ANDERSON, S.C. – After wrapping up its longest South Atlantic Conference road swing of the season, the Anderson volleyball team plays host to league opponent Tusculum Friday night at the Abney Athletic Center.
First serve versus the Pioneers is slated for 7 p.m. Admission is $5, but students, faculty and staff, along with members of the Trojan Club will be admitted free of charge.
The Trojans
Anderson (8-6, 5-2 SAC) is in fourth place in the league standings after claiming wins in two of its last three outings and four of the last six.
The Trojans are currently second in the league, just behind league–leading Wingate with 653 kills on the season and rank second in the SAC in assists, service aces, aces per set, digs and total blocks.
Several players remain among the league leaders in several statistical categories, with junior Marissa Mitter ranking third with 167 kills and standing sixth with her 3.21 kills per set average. The Redondo Beach, Calif., native narrowly missed collecting her eighth double-double of the campaign last Tuesday night at Wingate. Classmate Serena Jackson is second on the squad with 108 kills and is third in the league with a stellar .329 hitting percentage.
Freshman setter Emily Conlin, who has four double-doubles this season, remains the league-leader with 528 assists on the season, which is 79 more than the next-closest setter in the SAC. She also paces the conference with 23 aces on the year and has reached the 30-assist plateau 11 times. Sophomore teammate Emily Conard leads the SAC with 255 digs and has added 18 aces, which places her third in the conference. The native of Plano, Texas, has tallied double-figure digs in 13 of AU's 14 contests this season. Senior transfer Rachel Burts is tied for the league lead with 14 solo blocks and ranks second with 49 total blocks.
The Pioneers
Tusculum (7-4, 4-3 SAC) is riding a two-match win streak as the Pioneers invade the Abney Center, having knocked off Catawba and defending NCAA Southeast Region Champion Carson-Newman in convincing fashion. The Pioneers have put together three two-game wins streaks so far this season and have won four of their last six outings.
Tusculum was tabbed fifth in the South Atlantic Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll after posting an 11-17 overall record and an 8-14 mark in league play last year. The Pioneers narrowly missed earning a berth in the 2015 SAC Championship after tying for ninth place alongside Newberry.
The Pioneers returned five starters from last season's squad, including senior Rachel Garnett and sophomore Melissa Mazur, who were named preseason first-team all-conference. Garnett was selected second-team All-SAC last season after she registered a team-high 2.86 kills per set (ninth-best in the SAC) and had a team-high .241 hitting percentage. She was the 2013 SAC Freshman of the Year and a 2014 Honorable Mention All-SAC selection.
Mazur was the fourth player in program history to earn All-America honors as she was selected by the Division II Conference Commissioners Association last season. The Chicago native was named First-Team All-SAC and was a member of the SAC All-Freshman team after leading all three divisions of the NCAA with 6.84 digs per set. Mazur's 711 total digs were the fourth-most in a season by a Pioneer. She reached double figures in digs in all 28 matches as a freshman, including a season-high 44 against Lander.
The Series vs. Tusculum
Tusculum owns a 15-5 advantage in the overall series that dates back to the 1997 season. The Pioneers claimed the first-ever meeting in 1997, with the series lapsing for six years before the two squads met again, with AU taking a 3-1 win in Greeneville, Tenn., during the 2004 campaign.
Tusculum had won 12 consecutive decisions past the Trojans, with eight coming since Anderson joined the SAC in 2010, before AU defeated the Pioneers twice in the 2013 postseason. The Trojans outlasted Tusculum in five sets in the SAC Tournament semifinals, then upset the fourth-seeded Pioneers, 3-1, in the opening round of the NCAA Southeast Regional, marking Anderson's first-ever NCAA Tournament victory. The Pioneers have won three of the last four matchups on the strength of sweeping last year's regular-season matchups.
