HCU travels to Louisiana for a pair of conference matchups, first facing Southeastern in Hammond on Thursday, followed by a trip to the Big Easy to face New Orleans on Saturday afternoon.
The Huskies take on the Lions at the University Center in an early showdown at the top of the SLC leaderboard. HCU is one of a trio of teams sitting a half-game behind the Lions at the top of the standings.
HCU (9-8, 4-1 SLC) is off to a solid start in conference play, tallying four sweeps against one loss during a daunting five-match in ten day stretch. The team is bolstered by a defense that continues to lead the Southland in multiple categories. HCU leads the league in team digs as well as digs per set, where the Huskies rank eighth in the NCAA at 17.31 per and boast the league leader in
Kaley Feris at 4.52 per. The Huskies also lead the SLC in opponent hitting percentage, allowing a mere .191% opponent hitting percentage per outing. That effort is led by
Audrey Pearce, whose 1.15 blocks per game is second best in the conference.
The offensive side is paced by
Grace McLaughlin, who ranks third in the SLC at 9.40 assists. Those helpers are finding a quartet of Huskies over two kills per game in
Sara Arroyo,
Cassidy Drapela, Pearce and
Anna Gadway.
Thursday will be a match of opposites, as SLU (14-4, 5-1 SLC) leads the conference in with a .268% hitting percentage as well as assists per set, averaging 12.63. Kailin Newsome paces the Lions, sitting second in the conference averaging 3.55 kills per set. Gracie Duplechein has dished out 350 assists on the year for a 9.21 average, while Ansley Tullis leads the SLU defense averaging 3.28 digs per set.
HCU and SLU split the regular season matchups last season, with each winning in a sweep on their home floor. The Lions upset the Huskies in four games in the 2022 SLC Championship. HCU is 11-4 against SLU since 2011 with their last win at University Center coming in a five-set thriller in 2021.
The Huskies will stay on the road facing New Orleans (3-13, 1-4 SLC) at the Human Performance Center in New Orleans on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Privateers are led by Karen Cordero Barr averaging 3.06 kills and 2.41 digs. Defne Eciroglu averages 4.17 assists while Vera Beltrame is averaging 3.71 assists in UNO's dual-setter offense. The Privateers back line is led by Lani Alleman, who averaged 2.45 digs.
Both matches will be available on ESPN+.
