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ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Henderson State is currently sixth in the Great American Conference standings with a 4-3 conference record. The Reddies are one match back of Oklahoma Baptist, Harding and Southwestern Oklahoma State who occupy the third through fifth spots, respectively.
 
Holding a two match lead over HSU is the second-place East Central Tigers as these teams face off Friday night in Ada, Oklahoma, inside the Kerr Activities Center at 6 p.m. 25 hours later, Henderson takes to Durant, Oklahoma, to battle seventh-place Southeastern on Saturday at 7 p.m.
 
Henderson State (15-5, 4-3)
The Reddies enter this weekend off a back-to-back in which they split, 1-1, after defeating Southwestern Oklahoma St., 3-1, before being edged out by Northwestern, 3-2. The loss snapped HSU's four-match winning streak.
 
Mendoza Quintana and Mya Robinson are trading off holding the title for team leader in kills, with the junior outside hitter from Chihuahua, Mexico, seeing the lead this week, having accumulated 222 winners on the season compared to Robinson's 221.
 
The Reddies' two outside hitters are Top-10 in the league in kills, with Mendoza Quintana sitting at fifth while Robinson is seventh. Henderson is only one of two teams to have two girls in the Top-10 in that category.
 
As a team, HSU is tied for third with a .207 attack percentage while still pacing the rest of the conference in opponent attack percentage, holding its opposition to a .131 clip. Henderson has held its opponent below a .152 attack percentage in five straight matches, four of which HSU has won.
 
Henderson State has owned the all-time series against East Central as of late, winning four of the last five matchups. In its entirety, however, ECU leads the series, 9-5. The last time the two teams played in Ada, HSU won, 3-1.
 
As it is with ECU, the Reddies have won four of the last five meetings against Southeastern, including two in a row. The last time this head-to-head took place in Durant was in 2018 when HSU swept SOSU, 3-0.
 
Scouting East Central  (10-9, 6-1)
East Central has been on an absolute tear as of late, putting together a program-record seven straight victories and five straight conference wins. The Tigers' last loss came against now-No. 22 Oklahoma Baptist on Sept. 21.
 
East Central has a one-two punch similar to Henderson's with Nyah Walker and Emma Strickland leading the team with 185 and 184 kills, respectively. Walker also leads the team with an attack percentage of .255.
 
Scouting Southeastern Oklahoma St. (6-9, 3-4)
Southeastern comes into the match in a very different position than East Central as the Savage Storm have dropped four of their last five with their only win coming during that span coming against Southern Arkansas. They did, however, beat Northwestern, 3-2, earlier this season – a team that just beat HSU, 3-2.  
 
Skylor Lewis has 177 kills on the season to lead SOSU's attack. Lewis is also second on the team in digs with 160, only behind Grace Shehadeh's 280. As a team, Southeastern is last in the GAC in attack percentage (.144).
 
What To Watch For…
-Henderson has not lost to East Central or Southeastern Oklahoma St. in Ada or Durant, respectively, since 2014. Under head coach Phil McDaniel, the Reddies have never lost to the Tigers or the Savage Storm on their home courts.
 
-Taylor Scalzi is squarely in ninth place on the all-time assists list in HSU history with 1748. In order for her to pass her former teammate Abby Blackburn for seventh place at 1838, Scalzi needs another 91. With nine matches left in the regular season, the junior from Flower Mound, Texas, needs to average just over 10 per match to surpass Blackburn.