ANDERSON, S.C. – The Anderson University volleyball team continues its four-match homestand and begins the second half of its double round-robin South Atlantic Conference schedule by welcoming Lenoir-Rhyne and Mars Hill to the Abney Athletic Center on Homecoming Weekend.
First-serve versus the Bears is set for 7 p.m., Friday night, while the Trojans and Lions will square off Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m., with Homecoming festivities immediately following the contest.
Admission to all home volleyball matches is free.
The Trojans
Anderson (13-3, 9-2 SAC), has won 11 of its last 12 decisions and would extend its home win streak to 34 consecutive matches with a pair of wins on Annie Tribble Court. The Trojans have not lost in the Electric City since October, 2016.
Senior Hailee Wilhelm ranks fourth in the SAC with her .350 hitting percentage, and has posted double-digit kills in four of the last seven matches, while averaging 10 kills per match since the end of September. Sophomore Noelle Knutsen has notched double-figure kills in five of AU's last eight contests, while averaging more than nine kills per match over the eight-game stretch.
Freshman Lindsay McCurley leads the Trojans and is tied for 10th in the SAC with 226 digs (3.70/set), while recording double-figure digs 10 times, including three straight and a season-high 28 at Queens.
Senior Emily Conlin earned SAC Specialist of the Week honors earlier this week for the third time this season and the 11th time of her career and has posted seven double-doubles this season. The Glendale, Ariz., native continues to lead the conference in both assists and assists per set, while ranking sixth in service aces, eighth in aces per set, 18th in digs and 25th in digs per set.
Sophomore Maya Learmonth leads the Trojans and is 13th in the South Atlantic Conference with 157 total kills, while ranking sixth in the league with her 3.14 kills per set average. She has reached double-figure kills in nine matches, including three of the last five. Junior Regan Duty is second on the team with 128 kills and ranks 19th in the league in hitting percentage, 23rd in kills and 24th in kills per set.
Lenoir-Rhyne
The Bears, who posted a 17-11 overall record a year ago, including an 11-9 mark and tied for fourth in conference action, were a preseason pick to finish sixth in the 2019 SAC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
Junior Taylor Prall and senior Jackie Denny earned Preseason Second-Team All-Conference honors. Prall, an Honorable Mention All-Conference selection in 2018, led L-R with 287 kills as a sophomore and added 15 service aces, 187 digs and 38 blocks. Prall finished 10th in the league in kills and had six double-doubles on the year.
The outside hitter has earned SAC Player of the Week three times this season – most recently on Sept. 30 – after tying for the second-most kills in a four-set match in South Atlantic Conference history when she recorded 30 in L-R's 3-1 victory over Mars Hill. Prall also added a career-high 22 digs, while finishing out the week with 58 total kills averaging 5.27 a set, 35 digs, three blocks and three assists.
Prall currently leads the league in both kills (236) and kills per set (3.81/set).
Denny was also an Honorable Mention All-Conference performer a season ago after finishing the season with 82 total blocks. Denny added 154 kills and was second on the team with a .236 hitting percentage. The senior recorded a double-double with 10 kills and 11 blocks last season against UNC Pembroke.
Lenoir-Rhyne (11-7, 6-2 SAC) snapped a four-game slide by sweeping Georgia College last Saturday in a Conference Crossover matchup at Mars Hill. The Bears are an impressive 7-2 away from home this season.
The Series vs. Lenoir-Rhyne
The Trojans and Bears have met just 22 times over the past 19 seasons, with AU holding a 13-9 edge in the overall 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 20 times as members of the SAC. Anderson has won 11 of the last 13 matchups, including six straight. Nine of the 22 contests between the two teams have gone the full five-set distance.
AU defeated the Bears, 3-1 (17-25, 25-17, 25-18, 25-20), late last month in this season's first meeting. Duty led the Trojans with 14 kills, while freshman Taylor Weber tallied a dozen kills. Junior Kaitlyn Grube posted 11 kills, with Knutsen also notching 11 kills on the strength of a .421 hitting percentage.
Conlin notched a double-double with 53 assists and recorded 21 digs. McCurley came up with a match-high 23 digs, with junior Christina Stacy and freshman Alexandra Petrilli each recording eight digs apiece.
Mars Hill
The Lions, who posted a 16-13 overall record a season ago, including a 10-10 mark and tied for sixth place in the conference standings, were a preseason pick to finish seventh in the 2019 SAC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
Senior SallyAnne Johnson was named Preseason First-Team All-SAC after earning Honorable Mention All-Region honors at the conclusion of last season.
Defensive specialist Ully Martins leads the SAC in both digs (366) and digs per set (6.00/set).
Mars Hill is 9-8 overall and 6-4 in the league heading into a Friday night contest at Newberry. The Lions have dropped two of their last three decisions – all against foes from the Peach Belt Conference – and are coming off a 3-0 home loss to USC Aiken. MHU is an even 4-4 away from home this season.
The Series vs. Mars Hill
The Trojans have swept the last three year's regular-season series with Mars Hill and have won seven straight past the Lions after dropping three consecutive decisions to them during the 2015 and 2016 campaigns.
The Trojans lead the overall series, 16-11. After MHU won the first-ever meeting in 1997, the Trojans won five of the next six meetings over the following 11 seasons. After the Trojans earned three straight wins over the Lions to gain a narrow advantage in the overall series, Mars Hill swept the 2015 season's regular-season matchups to claim a 10-9 edge in the overall series.
Anderson defeated the Lions in AU's inaugural season in the SAC in 2010, with Mars Hill countering by claiming seven straight wins before AU won the 2013 series finale over the Lions and swept both regular-season matchups four years ago. With the three-set road win at Mars Hill two years ago, the Trojans clinched their first-ever South Atlantic Conference Regular Season Championship.
The Trojans knocked off Mars Hill, 3-1 (21-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-19), in this season's first meeting in the Tar Heel State. Duty led all players with 16 kills on the strength of a .389 hitting percentage, while senior Hailee Wilhelm added 15 kills behind a .423 hitting percentage. Knutsen posted a season-high 14 kills and recorded five block assists, with Grube notching 10 kills and six digs.
Conlin dished out a season-high 54 assists and narrowly missed her seventh double-double by tallying eight digs. McCurley shared match-high honors with 23 digs, while classmate Alexandra Petrilli added 17 digs. DeVaux tallied 15 digs and Stacy added nine digs on the afternoon.