ANDERSON, S.C. – Which win streak will come to a halt Tuesday night at the Abney Athletic Center when the Anderson University volleyball team plays host to Queens in a South Atlantic Conference matchup?
With the Trojans riding an 11-match win streak and the Royals looking for their ninth straight victory, the two squads will square off, with first-serve slated for 7 p.m.
Admission to each volleyball match is $5, but students, faculty and staff, along with members of the Trojan Club will be admitted free of charge.
The Trojans
Anderson (16-3, 10-1 SAC) is looking to build on a pair of streaks when the Royals visit the Abney Center, as the Trojans have equaled the longest win streak in school history and are looking to extend their home win streak to 11 matches dating back to last season.
With nine league matches remaining on its schedule, AU is second in the SAC standings and trails unbeaten and league-leading Wingate by 1 1/2 games and leads third-place Queens by 1 ½ games. AU's current win streak marks the longest since the 2004 squad also recorded 11 straight wins.
Behind a bevy of experience, the Trojans continue to rank in the upper half in the league in 11 statistical categories, including kills, kills per set, hitting percentage, assists per set, service aces, aces per set, blocks, block assists points and points per set.
Five Trojans (Marissa Mitter, Rachel Burts, Kathryn Hughes, Jayln Knight and Serena Jackson) rank in the league's top-33 with at least 123 kills on the season, while sophomore setter Emily Conlin paces the SAC with 11.68 assists per set and is tied for third in total assists despite having played 19 fewer sets than the league leader. If the Trojans remain on the same pace, the team is set to post new school records in kills per set, hitting percentage and assists per set.
Conlin has been among SAC leaders in assists and assists per set from the start of the season and in less than two seasons, the Glendale, Ariz., native already ranks fifth in the AU record books with more than 2,000 career assists. She has recorded 10 double-doubles this season and has dished out 40+ assists on eight occasions, while reaching the 50+ assist plateau twice.
During the win streak, Mitter has averaged nearly four kills per set behind a .396 hitting percentage and ranks second in the conference in both kills and kills per set on the season. Burts, who led the league in hitting percentage a season ago, is among the SAC leaders again this season (2nd) with a .378 attack percentage and is 11th in the league with 44 block assists. The T.L. Hanna High School product is second on the squad with 155 kills.
Jackson is sixth in the league in block assists and shares eighth place with 56 total blocks, while sophomore Kathryn Hughes recorded a .394 hitting percentage and averaged more than 11 kills and two blocks over her last three contests.
The effort on the defensive side has been balanced as well, with five players recording more than 100 digs. Junior libero Emily Conard leads the way with 244 digs on the season, while Mitter has recorded 210 and senior Jayln Knight is just behind with 208. Junior Megan Embry has come up with 138 digs on the season.
Conard has reached double-figure digs 12 times this season and ranks ninth in the SAC with 4.21 digs per set, with Knight ranking 17th in the conference in digs per set, 20th in total digs, 25th in service aces, 28th in kills per set, 31st in points per set and 32nd in kills and total points.
The Royals
Queens (15-4, 9-3 SAC) is the third-hottest team in the conference, just behind Wingate and AU, having won eight straight contests after dropping a five-set decision at Tusculum on Sept. 23. The Royals' are 6-3 away from home this season, with their lone loss at home coming at the hands of the Trojans.
Queens has won four straight on the road and is coming off a four-set win two days ago at Newberry.
The Royals were predicted to finish fourth in the South Atlantic Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll following a season that saw QUC finish with a 22-10 overall record and an 16-6 mark in conference play last year, while making an appearance in the NCAA's Sweet Sixteen for the first time in program history.
Seniors Rebecca Cochran and Sydney Kunz earned spots on the preseason all-conference second team. Cochran totaled 343 kills a year ago and ranked inside the league's top 15 with 2.68 kills per set while also contributing 43 service aces. Kunz, a SAC Second-Team All-Conference honoree a year ago, was fourth overall among all players with 9.86 assists per set and chipped in 335 digs (2.60/set) and 36 service aces.
The Series vs. Queens
The Trojans are 24-11 versus Queens over the past 19 seasons and have won 21 of the last 26 meetings, including two of the last three matchups.
The two teams have met just nine times since 2009, when both were members of Conference Carolinas, with Queens joining the SAC in 2013. The Trojans swept the regular-season meetings in 2015. AU and Queens split each of the 2013, 2014 and 2016 regular-season matchups, with each squad winning on the other's home court in 2013 and defending their home court in 2014 and 2016. Three of the last nine meetings have been five-set affairs.
The Trojans defeated Queens, 3-1 (25-16, 19-25, 25-20, 25-23) earlier this season in Charlotte, N.C., in a victory that ignited the current 11-match win streak. Mitter recorded a match-high 17 kills and added a then season-high 19 digs, while recording three block assists. Jackson knocked down a season-high 12 kills, while posting four block assists. Burts collected 10 kills and five total blocks, while hitting .476 on the afternoon.
Knight tallied seven kills and a season-high 22 digs, with Conlin posting her third straight double-double with 45 assists and a dozen digs. Conard recorded 16 digs and a season-high four aces, with Embry adding 12 digs.
