ANDERSON, S.C. – The Anderson University volleyball team will wrap up the longest South Atlantic Conference homestand in program history on Friday when the Trojans welcome No. 21 Wingate to the Abney Athletic Center for a 7 p.m. first-serve.
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 (17-3, 11-1 SAC) will be seeking its 13th consecutive win after setting a school record with its 12th straight victory two nights ago at the Abney Center. The Trojans have not fallen in the Electric City since dropping a 3-0 decision to Newberry on Oct. 18, 2016 – and will be looking to build its home win streak to an even dozen matches.
Friday's matchup will feature the top two team in the league standings, as Wingate holds a one game lead over the Trojans and AU is 2 ½ games in front of third-place Queens with eight conference matches remaining on AU's schedule.
The Homecoming Weekend contest will also showcase two of the league's top offenses and defenses, as Wingate and Anderson rank 1-2 in the SAC in kills per set, hitting percentage and assists per set.
The Trojans rank in the upper third in the league in eight statistical categories, and are hitting .317 over the last six matches – all sweeps - going back to the shutout of Lincoln Memorial Sept. 30. AU has almost doubled their opponents in assists per set over the same time frame and has posted 30 aces to their foe's 12, while holding opponents to a .082 hitting percentage.
AU ranks seventh in the nation by holding opponents to a .106 hitting percentage on the season, with Wingate leading NCAA Division II with a .086 opponent hitting percentage. Behind sophomore setter Emily Conlin's league-leading assist per set tally, the Trojans are 14th in the country with 13.47 assists per set.
Conlin also ranks second the SAC in both service aces and aces per set, while senior middle blocker Rachel Burts is second in hitting percentage and senior outside hitter Marissa Mitter is second in both kills and kills per set. Senior Serena Jackson is seventh in the league in blocks and junior Emily Conard is ninth in digs per set. Conard is currently in 11th place in the school record books with 1,347 career digs and needs 67 digs to pass former standout Leslie Nodine (1998-2001) for 10th place all-time.
The Bulldogs
Wingate (18-0, 12-0 SAC) enters the weekend matchup following a five-day layoff and is coming off a pair of wins last Saturday, as the Bulldogs blanked Coker and UNC Pembroke in a tri-match.
After winning the 2016 SAC Tournament and being one of three teams to represent the league in the NCAA Southeast Regional, Wingate was picked to win its 12th consecutive regular-season title after picking up 10 first-place votes and 100 points from the coaches' panel in the 2017 Preseason SAC Coaches' Poll. The Bulldogs finished 29-6 last season after advancing to the NCAA Southeast Regional for the 12th straight year with the league's automatic bid.
Junior outside hitter Oakley Attaway was a first team preseason all-conference selection, while senior Katie Bludau, along with sophomores Rachel Alles and Treslyn Ortiz were Second-Team Preseason All-SAC honorees.
Attaway earned second team All-SAC honors during her sophomore season in 2016, after collecting All-SAC Freshman Team accolades in 2015. She also received AVCA All-Region recognition last season, finishing second on the team and 10th in the SAC with 2.89 kills per set. Bludau was an honorable mention AVCA All-Region selection in 2016, while also earning a spot on the All-SAC Tournament Team. She finished second on the team with 330 kills and ranked 11th in the league with 2.80 kills per set.
Ortiz earned Second-Team All-SAC honors during her freshman season, while also earning Second-Team All-Region accolades from the D2CCA to go along with All-SAC Freshman Team honors. She recorded 562 digs, averaging 4.57 digs per set. Alles earned a spot on the All-SAC Freshman Team in 2016, while also earning honorable mention all-conference accolades.
Bludau is the reigning SAC Player of the Week, after capturing the honor earlier this week for the third time this season, while Alles was named SAC Specialist of the Week twice in September.
The Series vs. Wingate
Anderson will enter Friday's contest looking for its second win in three meetings with Wingate and its third overall win in school history past the Bulldogs. A win would mark just its' second victory since 1999, when the Trojans were in their first year as a member of NCAA Division II. Wingate has won 20 of the last 21 matchups and leads the overall series, 20-2.
The Trojans snapped a 19-match skid at the hands of the perennial regional powerhouse when they stunned Wingate with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-8, 25-14) win at the Abney Center last season. The loss marked just the Bulldog's fourth SAC loss in three years. The Bulldogs avenged the loss by sweeping AU, 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-22) five weeks ago in the Tar Heel State.
Mitter posted a team-high 11 kills to go along with eight digs and a pair of block assists in the September setback. Jackson added seven kills and four total blocks, with junior Jayln Knight and Burts each tallying six kills apiece. Burts recorded a .455 hitting percentage and added three block assists, while Knight notched a .500 hitting percentage and posted 10 digs. Junior libero Megan Embry came up with 11 digs, while Conlin posted her second straight double-double with 31 assists and a team-high 14 digs.
In addition to the regular season home-and-home matchups, the two teams have squared off in two of the last four SAC Tournament Championships, with the Bulldogs sweeping AU on both occasions.
