LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University volleyball program will finally play in front of the home crowd on Tuesday as it will welcome Wiley College to The Reservation at 6 p.m. The Lady Braves had seven neutral-site and seven road matches before playing at the Davey Whitney Complex.
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The Lady Braves (3-11, 1-4 SWAC) are coming off its first five conference matchups of the campaign, taking one of five with its win coming against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Sunday.
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Junior
Fiapaipai Iosia cemented herself atop the program's all-time career digs leader board on Saturday as she usurped Donna Kelly with her 1,032nd dig against Grambling.
Iosia is currently second in the SWAC with 3.81 digs per set and has 1,065 heading into the contest through her first 86 matches.
Junior
Jasmine Chambers continues to thrive as the team's primary setter as she trails only Alabama A&M's Megan Evans in the conference with 6.13 assists per set for the purple and gold. Chambers also paces the squad with 14 service aces so far.
Senior
Singryd Valadares has come on strong as of late, storming onto the SWAC leaderboards for both hitting percentage (.226) and kills per set (2.31) as she has slowly acclimated herself back to elite form after suffering an injury last season after only two games.
Sophomore
Sydney Joseph has continued her steady climb as an offensive force this season, topping the Lady Braves with 93 kills for a 2.02 average.
Sophomore
Simone Barren is enjoying a breakout campaign on the defensive side of the net, swatting 30 blocks to lead the team including a career-best nine in the win over UAPB.
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Scouting the Wiley Wildcats (9-3, 5-1 RRAC)
Wiley College is a NAIA Division I program that resides in the Red River Athletic Conference.
Wiley won the RRAC in 2018 and look well on their way to repeating as they currently sport a 5-1 conference record to complement a 9-3 overall record.
The Wildcats have been proficient as a unit, ranking inside the top-50 for assists per set (11.8), hitting percentage (.209) and kills per set (12.4).
WC is led offensively by sophomore Khrystyna Frank who was named an AVA All-Region Honorable Mention in 2018 while picking up Freshman of the Year honors and a RRAC First-Team selection. Frank has won two Red River Attacker of the Week award already this year while placing top-15 in kills per set (10.4) and top-50 in hitting percentage (.313).
The purple and black also have a top notch setter in two-time All-RRAC First-Teamer Alexia Souza. Souza ranks 12th in the NAIA with 10.4 assists per set with 406 total through 12 matches.
Tiyanna Johnson concludes the Wildcats among the national leaders, ranking top-25 in NAIA Division I for blocks per set (1.1).
Alcorn and Wiley College have met twice before with the Wildcats winning both previous matches. The last meeting was held in Lorman on August 28 of last year when Wiley College won in straight sets.
Tuesday's match will be streamed live from the
Alcorn State Sports YouTube channel.
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#FearTheBrave
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