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ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – The Henderson State women's volleyball team faces off against the Great American Conference-leading Arkansas Tech Golden Suns Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday will also mark Student-Athlete Night inside the Duke Wells Center.
 
Henderson State (17-8, 6-6)
The Reddies are squarely in sixth place in the GAC standings currently and with a two-match cushion on either side of them, HSU is looking at being the six seed in the GAC Tournament at the end of this month. Henderson's current opponent in the post-season tournament still remains to be seen with four matches remaining in the regular season.
 
Currently, the third seed – which is who Henderson as the six seed would match up against in round one – is Southwestern Oklahoma St., who is 10-2 in conference play. Oklahoma Baptist is also 10-2 in the GAC but holds the tiebreaker over the Bulldogs, giving them the current two seed. East Central is also in the mix as the fourth-place Tigers are only one match behind SWOSU.
 
Violeta Mendoza Quintana and Mya Robinson are third and sixth, respectively, in the entire league in kills. Mendoza Quintana is leading HSU with 294 kills while Robinson has 281 (3.05 per set). The junior outside hitter from Chihuahua, Mexico, is 18th in the GAC in attacking percentage (.229) and second on the team behind Christiane Uzoh (.273).
 
In this season's first meeting between Tech and HSU, Henderson was without Mendoza Quintana as Robinson was the only Reddie to claim double-digit kills with 17 on the night. Arkansas Tech came away with the 3-1 victory in Tucker Coliseum after hitting .225 throughout the four sets compared to HSU's .163.   
 
The last time these two teams met in Arkadelphia, Henderson won in a five-set thriller, 3-2. The Reddies have fared better at home than on the road against the Golden Suns with a 15-18 record on their home floor versus 6-13 in Russellville.
 
Scouting Arkansas Tech (17-5, 11-1)
Arkansas Tech comes into the Duke Wells Center having won three straight conference matches, including back-to-back conference-match sweeps of Southeastern Oklahoma St. and Southern Arkansas, 3-0. In each of those matches, ATU held its opponent to a .095 attack percentage or worse.
 
Aside from kill-leaders Tymber Riley and Haylee Paladini, Kaitlynn Bradley holds the title as the most efficient Golden Sun as she is fourth in the entire GAC with a .315 attack percentage. Riley is fourth in the GAC in her own right with 3.28 kills per set.
 
The Golden Suns control their own destiny when it comes to claiming the No. 1 seed in the GAC Tournament. With a one-match lead over Oklahoma Baptist and Southwestern Oklahoma St., Tech is four matches away from clinching its fifth No. 1 seed in the post-season tournament since 2011.    
 
What To Watch For…
-Makenzie Thoman has 506 digs on the season. She needs 80 more with four regular season matches remaining to claim the second most digs in a single season since Phil McDaniel took over at Henderson in 2017. Thoman herself holds the record for the most with 644 in 33 matches in 2019.
 
-Henderson State will clinch a spot in the GAC Tournament with a win against Arkansas Tech AND a loss by either Southern Nazarene against Northwestern Oklahoma St. or a Southeastern Oklahoma St. loss against Southwestern Oklahoma St.