Volleyball Set for Opening Weekend of Sun Belt Play

BOONE, N.C. -- App State volleyball will open Sun Belt play this weekend with a pair of home matches. On Friday, the Mountaineers welcome Arkansas State to the Holmes Convocation Center at 6:30 p.m. On Sunday, App State hosts Little Rock at 12:30 p.m. Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+.

MASK POLICY
Face coverings are required in all indoor spaces on campus for students, faculty, staff and visitors, regardless of vaccination status you are actively eating or drinking.

THE SERIES

• Arkansas State and App State last played in 2019, with the Mountaineers winning 3-1. In all, the Black and Gold have won the last three meetings with the Red Wolves. Arkansas State leads the overall series 7-3.
• App State and Little Rock last met in 2019, with the Trojans winning 3-1 in Little Rock. The Trojans have won two straight in the series and lead the overall series 7-2.

SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS

• App State finished the non-conference season with a 4-8 overall mark.
• Last weekend, the Mountaineers went 1-2 at the Pirate Invitational at ECU to close out non-conference play. 
• In a win over Gardner-Webb on Sept. 17, McCall Denny tallied 13 kills to pace App State. Victoria Wilform had a near double-double with 10 kills and nine digs, while Sophie Cain had a near double-double as well with 26 assists and nine digs. Emma Reilly finished with 20 digs, marking the fourth time this season she has posted 20 or more digs.
• On Saturday, Reilly record the 1,870th dig of her career to become the program's all-time leader. Reilly now has 1,873 digs in her career and surpassed Courtney Rhein in the process. Reilly leads the team with 196 kills and a 4.17 digs per set average. Her 196 digs ranks third in the conference and her dig average sits seventh.
• Denny is fourth the conference averaging 3.39 kills per set on the season. Denny has recorded double digit kills in eight different matches this season.

SCOUTING THE RED WOLVES

• Arkansas State enters the weekend with a 9-3 overall mark, after going 3-0 at the Tiger Brawl last weekend.
• Macey Putt leads the conference in both total kills (231) and kills per set (4.62 k/s). Tatum Ticknor has a conference leading 254 digs and ranks second in digs per set (5.08 d/s). Brianna Hollingshed sits third in the conference in hitting percentage with a .358 mark.
• The Red Wolves saw two players earn Sun Belt Player of the Week honors. Lauren Musante was named Setter of the Week after posting 68 assists (6.18 a/s) and 48 digs (4.36 d/s) last weekend. Ticknor was named Defensive Player of the Week for the second straight week after totaling 59 digs (5.36 d/s) last weekend.

SCOUTING THE TROJANS

• Little Rock concluded non-conference play with a 3-0 mark at the Louisiana Tech Invitational last weekend, to finish 9-3.
• Laura Jansen is one of three players in the conference to average over 4.00 kills a set at 4.22, which ranks second. Her 173 total kills are also second.
• Alyssa Nayar leads the Sun Belt with 447 total assists and an average of 10.90 a/s.
• As a team, the Trojans are limiting opponents to league low .135 hitting mark and are averaging a conference best 13.46 kills per set.

UP NEXT
App State will hit the road and head to Georgia next weekend. The Mountaineers will play at Georgia State on Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. and at Georgia Southern on Oct. 3 at noon.