Against UTA, Maritza Mesa and Veronica Marin led Little Rock offensively with 17 and 16 kills, respectively. Marin also posted 12 total blocks (11 assists, one solo) in the contest. Taylor Lindberg had a double-double with 31 assists and 11 digs. Diana Giordani (21), Sydnee Martin (16), Mya Robinson (15) and Pamela Zuluaga (13) all reached double figures in digs. Marin and Carol Barbosa rank third and fourth in the Sun Belt in hitting percentage with marks of .355 and .347, respectively. As a team, the Trojans sit second in the league with a .240 hitting mark. Marin also leads the conference in total blocks (109) and blocks per set (1.63).
SCOUTING THE RED WOLVESÂ
Arkansas State enters the weekend at 10-7 overall and 2-2 in Sun Belt action. The Red Wolves fell 3-2 at UT Arlington on Sept. 28 and were swept at Texas State the following day. Against Texas State, May tallied a match-high tying 14 kills on a .233 hitting mark, while Macey Putt added 10 kills and seven digs. Ellie Watkins posted 32 assists and Tatum Ticknor recorded 13 digs. May leads Arkansas State and the Sun Belt in total kills (290) and kills per set (4.75). She is the lone player in the conference to be averaging over 4.00 kills per set. Watkins is one of four players in the league to be averaging double-digit assists, sitting fourth in the league at 10.13 assists per set.Â
THE SERIES
Little Rock owns a 6-2 edge over the Mountaineers in the all-time series. The Black and Gold won a five-set thriller last season in Little Rock, erasing a 2-1 deficit in a 13-25, 25-13, 21-25, 25-22, 15-13 win. Arkansas State has won all seven meetings with App State.
UP NEXT
The Mountaineers will head to Texas next weekend for a pair of contests against the top two teams in the Sun Belt West. App State will battle division leader Texas State on Oct. 12 at 7:30 p.m. EST and then head to UT Arlington on Oct. 13 for another 7:30 p.m. match.
