BOONE, N.C. - The App State volleyball team (13-10, 4-8 SBC) will travel to Huntington, WVa. to take on Marshall for a pair of weekday matinee matches in the penultimate week of regular season play. Thursday's match is set for 1 p.m. and Friday's match is scheduled for 4 p.m. Both matches will be available to stream on ESPN+.
Last Time Out
App State fell short to Georgia State last week in the Holmes Center. In the Mountaineers' five-set battle with the Panthers on Oct. 31, four Mountaineers made double-figure kills, led by senior
Ali Morris, who made 18 kills and 11 digs for her eighth double-double of the season (37th of her career). Sophomore
Bella Hutchens chalked up her first career double-double with 16 kills and 14 digs, while senior
Maya Winterhoff slammed down 16 kills of her own on a mark of .378. Redshirt senior
Addison Heidemann dished out 64 of App State's 72 assists, helping the team to a hitting percentage of .227. Davis made a team high 22 digs on the night.
The Mountaineers fell short to the Panthers in four sets on Saturday. Davis' 1,000th career dig highlighted the day, as she led the Mountaineers with 20 digs on the afternoon. Morris led the Mountaineers with 13 kills, followed closely by Winterhoff, who made 12 kills on a mark of .400. With 38 of App State's 49 assists, Heidemann led the Black and Gold in the assists category.
Mountaineer Leaders
Winterhoff remains the Sun Belt's leader in hitting percentage and rose to 31st in the NCAA with a mark of .391. Additionally, she ranks third in the league and 23rd nationally in blocks, tallying 114 this season (20 solo, 94 assists), and stands third in the league in points (359.0). Winterhoff is the Mountaineers' top attacker with 269 kills (2.74 k/s) and is followed closely by Morris, who has 257 kills on the season (2.62 k/s). Morris is on pace to surpass her second career milestone this year, entering the week's matches with 985 career kills. She previously surpassed 1,000 career digs on Oct. 17 against Georgia Southern. Morris, who has served up 25 aces over the course of the 2025 campaign, is also App State's top server.
Heidemann leads the Mountaineers, stands second in the Sun Belt, and rounds out the NCAA's top 75 in assists (790). She also ranks fourth in the league in assists per set (8.06). In the digs category, Davis leads the Mountaineers, ranks fourth in the conference, and rounds out the NCAA's top 55 with 390 digs this fall, averaging 3.98 digs per set.
App State ranks 30th nationally and second in the Sun Belt in kills, tallying 1,253 this fall and averaging 12.79 per set. The Mountaineers also stand second in the conference and 44th in the NCAA in assists (1,140, averaging 11.63 per set). Additionally, the Black and Gold ranks fourth in the league in aces (140).
Series History vs. Marshall
App State leads its series with Marshall, 28-13, and won its last two matches against the Herd. On Nov. 8, 2024, the Mountaineers secured the Sun Belt East Division title with a sweep against Marshall in front of a packed crowd in the Holmes Center. Hutchens led the Mountaineers with 13 kills on a clip of .407. Winterhoff went up for five blocks (two solo, three assists), while Heidemann dished out 38 of App State's 42 assists. App State outpaced Marshall in kills (49-32), aces (5-2), blocks (7-3), assists (46-26), and digs (54-49).
The Mountaineers capped play in the Holmes Center with a five-set thriller on Nov. 9, 2024. Five Mountaineers made double-figure kills, led by
Ava Leahy, who slammed down 22 on a mark of .459. Winterhoff contributed 13 kills on a clip of .407. Heidemann made 61 of App State's 64 assists and guided the Mountaineers to a .251 team hitting percentage, while
Elise Marchal made a team high 17 digs. The Mountaineers served up eight aces to Marshall's three and tallied 71 kills to the Herd's 55.
Scouting Marshall
Marshall (14-11, 6-6 SBC) enters this week's contests fresh off a pair of sweeps against Old Dominion. The Herd have won five of their last six matches dating back to Oct. 16, posting a pair of sweeps against ULM (Oct. 16 and 17), and splitting its matches with Georgia State (Oct. 24 and 25) in addition to their sweeps of ODU (Oct. 31 and Nov. 1). In conference play, the Herd dropped contests to James Madison and Coastal Carolina, and split with Georgia Southern.
The Herd's top attacker is freshman Emma Barnett, who has 268 kills on the season and averages 3.05 kills per set. She also is Marshall's top server with 27 aces this fall. In the assists category, senior Bella Thompson leads the team with 629 assists (6.99 a/s). Sophomore Emma Sayer leads the team in digs with 262 and ranks seventh in the Sun Belt for digs per set (3.97). Senior Beatrice Ciccarelli leads the team and ranks seventh in the Sun Belt in the blocks category, totaling 88 (20 solo, 68 assists) this year.
On the Horizon
The Mountaineers will return to Boone to host Troy on Nov. 14 and 15 for their final regular season weekend. During Friday's 6 p.m. match, the Mountaineers will honor their graduating seniors:
Addison Heidemann,
Keionna Mackey,
Ali Morris, and
Maya Winterhoff. Saturday's match is scheduled for 2 p.m. and will recognize the Mountaineers' milestones from this fall.
