BOONE, N.C. - The App State volleyball team will host Marshall in its last pair of home matches this season. The Mountaineers enter this weekend's contests ranked first in the Sun Belt East Division with a 14-7 (8-2 SBC) record.
Fans are encouraged to pack Holmes for Friday's 6 p.m. match. The Mountaineers will recognize the university's faculty and staff for Most Valuable Professors Day. App State faculty and staff will be able to get into Friday's match free if they show their App Card at the Southwest entrance. Guests of App State faculty and staff will be able to purchase a discounted ticket. Eighth graders and younger will also receive free admission to Friday's match.
Senior Day will highlight the Mountaineers' last home match of the season on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Mountaineers will recognize both team's seniors prior to the match and celebrate seniors
Lulu Ambrose,
Cierra Huntley, and
Lauren Pledger after the match.
Last Time Out
App State posted a 3-1 victory over Georgia State on Nov. 1 in Atlanta, Ga. Four Mountaineers made double figure kills, led by junior
Maya Winterhoff, who tallied 18 and recorded a hitting percentage of .571. Winterhoff and sophomore
Caroline Farthing combined for four of App State's six aces. Sophomore
Ava Leahy made 13 kills, recording a hitting percentage of .458, in addition to leading the team with four blocks. Redshirt junior
Addison Heidemann made 47 assists and 12 digs for a double-double and junior
Kenady Roper led the team with 15 digs.
The Mountaineers defeated Georgia State in a five-set thriller on Nov. 2, moving to the top spot in the Sun Belt's East Division. Winterhoff notched a career high 20 kills on the day with a hitting percentage of .390. For the weekend as a whole, Winterhoff averaged 4.22 kills per set. Ambrose followed Winterhoff with 16 kills on the day. Heidemann registered her second double-double of the weekend with 40 assists and 11 digs. On the weekend, Heidemann averaged 9.67 assists. Freshman
Elise Marchal matched Heidemann for the team high in digs (11) and combined with Heidemann for eight of App State's 11 aces, each contributing four. Leahy led the team in blocks, going up for six and totaled 10 blocks on the weekend (two solo, eight assists).
Around the Mountain
Winterhoff ranks second in the lead and rounds out the top-40 in the NCAA in hitting percentage (.381). She continues to lead the team in the kills category with 243 on the season for an average of 2.93 per set. Winterhoff also leads the team and rounds of the SBC's top-10 with 82 blocks on the season. Leading the Mountaineers in the assists category is Heidemann, who has 596 assists on the year, averaging 8.16 per set. Heidemann ranks fourth in the league in assists per set and also has eight double-doubles on the year. Marchal has seven double-doubles and a team high 26 aces on the season. Roper leads the Black and Gold in the digs category with 244 digs, averaging 2.94 per set.
App State ranks third in the Sun Belt in hitting percentage (.233). The Mountaineers stand eighth in the league in assists per set (11.60) as well as kills per set (12.72).
Scouting Marshall
App State last met Marshall in Huntington, W.Va. on Oct. 20 and 21, dropping both matches to the Thundering Herd. The Mountaineers lead the series against Marshall, 26-13.
Brynn Brown ranks second in the Sun Belt and seventh nationally in triple-doubles, registering four on the season. Brown leads the team in assists with 618 assists on the season, averaging 6.79 assists per set. Brown also stands second on the team in the kills category with 201 (2.21 per set) on the fall. Audrey Geer leads the team with 248 kills, averaging 2.85 kills per set. Beatrice Ciccarelli leads the Herd in blocks (95) and aces (25). Cicarelli ranks fifth in the league in blocks per set and sixth in total blocks. Peyton Neal, who has 333 digs for an average of 4.16 per set, leads the team in the digs category. Ihe the Sun Belt, Neal ranks eighth in digs per set and rounds out the top-10 in total digs.
Marshall is 13-12 on the season and 4-8 in conference play. The Thundering Herd enters the weekend's matches after a pair of road victories over Old Dominion on Nov. 1 and 2. Marshall defeated ODU, 3-1, last Friday and swept the Monarchs on Saturday. The Thundering Herd also posted a pair of victories over ULM on Oct. 18 and 19. Marshall has dropped contests to Georgia State, James Madison, Georgia Southern, and Coastal Carolina. In non-conference action, Marshall recorded five sweeps and recorded a four-match win-streak from Sept. 6 to Sept. 13.
In the Sun Belt, Marshall ranks third in total blocks (198.5). The Thundering Herd ranks fourth in digs per set (16.19), team digs (1,473), and team aces (140). Marshall rounds out the league's top-five in blocks per set (2.18) and team kills (1,110).
Looking Ahead
The Mountaineers will close out the regular season on the road with a pair of matches against Troy in Troy, Ala. on Nov. 14 and 15. Both matches are slated for 7 p.m. ET (6 p.m. CT) and will be available to stream on ESPN+.
