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Arkadelphia, Ark. – The Henderson State volleyball team will play its final home match of the season on Tuesday along with the season's last installment of the Battle of the Ravine when Ouachita Baptist walks across the street for HSU's second-to-last match of the regular season at 6:30 p.m.
 
The Tuesday night rivalry bout will also serve as the Bettye's Reddies Match, where past players of Henderson's legendary coach Bettye Wallace will be present with free admittance into the evening's contest.
 
Henderson State (19-8, 8-6)
Off its win this past Thursday against Arkansas-Monticello, Henderson St. clinched a spot in the Great American Conference Tournament for the fourth straight year. Currently in sixth and standing a match back of fifth-place East Central with the Tigers holding the tiebreaker over HSU, the Reddies would need to win out and have ECU lose out in order to move up to fifth.
 
As it stands now, Henderson's first-round opponent would be the team it beat less than a week ago in a five-set thriller in the Arkansas Tech Golden Suns. With ATU being the most likely opponent, fourth-place Harding could move into that third slot if the Lady Bisons win out and Tech drops one of its remaining two matches.
 
Another match Reddie fans will want to keep an eye on that could dictate HSU's opponent come tournament time is first-place Oklahoma Baptist against second-place Southwestern Oklahoma St. Tuesday night. The Golden Suns hold the tiebreaker over OKBU, who is currently one match ahead of ATU. A Bison loss against the Bulldogs and a win for Tech would drop Oklahoma Baptist to third.
 
Among the leaders in the conference, Henderson St. is Top-5 in all but one major team statistical category (service aces). Leading the way for Phil McDaniel's group is the defense for the Reddies as they lead the league in blocks (2.49 per set) and digs (18.04 per set) and are second in opponent attack percentage (.134).
 
Individually, sophomore middle blocker Kaitlyn Sykes leads the league in total blocks (107) while fellow middle blocker Brae Denton follows closely behind for third (100). Junior libero Makenzie Thoman leads the GAC in total digs (556) after registering 50 in the last two matches, earning her the GAC's Defensive Player of the Week.
 
 In the season's first meeting, HSU swept Ouachita as Sykes and Denton combined for 13 blocks, holding the Tigers to a .100 attack percentage. Henderson State is currently sporting a two-match winning streak over OBU.    
 
Scouting Ouachita Baptist (9-18, 4-10)
Ouachita Baptist is coming off its senior night where it defeated Southern Arkansas, 3-1, as the Tigers hit .262 as a team in the victory. The win evened the season series against SAU as the Muleriders won the first match between the two teams this season, 3-2.
 
Senior libero Lexie Castillow is third in the GAC with 5.32 digs per set while sophomore setter Kellen Church leads the league with 47 service aces. As a team, Ouachita is third in the conference in service aces, carrying a mark of 1.62 per set.
 
Ouachita Baptist is only one match out of the coveted eighth spot as Northwestern Oklahoma St. currently occupies the space for the GAC Tournament's last team in. The Tigers hold the tiebreaker over the Rangers, so a win in one of their two remaining matches paired with a NWOSU loss would send OBU to the post-season.  
 
What To Watch For…
-Tuesday's match will be the tenth Battle of the Ravine for Phil McDaniel since taking over at HSU in 2017. McDaniel is 5-4 against the Reddies' cross-street rival.
 
-A win on Tuesday will give Henderson 20 regular season wins and 10 conference wins for the third time in four years. Prior to McDaniel, the Reddies have not claimed double-digit victories in both of those categories since Rhonda Thigpen was the coach back in 2007 when HSU was a part of the Gulf South Conference.