Sun Belt Conference Weekly News and Notes

2015 Composite Schedule

2015 Sun Belt Conference Standings

2015 Sun Belt Conference Statistics

NEW ORLEANS- With another weekend of conference competition complete, Arkansas State (8-0, No. 18 RPI) and Appalachian State (7-0) remain undefeated in league play. The Red Wolves defeated Little Rock and Georgia Southern on the road, while the Mountaineers beat Little Rock and UT Arlington at home.

Texas State comes in at third in the conference rankings with a 6-1 league record. The Bobcats lost to Big 12 foe Baylor on Friday.

For the second week in a row, App State outside hitter Emily Corrigan has been named Offensive Student-Athlete of the Week. She finished the weekend with 35 kills (5.00 per set) and a .312 hitting percentage. Corrigan also tallied 22 digs on the defensive end of things as well. In a four-set win against Little Rock, Corrigan tallied 20 kills (5.00 per set) to lead the Mountaineers, while recording her fifth double-double with 17 digs on the night. In a sweep against UT Arlington, Corrigan tallied 15 kills (5.00 per set) and hit an incredible .519 with just one error. For her career, Corrigan has now amassed 1,233 total kills and moves into sole possession of 8th on the all-time program list.



For the first time this season, senior libero Priscila Almeida is the Defensive Student-Athlete of the Week. She had a fantastic week on the court for the Trojans as she racked up 5.92 digs per set over three matches. Almeida had her best match of the week against Appalachian State as she recorded 34 digs, the most in four-set match in rally-scoring history at Little Rock. Her total also tied for the seventh-most in a match in program history. Almeida started the week off with a match-high 25 digs against Arkansas State at home. Almeida ended the week with 18 digs against Georgia State.

Paige Brown of App State has been named Setter of the Week for the fifth time this season. She tallied 93 more assists over the weekend and averaged 13.2 assists per set in two convincing conference victories. Brown finished the weekend with an assist percentage of .458. In a 3-1 win over Little Rock, Brown recorded her 10th double-double of the season - amassing 53 assists (good for 13.2 per set) and tallying 24 digs on the defensive end, while also recording five kills. In a convincing sweep of UT Arlington, Brown notched 40 more assists (13.3 per set) and finished with an incredible assist percentage of .606 – setting up the App State offense to hit .517 on the night. For her career, Brown has now recorded 3,927 total assists (784 on the season) and is now fourth all-time in program history and remains 482 away from breaking the all-time record.

Carlisa May has been named Freshman of the Week once again. Out of seven total nomination periods so far, she has won the award six times. The true freshman had another great weekend offensively for the Red Wolves as she tallied 34 kills (4.25 per set) on a .280 hitting percentage. She also picked up two digs and five blocks on the defensive side of the net. She registered a career-high 26 kills against Little Rock Wednesday night on a career-high 55 attacks. She recorded a hitting percentage of .273 against the Trojans and also added four block assists in the 3-2 victory. She followed that performance up with eight kills against Georgia Southern on a .300 hitting percentage with two digs and a block.

SUN BELT CONFERENCE OFFENSIVE STUDENT-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Emily Corrigan (App State, OH, Senior, Exercise Science)

Emily Corrigan finished the weekend with 35 kills (5.00 per set) and a .312 hitting percentage. Corrigan also tallied 22 digs on the defensive end of things as well. In a four-set win against Little Rock, Corrigan tallied 20 kills (5.00 per set) to lead the Mountaineers, while recording her fifth double-double with 17 digs on the night. In a sweep against UT Arlington, Corrigan tallied 15 kills (5.00 per set) and hit an incredible .519 with just one error. For her career, Corrigan has now amassed 1,233 total kills and moves into sole possession of 8th on the all-time program list.

SUN BELT CONFERENCE DEFENSIVE STUDENT-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Priscila Almeida (Little Rock, L, Senior, Systems Engineering)

Senior libero Priscila Almeida had a fantastic week on the court for the Trojans as she racked up 5.92 digs per set over three matches. Almeida had her best match of the week against Appalachian State as she recorded 34 digs, the most in four-set match in rally-scoring history at Little Rock. Her total also tied for the seventh-most in a match in program history. Almeida started the week off with a match-high 25 digs against Arkansas State at home. Almeida ended the week with 18 digs against Georgia State.

SUN BELT CONFERENCE SETTER OF THE WEEK

Paige Brown (App State, Setter, Senior, Spanish)

Paige Brown tallied 93 more assists over the weekend and averaged 13.2 assists per set in two convincing conference victories. Brown finished the weekend with an assist percentage of .458. In a 3-1 win over Little Rock, Brown recorded her 10th double-double of the season - amassing 53 assists (good for 13.2 per set) and tallying 24 digs on the defensive end, while also recording five kills. In a convincing sweep of UT Arlington, Brown notched 40 more assists (13.3 per set) and finished with an incredible assist percentage of .606 – setting up the App State offense to hit .517 on the night. For her career, Brown has now recorded 3,927 total assists (784 on the season) and is now fourth all-time in program history and remains 482 away from breaking the all-time record.

SUN BELT CONFERENCE FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK

Carlisa May (Arkansas State, OH, Freshman)

Arkansas State true freshman Carlisa May had another great weekend offensively for the Red Wolves as she tallied 34 kills (4.25 per set) on a .280 hitting percentage. She also picked up two digs and five blocks on the defensive side of the net. She registered a career-high 26 kills against Little Rock Wednesday night on a career-high 55 attacks. She recorded a hitting percentage of .273 against the Trojans and also added four block assists in the 3-2 victory. She followed that performance up with eight kills against Georgia Southern on a .300 hitting percentage with two digs and a block.

RECENT RESULTS

Tuesday, October 6th

South Alabama at Troy - Troy, 3-2

UT Arlington at Texas State - TXST, 3-2

Wednesday, October 7th

Georgia State at Georgia Southern - GS, 3-0

Little Rock at Arkansas State - ARK, 3-2

UL Lafayette at UL Monroe - ULL, 3-2

Friday, October 9th

Little Rock at Appalachian State - App, 3-1

UL Monroe at Troy - Troy, 3-0

UL Lafayette at South Alabama - USA, 3-1

Texas State at Baylor - BU, 3-0

Saturday, October 10th

UT Arlington at Appalachian State - UTA, 3-0

Arkansas State at Georgia Southern - Ark, 3-0

UL Lafayette at Troy - Troy, 3-1

UL Monroe at South Alabama - USA, 3-0

Sunday, October 11th

Little Rock at Georgia State - LR, 3-1

UPCOMING MATCHES

Tuesday, October 13th

Florida A&M at Troy, 6:00 PM

Thursday, October 15th

Georgia Southern at UL Monroe, 6:00 PM

Texas State at UT Arlington, 6:30 PM

Friday, October 16th

South Alabama at Arkansas State, 6:00 PM

Georgia Southern at UL Lafayette, 6:30 PM

Troy at UL Monroe, 6:30 PM

Saturday, October 17th

Georgia State at Appalachian State, 5:30 PM

Texas State at Arkansas State, 6:00 PM

South Alabama at Little Rock, 6:30 PM

Troy at UL Lafayette, 6:30 PM

AROUND THE SUN BELT

The Eagles Travel to the Pelican State

Georgia Southern takes to the road for two Sun Belt matches this week in the Pelican State. The Eagles take on ULM Thursday and UL Lafayette Saturday. It’s the Eagles’ second meeting against ULM this season; the Warhawks won the first one 3-2 in Hanner Fieldhouse. It’s the Eagles’ first match against UL Lafayette this season. The Eagles picked up their first Sun Belt win of the season with a 3-0 victory over Georgia State last Wednesday. Alex Beecher, who came into the weekend ranked seventh in the nation in digs per set, averaged 5.83 last week. She posted 22 digs against Georgia State; it was her seventh straight match with 20-plus digs. The redshirt junior has 1,560 career digs, 147 away from the Georgia Southern career record, which was set in 2003. She needs 202 to break her own single-season record of 604, set in 2012. Setter/right side Katie Bange has six double-doubles this season, and five of the six have included double-figure kills. The redshirt junior averaged eight assists, 1.67 kills, 1.83 digs and 1.33 blocks a set last week. Setter Kat Minnerly ranks fifth on the school’s career assist list with 2,772. The senior played in her 100th career match against Chicago State. Junior Crysten Curry ranks seventh in career blocks at Georgia Southern with 289. Cathrine Murray notched her first double-double of the season with 15 kills and 12 digs against Arkansas State last Saturday. Three juniors who received medical redshirts last season - Beecher, Curry and Bange - have returned to the lineup this season and played in every match.

Trojans Win in Four Sets at Georgia State

Little Rock volleyball (8-10, 4-4 Sun Belt) earned a four-set win (25-23, 18-25, 25-21, 25-23) over Georgia State (4-13, 0-7) at the GSU Sports Arena on Sunday afternoon. Marina Avram tied a career-high with 13 kills while Edina Selimovic picked up the double-double with 10 kills and 10 total blocks. Veronica Marin set a career-high with seven total blocks

The Trojans began the fourth frame with another 9-2 lead before Georgia State called a timeout. Out of the timeout, Selimovic earned an ace to give Little Rock a 10-2 lead. The Panthers then closed the gap to two points as they went on a 7-1 run before a Trojan timeout. Georgia State eventually tied the set at 13-13 with a kill by Jordan Screen. At 15-15, a kill by Kristina Stinson put Georgia State ahead for the first time in the set. Down by four at 22-18, Little Rock went on a 5-1 to tie the set at 23-23 and force a Georgia State timeout. After the timeout a Panther attack error and kill by Avram gave Little Rock the 3-1 win over Georgia State.

App Hammers UTA in Dominating Fashion

With possibly its most impressive performance of the season to date, Appalachian State University volleyball hammered UT Arlington 3-0 (25-12, 25-13, 25-8) to remain unbeaten in Sun Belt Conference play and run its winning streak to 10 games. The Mountaineers (14-4, 7-0 Sun Belt) dominated in every facet of the match on Saturday evening and outhit the Mavericks by an impressive percentage of .517 to .049. Paige Brown followed up a 53 assist performance by producing 40 assists in the sweep, including a .606 assist percentage on the night. “This team was on a mission tonight and it was amazing to watch,” said head coach Matt Ginipro. “Our players made the decision to fix the things we struggled with against Little Rock because we jumped out of the gate and never let up. The box score tells the story of the match. Besides following the game plan, I felt like we were nearly perfect on all of our attacks and our hitters went after it on every swing.” Emily Corrigan led the offense with 15 kills and a .519 attack percentage, while Jess Keller contributed 13 kills and a .579 attack percentage. Also finishing with double-digit kills was Ashton Gregory with 10 and a hitting percentage of .471. The Apps got off to a lightning fast start in the opening set with a quick 11-4 run to gain control over the Mavericks. Three-straight kills from Corrigan, Gregory and then Corrigan again led to a UTA timeout with the score 10-4 in favor of Appalachian State. Out of the timeout, Corrigan again tallied a kill to make it 11-4. Kills from Corrigan, Gregory, Keller and Courtney Sullivan highlighted a small 10-5 run to extend App State’s lead to 21-9. Following an Appalachian timeout, a kill from Cassidy Stephenson, back-to-back kills from Corrigan and an ace from Meghan Mahoney clinched the set for the Mountaineers. Almost identical to the first set, the Mountaineers got out to a quick 10-4 lead. UTA tried to keep it close, but a kill from Corrigan made it 14-7 App State - forcing a Maverick timeout. Sandwiching two UTA timeouts, the Apps found eight points and led 22-11. Consecutive kills from Corrigan and Gregory ended the set 25-13. Following a 10 minute intermission, the Black and Gold kicked on the afterburners and came out firing on all cylinders in the third set. The Mountaineers got out to a quick 11-2 lead before a UTA timeout stopped play. Trying to slow the Mountaineers wouldn’t prove to work for the Mavericks with App State finishing the set on a 14-6 run to take the set 25-8. Appalachian used a pair of 5-0 runs, and two 4-0 runs to finish off the Mavericks and clinch the 10th sweep of the season for the Mountaineers. Mahoney led the squad with 14 digs on the defensive side, while Kati Stammen finished with eight. “This group keeps gaining confidence as we progress through the season,” said Ginipro. “If we can sustain the level of play we showed tonight, very good things will happen.” The Mountaineers will return to the court on Saturday, Oct. 17 when they take on Sun Belt foe Georgia State. First serve from the Holmes Center is slated for 6:30 p.m.

Bobcats Fall in Tough Match at Baylor

Texas State found it tough sledding against Big 12 opponent Baylor on Friday night, falling 3-0 (25-18, 25-12, 25-19). With the loss, the Bobcats drop to 11-9 on the season, but will look to improve on its 6-1 Sun Belt Conference record in the team’s next match at UT Arlington at 6:30 p.m. Thursday night. Kelsey Weynand played a strong match, leading Texas State in kills with eight while Jordan Kohl contributed six more kills. At times, the Bobcats went to a 6-2 rotation that saw Erin Hoppe give out 15 assists and Emily Shelton finish with four more. Weynand led the team in digs with seven, but Brenna Lyles made her season debut in the third set and finished with six digs in the match. Both Ali Hubicsak and Hoppe added five assists apiece.

The Jaguars Bounce Back

South Alabama posted a 2-1 record this past week in its three Sun Belt matches, falling in five sets at Troy on Tuesday, but bouncing back with a four-set win over UL Lafayette on Friday and a straight-set win over UL Monroe on Saturday. With the wins over ULL and ULM, South Alabama has now won four-straight home matches and improved its record to 7-2 this season in Jag Gym. The win versus the Warhawks was also the 25th Sun Belt win for Jaguar head coach Amy Hendrichovsky, which places her just one win shy of tying the program’s mark in that category. Against Troy, junior middle blocker Nikki Gittens nearly recorded the first double-double of her career, finishing with 12 kills and nine block assists. Mechell Daniel registered her seventh double-double of the season against the Trojans with a match-high 17 kills to go along with 13 digs. Defensively, senior defensive specialist Emily Hundt recorded her third-straight 20-dig outing, ending the match with a then career-best 26 digs. Daniel followed that effort up with another double-double performance with 17 more kills and 10 digs to go along with a .340 attack percentage in a four-set win versus UL Lafayette. Daniel got off to an outstanding start in the match, recording nine of her 17 kills on 16 attacks and didn’t commit an attack error for a .562 hitting percentage in the opening set. Against, the Ragin’ Cajuns, Daniel also moved into sixth place on South Alabama’s career kills list, passing former Jag Holly Miller (1,038) who lettered at USA 2000-02. She has 1,066 for her career. Hundt had a career-best 30 digs versus UL Lafayette. The 30-dig performance by Hundt was the fifth-most digs by a Jag in a match since rally-era scoring started back in 2001 and marked the first time a South Alabama player has had 30 or more digs in a match since Abby Baker’s 34 versus Northwestern State last season. It was also the second-most digs in a four-set match at South Alabama. Savannah Stewart posted her ninth-career double-double against ULL, the first for the redshirt junior since her freshman season, as she ended the night with 11 kills and 12 digs to go along with a pair of aces. On Saturday, Daniel recorded a .424 hitting percentage with a match-high 15 kills on 33 attacks and just one error. Gittens was also outstanding offensively for the Jaguars in the victory as she had 10 kills on 16 attacks without an error for a season-best .625 hitting percentage. The match marked the second-straight and third overall that USA has held an opponent under a .100 hitting percentage. ULM finished with 29 kills, 23 errors and 107 attacks for a .056 hitting percentage. South Alabama just missed tying a season-high in that category as the Jaguars posted a .333 percentage (41-9-96) by .003.

Red Wolves Remain Unbeaten

The Arkansas State volleyball team won its 13th straight contest and improved to 10-0 on the road this season with a 3-0 (26-24, 25-19, 25-13) victory over Georgia Southern Saturday night at Hanner Fieldhouse in Statesboro, Ga.

The Red Wolves (17-1, 8-0 SBC) and Eagles (6-13, 1-6 SBC) went back-and-forth in set one with the score tied 15-15 after the first 30 points. Georgia Southern took an 18-17 lead and extended the advantage to 22-19 on a kill to force an A-State timeout. The visitors battled back to tie the set at 24-24 and scored two straight points on a block by Kariana Castanon-Hill and Darby Graff, followed by an Eagles’ attack error to take the set 26-24.

A-State raced out to a 14-10 edge in set two after a Kelsey Reis service ace to force a Georgia Southern timeout, but the home team fought back to within one at 18-17. The Red Wolves registered the next two points on kills by Castanon-Hill and Reis to go ahead 20-17 and caused the Eagles to use their last timeout. The stoppage in play didn’t slow down the Red Wolves as the team closed the set on a 5-2 run, capped by a Reis kill, for a 25-19 set win and 2-0 lead at intermission.

The third set was all Arkansas State as the Red Wolves started with a 15-8 lead that forced the Eagles to use their second timeout of the set. A-State worked its way to a 22-13 advantage and used a 3-0 run, featuring two Graff kills and a block by Reis and Graff, to clinch the set win 25-13 and 3-0 match victory.

“Georgia Southern is a really talented team and its record doesn’t reflect that,” A-State head volleyball coach David Rehr said. “They came out and had a great game plan against us and we were fortunate to survive the first set because they executed it really well. We played better in game two for the win, but finally played the way I expected us to play in set three. I’m really looking forward to coming home and playing in front of our fans next weekend.”

Graff led a balanced Red Wolves attack with 10 kills along with a team-best four blocks, while Castanon-Hill tailed a season-high nine kills on a team-best .444 hitting percentage. Drew Jones and Carlisa May each registered eight kills. Mallory Warrington handed out 35 assists to pace the offense and also added two service aces.

Reis registered a career-high five aces to lead the team and also contributed defensively with three blocks. Hannah Robey led the team with 12 digs, while Markie Schaedig added nine of her own.

A-State returns to action Friday, Oct. 16 for a home conference showdown against South Alabama. First serve from the Convocation Center is set for 6:00 p.m.