ANDERSON, S.C. – The Anderson University volleyball team is set to return home for a weekend homestand, with the Trojans scheduled to welcome a pair of teams from the Volunteer State to the Electric City. AU is slated to square off against Lincoln Memorial, Friday night at 6 p.m., then face Carson-Newman, Saturday at 2 p.m. before embarking on a four-match road swing a week from today.

Friday night's contest against Lincoln Memorial will mark the midway point of AU's 18-match conference slate. The Trojans are currently alone in fourth place, two games behind Wingate in the win column, one full game behind second-place Lenoir-Rhyne and trail league-leading Tusculum by two games.

WHO: Anderson Trojans (11-5, 6-2 SAC) vs. Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters (5-10, 3-6 SAC)
WHERE: Abney Athletic Center; Anderson, S.C.
WHEN: Friday, 6 p.m.

WHO: Anderson Trojans (11-5, 6-2 SAC) vs. Carson-Newman Eagles (9-9, 5-4 SAC)
WHERE: Abney Athletic Center; Anderson, S.C.
WHEN: Saturday, 2 p.m.

Anderson Attendance Policy
Masks are encouraged inside all buildings on campus. Guests must maintain at least 6 feet of distance from anyone outside of their family group.

Fans are always encouraged to check with the host institution before making plans to attend any games in person.

The Trojans
AU is hitting an impressive .294 over the last three contests and have won all three – all sweeps - and has claimed wins in five of its last six decisions and seven of its last nine.

The Trojans are 52-8 (.867) in the Electric City over the past five seasons, including a pair of perfect 12-0 home campaigns in 2017 and 2018, and have lost more than two home contests just once since 2016.

The Trojans continue to pace the SAC in kills, hitting percentage and assists, while ranking second in kills per set and assists per set. AU is also fourth in service aces, fifth in blocks per set and ninth in digs per set.

As she has from the first match of the season, junior setter Madison Roy has led the league in both assists and assists per set and has dished out at least 50 assists five times while reaching the 40+ assist plateau on nine occasions this season. The North Myrtle Beach native posted a career-high 53 assists in back-to-back contests against Newberry and Mars Hill.

Senior Regan Duty leads a balanced offensive attack that features five Trojans who have at least 100 kills this season. She is tied for sixth in the SAC with 167 kills and ranks fifth with a .320 hitting percentage. The Inman native has knocked down double-digit kills eight times this season, including a career-high 20 against Mars Hill in late September.

Sophomore Sadie Kluner is 16th in the conference in kills after reaching double-figures eight times, including three of the last five matches and posting a career-best 13 against both Tusculum and Mars Hill. Senior Maya Learmonth is just behind Kluner with 132 kills on the year and has tallied double-figure kills seven times. The Pflugerville, Texas native is currently tied for 18th in the conference in total kills.

Senior Noelle Knutsen is eighth in the league with a .299 hitting percentage and is 12th in the SAC with a team-leading 45 total blocks. A native of Parker, Colo., Knutsen is 21st in the league with 129 kills. Sophomore Jaelyn Grimm has climbed to third in the conference with a .332 hitting percentage and has totaled double-digit kills on five occasions, including a season-high 11 twice - at UVA Wise and against Lenoir-Rhyne at the Abney Center.

Senior Meghan DeVaux leads a balanced Trojan defense and ranks ninth in the league with 234 total digs and is 12th in digs per set, while junior Lindsay McCurley is 25th in the conference with 145 digs on the season. Junior Alexandra Petrilli has 129 digs, while Roy has added 131 on the season and freshman Hannah Neff has 116 digs. Neff has reached double-digit digs 10 times and leads the Trojans with 22 service aces on the year.

Lincoln Memorial
The Railsplitters (5-10, 3-6 SAC), were a preseason pick to finish 10th in the South Atlantic Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll after going 4-6 during the COVID-shortened spring season and going 11-19 overall in 2019, including a 10-12 mark in league play.

LMU, which returned 13 letterwinners from last season in addition to bringing in six newcomers - including three freshmen and three transfers - has won two straight and is coming off a sweep of King on Wednesday night.

Sophomore Ketura Margaret ranks 10th in the league with 2.98 kills per set, while senior setter Emily Walter is 10th in the conference with 5.81 assists per set. Senior Sevgi Koyuncu ranks eighth with 4.18 digs per set.

The Series vs. Lincoln Memorial
The Trojans and Lady Railsplitters have met 28 times over the last 17 seasons, including 23 meetings since AU joined the South Atlantic Conference for the 2010 campaign.

LMU holds a 16-12 advantage in the overall series between the two schools, with Anderson snapping a nine-match skid at the hands of the Lady Railsplitters in the first meeting eight seasons ago and defeating LMU three times during the 2014 campaign, including a 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-13) decision in the opening round of the SAC Championship.

After LMU swept the 2015 and 2016 matchups, the Trojans returned the favor by blanking the 'Splitters twice in 2017 and then sweeping the 2018 regular-season matchups before LMU edged AU in five sets in the 2018 SAC Tournament semifinals.

The Trojans swept the 2019 regular-season series, with both contests going the full five-set distance.

AU defeated Lincoln Memorial for the third straight time in four sets during the abbreviated spring campaign and has won seven of the last eight matchups.

Carson-Newman
The Eagles (9-9, 5-4 SAC), were a preseason pick to finish third in the South Atlantic Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll after going 7-4 overall during the COVID-shortened spring season and going 28-8 overall in 2019, including a 16-16 mark in league play.

Carson-Newman, which travels to Newberry Friday night before venturing to the Abney Center on Saturday afternoon, has dropped two straight decisions after winning three in a row.

Redshirt-sophomore libero Hayden Barton and senior Erin Edwards each earned Preseason Second-Team All-Conference accolades in late August.

The Eagles lead the SAC with 144 service aces (2.09/set) on the season and are second in the SAC in both kills and assists, while standing third in overall digs and total blocks.

Sophomore outside hitter Julia Wheeler paces the entire conference with 221 kills on the year and also leads the league with 684 total attacks and 111 errors, with senior setter Abbey Hildenbrand ranking fourth in the SAC with 545 total assists. Sophomore McKenna Hall is second with 32 aces, while Barton is third with 27 aces on the season.

The Series vs. Carson-Newman
After squaring off twice in a six-day span last spring, the Trojans and Eagles have met 28 times over the past 15 seasons, with 25 of the matchups occurring since AU joined the league in 2010. The overall series, which began in 2006, sees Anderson holding a narrow, 15-14, edge after the Trojans knocked off C-N in both meetings last season.

Carson-Newman won the first five meetings in the overall series and the two teams have nearly evenly split the last 15 matchups, with AU sweeping the 2016 and 2017 regular-season matchups before Carson-Newman edged the Trojans in a five-set thriller in the 2017 South Atlantic Conference Tournament in Jefferson City, Tenn.

The two teams split the 2018 regular-season matchups, with each squad defending their home court. AU swept the 2019 regular-season series – both in five sets – with the Eagles blanking AU in the 2019 NCAA Southeast Regional Quarterfinals.