ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — Henderson State will look to add two more victories to its four-match winning streak when it welcomes Southeastern Oklahoma State and East Central to the Duke Wells Center this Thursday and Friday. The Savage Storm and the Tigers have combined for just one conference win this season and are a collective 3-36 in 2019.
The Reddies (12-9, 4-3) has played their best volleyball of the season over the last 10 days which included a 3-1 takedown of Oklahoma Baptist, who sat unbeaten atop the GAC standings before falling to HSU on Oct. 11. Henderson swept its weekend in the Sooner State the next day with a dramatic 3-2 come from behind victory at Southern Nazarene.
HSU was spurred by stellar performances from senior Adrianna Hartmann and sophomore MaKenzie Thoman, who took home GAC Defensive Player of the Week honors after notching 28 digs against the Bison and 24 digs against the Crimson Storm. It was Thoman's best two-game stretch of the 2019 season. Her 5.78 digs per set last week led the GAC.
Hartmann just missed out on Player of the Week honors after racking up a career-high 10 total blocks against the Bison while supplying Henderson with seven timely kills. Against SNU, Hartmann tallied 16 kills with an astronomical 46.4% attack percentage. The 16 kills were just one off of her career-high of 17.
Abby Blackburn continues to pace the Reddies with 454 assists and has tallied double-digit assists in every match of the 2019 season. The junior has double-doubles in all but one of HSU's GAC matches.
Southeastern Oklahoma State | (1-16, 0-7) | T-12 in GAC | Oct. 17 | 6:30 P.M.
The Savage Storm will be looking for their first win in over a month when Southeastern makes the trip to Arkadelphia for the Thursday night matchup. SOSU is led by first year head coach Nicole Solum, who has the difficult task of bringing Savage Storm volleyball back to winning ways for the first time since 2014. Senior Caitlin Cosby has been a bright spot for the Storm, leading the GAC with 5.25 digs per set. The Reddies have taken three of the last four matches in the series and swept the Savage Storm 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-20) in 2018.
East Central | (2-20, 1-6) | 10th in GAC | Oct. 18 | 4:30 P.M.
Similarly to the Savage Storm, the East Central's 2019 season has been a struggle. The only conference win for ECU came against Southeastern in a 3-2 victory on Oct. 1. The Tigers have amassed just a 9-76 GAC record since 2014, including a winless season last year when ECU finished 0-28. The Tigers are led by junior Sydney Dungen who ranks in the Top-10 in the GAC with 7.18 assists per set.
HSU Statistical Leaders:
Senior, Courtney Bolf – 252 Kills
Junior, Abby Blackburn – 454 Assists
Sophomore, MaKenzie Thoman – 400 Digs
Senior, Adrianna Hartmann – 88 Blocks
SOSU Statistical Leaders:
Freshman, Malaysia Burns – 143 Kills
Junior, Jodi Dixon – 299 Assists
Senior, Caitlin Cosby – 331 Digs
Freshman, Malaysia Burns – 29 Blocks
ECU Statistical Leaders:
Senior, Kaitlyn Coffey – 140 Kills
Junior, Sydney Dungen – 489 Assists
Junior, Kasey Beeler – 289 Digs
Sophomore, Kellie Smith – 38 Blocks
Henderson State Milestone Watch
- Courtney Bolf recently passed Annick Lagourgue for 10th on the all-time service aces list and is just one ace away from tying Melissa Trotter for ninth all-time at Henderson State.
- Over the weekend, Hartmann moved to ninth all-time with 91 solo blocks and fourth all-time with 317 block assists. Hartmann also became just the sixth player in Reddies history to record 400 or more total blocks. She needs two more blocks to move past Nikki Dancer for fourth-most ever at HSU.
- Blackburn is just 24 assists away from moving into the Top-10 in career assists while Taylor Scalzi is just 36 assists away from the 1000th of her career.
