ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Henderson State is coming off a 3-1 stint at the Greenstay Inn & Suites Drury Invitational, posting three straight sweeps to open the 2021 campaign. Violeta Mendoza Quintana took over the weekend, seeing her best performance coming in the 5-set loss to Drury as the junior outside hitter put together a 25-kill, 18-dig double-double.
 
The Reddies move their attention to Tuesday, Sept. 7 when Christian Brothers comes to the Duke Wells Center for HSU's home opener. First serve is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
 
Henderson State (3-1, 0-0)
The Reddies opened tournament play against Texas Woman's, defeating the Lady Pioneers, 25-23, 25-16, 25-23. That victory was followed up with a straight-set victories over Missouri Southern (25-13, 25-22, 25-20) and LeMoyne Owen (25-15, 25-7, 25-7).
 
Henderson nearly pulled off the unprecedented comeback over tournament host Drury Panthers, forcing the match to a fifth set after DU took the first two sets, 31-29 and 25-20. Both teams hit at a greater than .250 clip as the total points slightly favored the Lady Panthers, 118-109.
 
In all four matches, HSU as a team has hit over .221 in each contest, with its best attack outing coming against LeMoyne-Owen where the Reddies hit .436. Mya Robinson and Mendoza Quintana each held attack percentages of .600 and .692 , respectively, as both girls accounted for nine kills.
 
Henderson State holds a slight edge in the overall series against CBU, 21-20. The Reddies do hold a two-match win streak over the Lady Bucs, with the last meeting seeing HSU take the five-set victory. When playing at home, HSU is 14-9 in the series.     
 
Christian Brothers (0-4, 0-0)
The Lady Buccaneers dropped their first four matches to open the season as part of the Buccaneer Invitational. After getting swept in the first two matches, CBU took Kentucky Wesleyan and Southern Arkansas each to four sets before falling.
 
Tia Rizvi leads the team with 33 kills and has a team-high attack percentage of .218. KaLea Davis brings 103 set assists – 7.36 assists per set – into Duke Wells Center. Kimmy Hammond spearheads the defensive effort with 48 digs through four matches.
 
Road matches have not favored Christian Brothers over the last couple years, having seen only two victories away from Canale Arena in the past three seasons. Overall, CBU is currently on a 13-match losing streak dating back to 2019.
 
What to Watch For…
Henderson State has won six straight home openers, with the last loss inside Duke Wells Center to open a season coming in 2014 against McMurry University.