PREVIEW: Women's Volleyball faces first SAC test at Wingate

WINGATE, N.C. – The Catawba College women's volleyball team opens South Atlantic Conference play Tuesday night on the road against the Wingate Bulldogs.

Last Time Out

- Catawba came up empty in the win column with its trip to Tennessee for the Union University Classic, but multiple players recorded career-best performances in the three-match weekend

- Sofia Beard mashed six kills on 17 swings, hitting .235, with a pair of aces against Ouachita Baptist

- Katrina Misra dropped in three service aces during a 13-kill outing vs. Arkansas-Monticello

- To mark her first career double-double, Sydney McCutcheon chipped in 38 assists with 17 digs in the five-setter against Southwest Baptist

We Dig That

- In the first match of Catawba's stay at the Union University Volleyball Classic against Southwest Baptist, four players recorded double-figure dig totals

- Riley Hill led the charge with 23 at her libero post, followed by McCutcheon's 17, Kary Hales' 16, and Rachel Gonzales' 14

- Gonzales also had an exemplary day on offense with 12 kills to record a double-double

Stat Leaders

- Kelcie Love maintains the team lead in kills at 51 for a per-set average of 2.55 that ranks 15th in the SAC

- McCutcheon tops squad standings with 132 assists as her 5.74 helpers per set mark is the conference's seventh-best

- The freshman setter also leads the way in hitting percentage (.339) while Beard's .306 is the team's best among hitters

- Katie Clark's eight blocks (three solo) pace the Catawba Indians at the net, followed by 

- Through six matches, Hill continues to lead in digs with 65, averaging 2.95 per set

Latest SAC Openers

- Catawba has not won its first South Atlantic Conference match since 2017 when the squad logged a 3-1 triumph at Mars Hill for its third consecutive SAC opener victory

- The Catawba Indians fell to 19th-ranked Wingate, 3-0, at Goodman Gym in last season's lidlifter after coming close in the 2018 opener when the Bulldogs escaped Salisbury with a 3-2 win

All-Time Series

- Wingate holds a 62-39 advantage over the Catawba Indians all-time

- The programs have more history against one another than any other school as the match marks the 102nd meeting of a series that dates back to 1971

- The Bulldogs have won the last 33 matchups, while Catawba's last victory came in 3-1 fashion on Nov. 22, 2008 in the SAC playoffs hosted by Wingate

- In the last 10 meetings, Wingate has surrendered just two sets to the blue and white, posting eight 3-0 sweeps

Scouting the Bulldogs

- Wingate brings a 7-1 record into the SAC opener with its lone blemish coming in a 3-2 loss to No. 21 West Florida

- Receiving 29 votes in the AVCA preseason poll and 30 after opening week, the Bulldogs obtained 35 nods per Monday's release

- The 'Dogs captured the SAC regular season crown in Lauren Tekavec's first campaign at the helm, reaching the regional semifinal match when they fell to Anderson in five sets

- Sydney Morland stands as one of the nation's top hitters, leading the SAC and ranking sixth in the nation with a .515 hitting percentage while totaling 79 kills

- Maya Van Heyst, the SAC Offensive Player of the Week in Week 1, has a whopping 14 service aces through eight matches with 175 assists, 112 digs, 61 kills, and nine blocks; she is one of just three players in Division II with three triple-doubles

- Maddie Hoffman was named the SAC Defensive Player of the Week Monday following her 84-dig weekend in the weekend trip to Florida

Follow Along

The match will be broadcast from Cuddy Arena on FloSports as live stats will be provided on WingateBulldogs.com.