ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Henderson State, after going 2-3 through the first slate of GAC play, will begin the second round when it heads to Magnolia, Arkansas to take on Southern Arkansas Tuesday, Mar. 2 in the teams' second meeting this season. First serve is at 6 p.m. inside the W.T. Watson Athletic Center.
 
Henderson State (2-3, 2-3)
The Reddies hosted Southern Arkansas to open the season back on Jan. 26. HSU took the opener 3-1 on the back of Mya Robinson's 12 kills. Henderson proceeded, however, to lose its next three matches before defeating Arkansas-Monticello in the Reddies' last outing, 3-1.
 
Freshman Christiane Uzoh is leading HSU in efficiency on a minimum of 50 total attacks as she is hitting .163 with 31 kills on the season. Robinson and Violeta Mendoza Quintana each have 199 total attacks on the season with 57 and 51 kills, respectively.
 
Senior Abby Blackburn and junior Taylor Scalzi have accounted for 80.7% of all set assists for HSU this season, with Blackburn boasting a team-high 84 while Scalzi is close behind with 75. Libero Makenzie Thoman is the next closest with 16 while the typical defensive-specialist is leading all Reddies with nine aces on the year.
 
HSU has currently won eight matches in a row against SAU, but the contests at W.T Watson Athletic Center have yielded much closer results as the Reddies hold the ever-so-slight edge over the Muleriders in road matches, 9-8. Henderson State is 0-2 on the road this year compared to 2-1 at home.
 
SOUTHERN ARKANSAS (0-4, 0-4)
Despite having lost nine straight matches dating back to last season, SAU is coming off one of its best matches of the year in a 3-2 thriller against Arkansas-Monticello. The Muleriders found themselves up 13-10 in the fifth set as they sat two points away from claiming their first win of the season. Instead, UAM scored five straight to take the set, 15-13.  
 
Morgan Gross led all Mulerides with 16 kills while Morgan Schuster put up 47 assists against UAM. As a team, SAU hit .133 for its second-best hitting percentage of the season. Gross and Schuster have tallied double-digit kills and assists, respectively, in every match this season.
 
Against Henderson in the season's first meeting, Gross accounted for a game-high 15 kills while Schuster had 38 assists. SAU allowed HSU, however, to hit .179, including .370 and .310 in the first and fourth set, respectively, to define the match.