LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University volleyball program will experience its first taste of conference action this upcoming weekend as it will travel to Prairie View for five SWAC matchups from Friday through Sunday.
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Alcorn is the best in the SWAC in terms of aces per set (1.24) and junior
Jasmine Chambers has been the sparkplug, topping the conference at 0.38 per set. Chambers also paces the club with 4.97 assists per set.
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Junior
Fiapaipai Iosia is the only other Lady Brave among the top-five SWAC rankings with 3.72 digs per set on the campaign.
The libero from Long Beach, California is now 42 digs away from being the program's all-time career leader, a title currently held by Donna Kelly with 1,031 from 2009-2012.
Sophomore
Simone Barren rounds out the top-10 conference performers for the purple and gold, averaging 0.69 blocks per set to place ninth among qualified candidates.
Freshman
Jéda Curry and junior
Daharri Thompkins have the best kills per set (2.17) and hitting percentage (.190), respectively.
"The team has been working exceptionally hard preparing for our conference play," said head coach
Melissa Robinson. "I'm excited for the team to compete this weekend and showcase all their hard work from the past few weeks."
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Scouting the Southern Jaguars (Friday, September 27 at 10 a.m.)
The Jaguars are still in search of their first win of the 2019 season, falling in its first 12 matchups.
SUBR has been solid in a plethora of categories as its top-five in the SWAC for aces per set (1.14), digs per set (12.88), opponents hitting percentage (.255) and total blocks (86.0) while leading the conference in blocks per set (2.05).
Preseason All-SWAC Second-Teamer Arabella Hall has lived up to the hype, sitting atop the conference with 0.95 blocks per set.
Alcorn and Southern have played 60 times with the Jaguars holding a 38-22 series lead. The two sides split the season series last year.
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Scouting the Prairie View A&M Panthers (Friday, September 27 at 7 p.m.)
Prairie View A&M navigated the nonconference slate with a 1-15 record with its win coming over Chicago State in the Maverick Invite.
Despite only one win to its credit so far, PVAMU leads the SWAC in seven different categories with top-50 national rankings for total assists (600), digs (852), kills (656) and attack attempts (2,135).
The Panthers had two representatives on the Preseason All-SWAC Second-Team in Victoria Pearson and Erica Jimenez but Skyla Childs has been the biggest standout, leading the conference and placing inside the nation's top-40 for total digs (233).
Alcorn and Prairie View A&M have played 35 times with the Panthers claiming a 26-9 series lead. PVAMU won both meetings in 2018.
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Scouting the Texas Southern Tigers (Saturday, September 28 at 12:30 p.m.)
Texas Southern has come away victorious in one of its first nine matchups, a five-set thriller over South Carolina State.
TSU has been in the upper-half of the conference in terms of aces per set (1.11), assists per set (8.57), digs per set (12.82), kills per set (9.46) and opponents hitting percentage (.260).
Breyanna York, a Preseason All-SWAC First-Teamer, paces the team with 5.45 assists per set and a .264 hitting percentage while Alexis Austin is the club's biggest offensive threat at 2.32 kills per set.
Alcorn and Texas Southern have battled 24 times with the Tigers clinging to a slim 14-10 advantage. The two squads split the season series last year.
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Scouting the Grambling State Tigers (Saturday, September 28 at 3 p.m.)
The Tigers are 0-9 against Division I opponents and 3-0 versus NAIA competition over 12 nonconference matches.
GSU is among the top-half of the league at 1.39 blocks per set with Linzy Woods the focal point with 23 blocks and a 1.0 block per set average.
The black and gold's top offensive player is Preseason All-SWAC Second Teamer Chasity Nicks (2.24 kills per set), the defense is fronted by Kabria Dame (3.17 digs per set) and the primary setter is Kalee Cadwell (3.35 assists per set).
Alcorn and Grambling have faced off 77 times with GSU owning the series at a 53-24 edge. The Lady Braves and Tigers split their meetings in 2018.
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Scouting the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions (Sunday, September 29 at 12:30 p.m.)
UAPB has yet to taste victory in twelve tries on the campaign and is a top-five team in the SWAC regarding their .110 hitting percentage.
The team leaders for the Golden Lions are Kaila Robinson (1.52 kills per set), Elyssa Kennedy (3.83 assists per set), Delilah Cardenas (2.54 digs per set) and Haley Gomez (0.74 blocks per set).
The Lady Braves have been fairly dominant over Arkansas-Pine Bluff in its history, winning 26 of its 39 matches with the Golden Lions. UAPB and Alcorn split last season's matches.
#FearTheBrave
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