MONROE, La. – There another exciting weekend ahead for ULM volleyball as they host Sun Belt East Division members, South Alabama on Friday (Oct. 5) and Troy on Saturday (Oct. 6).
The Warhawks will be hosting South Alabama for another Free-Food Friday where ULM students can indulge in free ice cream sandwiches during the match. Then on Sunday, the Warhawks will be honoring those who are currently fight, have survived, or lost their battle to breast cancer by wearing pink to bring awareness to Breast Cancer and promote research support. Fans are encouraged to wear pink to Saturday's match to show their support for the cause.
ULM (7-10, 0-4) is off to its best start in years, already surpassing the previous year's win record, now under first year head coach
Russ Friedland. The Warhawks have seen significant improvements and a drastic change in culture, despite their 0-4 start in conference play.
The Warhawks return to Monroe after a weekend in the Carolinas where they matched up against two gritty teams in Appalachian State and Coastal Carolina. ULM nearly stole set one from the Mountaineers, but would end up dropping the set 27-25. The Warhawks were unable to recover and fell to App State 3-0. ULM saw the same fate on Sunday against Coastal Carolina.
At the top of the stat sheet for ULM is redshirt-junior
Catherine Griffith. The all-around threat has been the most consistent attacker for the Warhawks. Griffith ranks second among the Warhawks with 54 blocks, she stands just behind senior
Taylor Wood (77) in the category.
Overall, South Alabama is equal with ULM, with a 7-10 record. The Jaguars though, have snagged a single conference win, giving them the league advantage over the Warhawks. South Alabama's win came against Georgia State in a 3-0 sweep.
Junior Jaguar Kelley Hartman is currently sixth in the conference in attack percentage, recording 189 kills in 394 attacks to tally a .330 percentage. Kelley's sister, Lauren Hartman, led South Alabama in its 3-1 win against ULM back in 2017.
The Warhawks have one huge advantage over both weekend opponents, and that's in the blocking department. ULM's 2.36 blocks per set ranks them third among Sun Belt teams, just behind Little Rock and Georgia Southern. South Alabama is ninth in the conference (1.89/s) while Troy sits just below them, with 1.84 blocks per set.
Where Troy flourishes is right off the serve, with 103 service aces, the Trojans average 1.54 service ace per set, a top-two stat in the Sun Belt.
Troy (6-11, 0-4) is also looking for its first conference win as well this weekend. Troy has faced Arkansas State, Little Rock, Georgia State, and Georgia Southern so far, taking both Little Rock and Georgia State to five sets.
Troy leans on Amara Anderson for its setting needs, as the 6'0" freshman setter is second in the Sun Belt in assists (712), averaging 10.63 per set. At the net, Anderson works hand-in-hand with Cheyenne Hayes, who leads the Trojans with 240 kills (3.58 per set).
Friday's match against South Alabama will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Fant-Ewing Coliseum and Saturday's match against Troy will begin at 6:30 p.m. as well. Admission to all home matches is free of charge. Links to live stats and video for this weekends' matches are available at ULMWarhawks.com. Follow the Warhawks on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @ULM_VB to stay up to date on team happenings, schedule changes, live in-game updates, and much more.
