ANDERSON, S.C. – The Anderson University volleyball team travels to South Atlantic Conference-foe Lenoir-Rhyne, Tuesday night and will open a three-match homestand by playing host to Livingstone less than 24 hours later at the Abney Athletic Center.   

First-serve versus the Bears in Hickory, N.C., is slated for 7 p.m., while the Blue Bears will invade the Electric City for a 6 p.m. first-serve, Wednesday.

The Trojans
Anderson (20-3, 14-1 SAC) has reached the 20-win plateau for the ninth time in program history and the second time since the 2014 season on the strength of a school-record 15-match win streak. 

The Trojans are alone in first place in the SAC standings, ½ game in front of Wingate and remain 2 ½ games in front of third-place Queens with five league  contests left on the Trojans' slate. 

AU ranks seventh in the country by holding opponents to a .105 hitting percentage and ranks 10th nationally by handing out 13.55 assists per contest. The Trojans are also among the nation's elite with a .246 hitting percentage (24th) and are 29th in the country with 18.46 digs per set.  

Sophomore setter Emily Conlin leads the conference and ranks fifth in the nation by dishing out 11.91 assists per set and also paces the SAC in both service aces (34) and aces per set (.45/set). Senior outside hitter Marissa Mitter is second in the league with 3.79 kills per set and 4.2 points, while standing fourth with 288 total kills.      
 
Senior Rachel Burts is second in the league and 14th in the country with a .388 hitting percentage and is 13th in the SAC in total blocks, with junior Jayln Knight continuing to make her presence known, as the Redlands, Calif., native is second on the team in digs, third in kills, fourth in service aces and points and fifth in blocks, while ranking 19th in the conference in digs per set, 20th in in total digs, 25th in kills per set and 28th in kills.

Senior Serena Jackson leads the team and ranks eighth in the conference with 68 total blocks, while standing fifth on the squad in kills, aces and digs. Sophomore Kathryn Hughes is fourth on the team with 161 kills and is hitting .265 on the season. Junior libero Emily Conard paces the Trojans and is eighth in the league with 4.4 digs per set.  

The Bears
Lenoir-Rhyne (10-10, 6-8 SAC) has won two of its last three contests and three of its last five outings after falling to the Trojans nearly three weeks ago. 

The Bears are 5-4 at home, with Tuesday night's contest wrapping up a three-match homestand for L-R. The Bears are coming off a 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 27-25) win over Lincoln Memorial two days ago, with senior outside hitter Brooke Redmond recording nine kills and 12 digs while junior defensive specialist Bailey Cloninger added a double-double – 18 assists and 10 digs – in the victory.  

Lenoir-Rhyne was tabbed fifth in the South Atlantic Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll after posting a 12-18 overall record and a 10-12 mark in league play last year. The Bears captured their first-ever SAC Tournament Championship two seasons ago and advanced to the NCAA Southeast Regional finals for the first time in school history. 

Redmond and senior middle blocker Emily Steele earned All-SAC Preseason First-Team honors for the Bears after both players were second-team all-league picks last season. Steele led the team and was second in the league in 2016 with 109 blocks, along with 242 kills last season. Redmond led the squad with 282 kills in addition to 243 digs last fall. In 2015, Redmond was a First-Team All-SAC honoree and Most Valuable Player of the SAC Tournament. That season, Redmond had 401 kills, 356 digs and 21 service aces.

The Series vs. Lenoir-Rhyne
The Trojans and Bears have met just 18 times over the past 18 seasons, with the overall series deadlocked at nine wins apiece in a series that dates back to the 2000 campaign. The Bears won the first-ever matchup, 3-0, and the series saw a seven-year lapse before L-R edged Anderson, 3-2, during the 2008 season.

The two squads have met 16 times as members of the SAC. Anderson has won seven of the last nine matchups with the teams trading season sweeps each of the last three years – AU swept both meetings with the Bears during the 2014 season before falling twice to L-R in 2015. The Trojans edged Lenoir-Rhyne in five sets in Hickory last season before knocking off the Bears, 3-1, in Anderson. Nine of the 18 contests between the two teams have gone the full five-set distance.

In the last matchup – a 3-0 win by the Trojans earlier this month at the Abney Center - Mitter led all players with 13 kills and added eight digs, with Hughes posting 11 kills behind a .391 hitting percentage. Burts added nine kills and Jackson notched eight kills. Conlin narrowly a double-double, with 41 assists and nine digs. Knight and Conard shared match-high honors with 14 digs apiece.

The Blue Bears
Livingstone is 3-15 overall and 3-10 in Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) action this season. The Blue Bears, who have dropped eight consecutive contests, will be searching for their first home win of the season when they tangle with Johnson C. Smith tonight in Hickory, N.C. Livingstone is 3-9 away from home this season and have defeated Bowie State twice, while also knocking off Lincoln University (Pa.).   

The Blue Bears were predicted to finish eighth overall and fifth in the Southern Division in the CIAA Preseason Coaches' Poll.

The Series vs. Livingstone
The two teams have met just once in school history, with the Trojans sweeping Livingstone, 3-0 (30-19, 30-21, 30-15) in AU's 2001 season opener.