ASU Volleyball hosts Troy and South Alabama this weekend - KAIT-Jonesboro, AR-News, weather, sports

SERVING IT UP: The Arkansas State Red Wolves will host a pair of home games against Troy and South Alabama this weekend. The Red Wolves will host the Trojans on Friday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. in the HPESS Facility, followed by a 1 p.m. contest on Sunday, Oct. 7 against South Alabama at the Convocation Center.

THE TROY SERIES: ASU leads the all-time series between the schools 22-20, including a 3-0 sweep over the Redhawks last season in Jonesboro. ASU is a perfect 8-0 against Troy since the series began in 1999.

THE SOUTH ALBAMA SERIES: ASU holds a 21-4 edge over South Alabama since the series began in 1982. The Red Wolves have also won five out of the last six matches against the Jaguars.

JAZZ IT UP: After tying her previous career-high of 18 kills against North Texas, senior Jasmine Terry broke new ground with a career-high 24 kills against Southeast Missouri State. She also had a career-best 56 attacking attempts in the match.

ASSIST ME: Allison Kearney moved into a tie for fifth-place on the all-time ASU career assists list with 2,817 for her career over the weekend. Susan Buttry finished her career with 2,817 assists as well.

HOME SWEET HOME: Starting Sept. 28, ASU played in Jonesboro for the first time since Aug. 28 when the Red Wolves defeated Memphis 3-0. A-State had played 13 straight road or neutral site matches since defeating the Tigers. ASU is currently in the midst of playing four of its next five games in Jonesboro. The homestand will conclude this weekend.

IT'S JUST A COUGH: Taylor Coughlin had a career-high 17 digs against Southeast Missouri State.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Senior setter Allison Kearney recorded her team-leading 10th double-double of the season against SEMO. She finished the match with 56 assists and 18 digs.


DOMINATING THE COMPETITION: ASU continued its dominance over the Warhawks with a sweep on Sunday. The Red Wolves have lost just three sets to ULM since 2005 and have not lost a set since 2007.

MOVING UP: Megan Baska continues to steadily make her away up the all-time ASU career digs list. She has 1,346 digs for her career and is currently in fourth-place on the All-time list at ASU.

MILESTONES: Senior Jasmine Terry surpassed 800 career kills against ULM with 18 against ULM. She has 811 for her career and leads A-State with 230 kills so far this season.

MORE MILESTONES: Senior Taylor Coughlin hit the 500 career-dig mark on Sept. 30.

FIRST WIN: First-year head coach David Rehr won his first career Sun Belt Conference game with a 3-1 victory over Florida Atlantic on Sept. 21.

MY MARIE: Sophomore Marie Hadar set a new career-high with nine kills against Florida Atlantic.

MAKING A NAME: Junior Kelsey Sullivan had a season-high seven digs against Florida-Atlantic and also recorded her first solo block of the season against the Owls.

WHERE THEY RANK: Senior setter Allison Kearney ranks 43rd in the nation with 10.84 assists per set. Kelsie Hodges is 51st in the nation with a .362 attacking percentage on the year, which also ranks second in the conference for all players.

TEAM RANKINGS: As a team, ASU ranks 43rd in the nation with 13.94 kills per set and 49th with 12.96 kills per set.

NEW HEIGHTS: Senior Kelsie Hodges set a career-high with 16 kills against McNeese State. She also had a career-high .560 hitting percentage in the match. That hitting percentage is also the highest of any A-State player this season.

MAKING AN IMPACT: Junior Kelsey Sullivan had a career-high 19 kills against Northern Iowa, which is also the most of any ASU player this season. She also added a career-high four blocks against Long Beach State and Bradley.

CAREER WEEKEND: Sophomore outside hitter Marie Hadar enjoyed one the best weekends of her career at the CEFCU Classic. Hadar had season-high in kills and career-highs in attacks and blocks. She had eight kills against Long Beach State, 16 attacks against Long Beach State and Northern Iowa and seven blocks against Bradley, which is the most of any ASU player this season.

SENIOR LEADING  THE WAY: Kelsie Hodges' .476 attacking percentage against Bradley was the second-highest of any ASU player this season.

TEAM HIGH: ASU had a team-high 83 digs against Northern Iowa and team-high 11 blocks against Bradley.

ATTACKING THE COMPETITION: As a team, the Red Wolves recorded their three highest team attacking percentages on the year at McNeese State Big Daddy Invitational. The team's .333 percentage against Bethune-Cookman has been the highest so far this season, while the .330 percentage against McNeese ranks second. The .311 percentage against Hampton ranks as the third highest.

FIRST VICTORY: Head Coach David Rehr collected his first victory as a Division I head coach with the win over Rice Aug. 25.

KILL IT: Jasmine Terry tied her career high for digs with 18 against Rice. She previously had 18 digs against Troy in 2010 as a sophomore.

DIG IT: Taylor Szypulski set a new career-high with 16 digs against Rice.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: Kelsie Hodges and Megan Baska were each named to the Rice Invitational All-Tournament team.
Allison Kearney and Kelsie Hodges were selected to the All-Tournament at the McNeese State Big Daddy Invitational.
Junior Kelsey Sullivan earned All-Tournament honoro as the CEFCU Classic.

DOUBLE-DOUBLES: Allison Kearney picked up three more double-doubles over the weekend to give her seven on the year. She had 39 assits and 12 digs against Long Beach State, 45 assists and 20 digs against Northern Iowa and 46 assists and 12 digs against Bradley.

NEW FACES: ASU welcomed three new faces to the 2012 squad. Freshmen Hannah McRee and Haley Townsend join the squad after enjoying solid prep careers. Kelsey Sullivan joined the team after transferring from Pittsburg State and will have two years of eligibilty remaining.

THE REHR FILE: David Rehr was named the seventh head coach in ASU volleyball history after serving as the head volleyball coach at Blinn College the previous nine years. During his time at Blinn he led the Buccaneers to two NJCAA National Championships (2008 and 2011), was a two-time NJCAA National Tournament Coach of the Year, a three-time AVCA Southwest Region Coach of the Year and a nine-time NJCAA District Coach of the Year.

LOOKING AHEAD: As another volleyball season approaches, the excitement surrounding the Arkansas State Red Wolves volleyball program continues to build. There have been of changes over the last year that have raised the level of excitement around the program.
The Red Wolves enjoyed a successful 2011 campaign that saw them finish the season with a 20-11 record and 12-4 record in conference play which earned the squad a third straight Sun Belt Conference Western Division Crown and their first Western Division crown outright since 1998.
Building on the momentum from three straight winnings seasons, Director of Athletis Dr. Dean Lee announced Jan. 11 that David Rehr had been selected as the seventh head coach in school in school history, giving the coach his first Division-I head coaching job after enjoying a successful stint at the junior college level. Rehr came to Arkansas State after serving as the head coach at Blinn College the previous nine years. During his time at Blinn he led the Buccaneers to two NJCAA National Championships (2008 and 2011), was a two-time NJCAA National Tournament Coach of the Year, a three-time AVCA Southwest Region Coach of the Year and a nine-time NJCAA District Coach of the Year.
Rehr worked quickly to establish his first coaching staff, and hired Jessicca Weynand to serve as assistant coach. Weynand previously worked with Rehr at Blinn College where she helped lead the team to the 2011 NJCAA National Championship with a perfect 38-0 record that ended with four-set victory over Western Wyoming in the championship match. Rehr also added assistant coach Jeremy Thornburg in August to serve as the team's travel coordinator, video coordinator and assistant in the day-to-day operations of the volleyball program.
Upon being named head coach, Rehr immediatly began working on his first recruiting class that included a junior college transfer from Pittsburg State and an incoming freshman. The pair will have large task to fill the void left by Cayla Fielder, who was one of the most successful players in A-State volleyball history.
With a strong recruiting class a talented group of returning players the excitement for the 2012 season is high. The Red Wolves return 12 lettermen, including five starters and its libero. Among the returning players are All-SBC second team selections Allison Kearney and Ashley Tipps. Kearney, a senior, is among the best setters in the SBC and ranks eighth on the all-time ASU career assists lists. Tipps enjoyed a career season finishing with career bests in kills, hitting percentage, matches played and a career low in hitting errors.
Senior Jasmine Terry will anchor the front line attack for A-State. In 2011 she was second on the team with 314 kills and a .255 hitting percentage. Junior Shelby Crncic also returns and was among the team's best servers, while seniors Kelsie Hodges, Taylor Coughlin and Amanda Chaparro will provide leadership and will see increased time in 2012.
Libero Megan Baska will anchor the defense after another strong year. She is 11th on ASU's all-time career digs list and had a career-high 40 digs against Alabama-Birmingham which was the third most in the rally scoring era in Sun Belt Conference history.

LAST TIME OUT: CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (10/2/12) – The Arkansas State volleyball team won a thrilling 25-19, 15-25, 25-21, 22-25, 15-7 match over Southeast Missouri State in a non-conference road match on Tuesday night.

Four Red Wolves (12-8) finished with double-digit kill totals, including senior Jasmine Terry who had a career-high 24 kills. She also had a career-high 56 attacking attempts and finished the night with a .296 attacking percentage.

Fellow senior Kelsie Hodges added 12 kills, while Sadie Clark had 11 kills and Marie Hadar finished with 10 to pace the Red Wolves.

ASU held a one set advantage after the first three sets, but fell behind 17-10 in the fourth set. The Red Wolves rallied to pull within 21-20 and forced the Redhawks (12-7) to take a timeout. SEMO eventually prevailed with a 25-22 victory in the set, but A-State regained the momentum heading into the decisive fifth set.

"I was really proud of the fact we were able to fight our way back into that set," ASU volleyball coach David Rehr said. "Even though we lost the set, rallying from that many down really gave us a lot of momentum heading into the fifth set and I think that really carried us."

In the final set ASU jumped out to 9-3 thanks behind a strong effort from Terry. The senior accounted for six of A-State's 15 points in the set. The Red Wolves were also 7-of-8 on sideout opportunities in the game and finished the night by converting on 51 percent of their sideout chances.

Terry helped ASU win the first set 25-19 by collecting seven kills in the frame and leading the team to a .500 attacking percentage. SEMO responded by winning the second set 25-15, but A-State came out strong after the break to win the third set 25-21. Clark, Terry and Hodges combined for 13 kills in the set to give ASU an opportunity to win the match in four sets, but the Redhawks fought off an ASU rally in the fourth set to force a final game.

"Anytime you win a five-set match you are going to feel good about it," Rehr said. "This just gives us tons of confidence the rest of the way. SEMO is undefeated in their conference this season and beating a team like that in five sets and on the road will give us all kinds of momentum moving forward."

A-State also put forth a strong effort on the defensive end with five players finishing with double-digit digs totals. Taylor Coughlin set a career-high with 17 digs on the night, while Haley Townsend had a season-high 12. Megan Baska led the team with 21 digs, while Shelby Crncic had 10.

Allison Kearney recorded her team-leading 10th double-double of the season with 56 assists and 18 digs.