LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University volleyball program will look to send its two graduating seniors out with a pair of wins over the next two days as it faces Jackson State and Mississippi Valley.
The Lady Braves (1-5, 1-5 SWAC) will honor seniors Jasmine Chambers and Mae Lewis, who will be taking the court in front of the Lorman faithful one last time.
Chambers currently resides in seventh place on Alcorn's career assists list with 1,205 over her four year stint. She was a Preseason All-SWAC Second Team selection this season, is a three-time SWAC Setter of the Week and her 2019 campaign was something special as she had the 9th-highest assist total in a single season (543) plus the tenth-best assists per set average (5.84) in Lady Braves history.
Lewis won Alcorn's Most Improved Player Award following the 2018 season and has racked up 321 points, 293 kills, 150 digs, 19 service aces, 16 blocks and 12 assists during her time on "The Reservation".
Alcorn State is among the nation's 40-best serving teams, averaging 1.7 aces per set to rank third in the conference.
Mikenzie Young-Mullins is the top server on the squad as far as statistics are concerned, averaging 0.40 service aces per set to place sixth in the SWAC and has seen eight aces hit the floor over 20 sets.
Young-Mullins is also the club's best attacker, fronting the Purple and Gold with 51 kills (2.55 per set).
Scouting the Jackson State Lady Tigers (7-0, 7-0 SWAC)
The Blue Bengals from the capital city have been steamrolling the Southwestern Athletic Conference all year, sweeping four opponents with only one match (at Southern) going the distance.
JSU ranks top-five in the country for two different categories; aces per set (2.40) and opponents hitting percentage (0.093).
The only teams in the NCAA better at serving up aces are La Salle and Central Connecticut State while surprisingly the Lady Tigers aren't even the top team in the conference for hitting percentage allowed, as that title goes to UAPB at 0.085.
Jackson State has two women in the top-50 for service aces per set in Alexis Williams (0.56) and Jylen Whitten (0.48). Williams leads the SWAC to go along with placing second in points per set (4.22) as well and Whitten is not too far behind her teammate in the ace department at third place.
Marina Bianchi Brito is the third-rated attack blocker in the league, trailing only Haley Gomez and Xaria Taylor with an average of 1.04 per match.
The Lady Braves and Lady Tigers have been pretty evenly matched since the two programs first played as JSU holds a slim 34-32 advantage all-time against Alcorn.
Â
Scouting the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devilettes (0-4, 0-4 SWAC)
Valley has yet to win a set on the season, getting swept by Alcorn, Southern, Prairie View A&M and Jackson State so far.
Four players in green and red have double-figure kills; Tylia Dixon (17), Chardea Berthelot (13), Victoria Mallard (12) and Destini Banks (10).
Dixon is a rarity in collegiate volleyball as she is the team leader for both kills and digs (24) plus second in blocks (4).
Ariana Austin is the primary setter with an average of 4.33 assists per set and 39 on the campaign.
Alcorn has won 57.8% of all matchups against Mississippi Valley State (48-35), one of the two SWAC opponents that the Lady Braves have a winning record against with Arkansas-Pine Bluff (27-14) being the other.
#FearTheBrave
