GAME COVERAGE LINKS | 2021 REDDIE-TIGER INVITATIONAL INFORMATION
 
ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – After being absent for a year, the 2021 edition of the Reddie-Tiger Invitational returns to Arkadelphia for the third time. This year's tournament will feature five teams: Henderson State University, Ouachita Baptist University, the University of Arkansas at Monticello, Auburn University at Montgomery and Mississippi College.
 
With eight matches being played between the Duke Wells Center on the campus of Henderson State and the Sturgis Physical Education Center on the campus of Ouachita Baptist, the tournament will get kicked off at 11 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 17 with Arkansas-Monticello playing Auburn-Montgomery at the Duke Wells Center.
 
For a full schedule of all the matches with locations and game coverage links, click here.
 
Henderson State (8-2, 1-0)
Henderson State will play three matches over the next 48 hours, beginning with the Warhawks of Auburn-Montgomery on Friday, Sept. 17 at 5:30 p.m. The Reddies will meet AUM again on Saturday morning at 11:30 a.m. before closing the weekend against Mississippi College at 3 p.m.
 
The Reddies are coming off their first conference match of the season where they swept cross-street rival Ouachita Baptist, 25-21, 25-15, 25-20. The HSU defense held the Tigers offense to a .100 attack percentage thanks to seven blocks from Kaitlyn Sykes and six from Brae Denton.
 
As a team, Henderson is hitting .239 while holding its opponent to .108. With 413 kills to 143 errors compared to 351 kills to 222 errors for the opposition, HSU is seeing one error for every 2.89 kills while its opponent is seeing one error for every 1.58 kill.  
 
Mya Robinson and Violeta Mendoza Quintana make up the Reddies' one-two punch on the offensive side of the ball, seeing 109 and 108 kills on the season, respectively. Both outside hitters are hitting better than .250 on the season.
 
Denton and Sykes hold down the defensive front for HSU with each player averaging over one block per set as they have 41 and 40 blocks on the season, respectively. Makenzie Thoman rounds out the defensive trio with a team-high 140 digs through 10 matches.
 
The match against Auburn-Montgomery on Friday evening will be the first match ever between the two programs, with the second meeting of the series coming a short 18 hours later. Friday's match will be the second home contest for the Reddies this season. Henderson swept Christian Brothers in its home-opener.
 
In HSU's final match of the Reddie-Tiger Invitational against Mississippi College, Henderson has never lost to MC in the 11 meetings between the two schools. The last meeting saw the closest outcome of the series as MC took HSU to a fifth set on its home floor before the visiting Reddies came out with the 3-2 victory.
Scouting Auburn-Montgomery (5-3, 0-0)
Auburn-Montgomery is used to playing neutral sites matches as each of its matches this season have been such. After starting the year 4-0, the Warhawks have dropped three of their last four matches.
 
Niyah Whittlesey leads her squad with 85 kills while hitting .200 while Keren Santana is hitting .220 with 75 kills. Defensively, Mariane Cassiano has 103 digs on the season while Maria Nicolau leads the team with 25 total blocks.   
 
Scouting Mississippi College (0-1, 0-0)
Having only played one match this season due to Covid protocols, Mississippi College dropped a five-set match to GAC-foe Arkansas-Monticello, 3-2. After MC won the first set, 25-18, the teams alternated sets until the fifth when UAM broke through to claim the victory.
 
Five separate playes saw double-digit digs as Kendall Platt saw a double-double for the Choctaws, delivering a match-high 21 kills with a .264 attack percentage and 27 digs. Missy Beber spearheaded the defensive effort, giving her squad 35 digs in the contest.
 
What To Watch For…
-In the two previous years of the Reddie-Tiger Invitational, Henderson State has gone 6-2, including going undefeated in 2018. Its two losses were in five-sets as it has posted a pair of sweeps in the tournament's history.
 
-Taylor Scalzi is tenth all-time in HSU history with 1531 career set assists. The junior setter needs 59 assists to pass Rachell Lee for ninth all-time, meaning Scalzi will need to average 19.67 assists per match in this tournament to reach that feat. The Flower Mound, Texas, native is currently seeing 17 assists per match this season.