Sun Belt Conference Weekly News and Notes (Week 2)
2016 Sun Belt Conference Composite Schedule
2016 Sun Belt Conference Standings
2016 Sun Belt Conference Statistics
2016 Sun Belt Conference Scoreboard

Warrington Earns Second Consecutive Honor; Volleyball Teams Post Successful Second Weekend
NEW ORLEANS - A pair of Arkansas State Red Wolves took home volleyball Players of the Week honors on Monday as the Sun Belt announced its weekly winners for volleyball.

Mallory Warrington took home her second consecutive Setter of the Week award while Kenzie Fields earned her first Freshman of the Week nod after the duo led the Red Wolves to a 2-1 weekend.

Additionally, Coastal Carolina's Annayka Legros was named the league's Offensive Player of the Week while Texas State's Lauren Kirch was tabbed as this week's Defensive Player of the Week.

Warrington continued her fast start to the 2016 season with a fantastic showing at the Marcia E. Hamilton Classic that saw her claim all-tournament honors for the event. She dished out 161 assists (12.38 per set) in 13 sets of action and also had three service aces along with 28 digs.

The Lake St. Louis, Mo., native dished out 49 assists in Friday’s win against Saint Louis before handing out 58 and 54, respectively, against Cal Poly and Western Kentucky with the 58 just one shy of her career high of 59. In the match against Cal Poly she had 16 digs to register her third double-double of the season along with three blocks and two aces.

Fields also had a great weekend at the Marcia E. Hamilton Classic, as she recorded 40 kills (3.08 per set) along with 27 digs (2.08 per set). The Bartlett, Tenn., native had nine kills in her first match against Saint Louis to go along with seven digs, four assists, and three blocks. She followed that performance up with a career-best 18 kills against Cal Poly along with 11 digs for her first career double-double. The outside hitter finished the weekend with 13 kills and nine digs against No. 19 Western Kentucky.

CCU's Legros was named an All-Tournament selection at the Notre Dame Shamrock Invitational as she led Coastal averaging 4.00 kills per set while hitting .604 overall. She hit over .600 against both Notre Dame and Howard, and over .400 against No. 24 Purdue. Legros added nine kills against the ranked Boilermakers, and reached double figure kills against both Notre Dame and Howard.

Kirch led Texas State with 19 blocks over four matches for an average of 1.36 b/s. She posted six blocks and nine kills in the four-set contest against Baylor. The senior followed with a six-kill, two-block performance against Stephen F. Austin. In a sweep of Kennesaw State, she posted nine kills with a .500 attack percentage and had six blocks.

The Carrollton, Texas native ended the week 13 kills on a .462 attack percentage and five rejections against Tulsa. Kirch finished the week with five digs and two assists as well.

All in all it was a successful second weekend for volleyball as the league nearly doubled its combined wins from the first weekend of action. Several teams hosted tournaments while others traveled for the second-straight weekend. More tournaments are in store for this weekend as teams get set for one of the last two weekends of non-conference action.

Recent Results

August 30 (Tuesday)
Troy 3, Southeastern La. 0
Northwestern State 3, UL Lafayette 2
Baylor 3, Texas State 1
North Texas 3, UT Arlington 2

August 31 (Wednesday)
Northwestern State 3, UL Monroe 1

September 1 (Thursday)
Georgia Southern 3, Jacksonville State 0
Georgia Southern 3, Charleston So. 1
Oklahoma 3, Little Rock 1

September 2 (Friday)
Georgia State 3, William & Mary 0
Texas State 3, Stephen F. Austin 1
Little Rock 3, Ark.-Pine Bluff 0
Georgia Southern 3, Savannah State 1
Troy 3, Southern U. 0
South Alabama 3, Southeastern La. 2
Mercer 3, Georgia State 0
UL Monroe 3, Alcorn 0
UL Monroe 3, Incarnate Word 0
UNCW 3, Appalachian State 0
Mississippi State 3, Little Rock 1
Coastal Carolina 3, Notre Dame 0
Georgia Southern 3, Citadel 2
Air Force 3, UL Lafayette 2
South Alabama 3, FIU 0
Ole Miss 3, UT Arlington 1
Arkansas State 3, Saint Louis 1
Texas State 3, Kennesaw State 0
Valparaiso 3, Troy 1

September 3 (Saturday)
No. 24 Purdue 3, Coastal Carolina 0
New Mexico State 3, Troy 0
Arkansas State 3, Cal Poly 2
UL Lafayette 3, Alabama A&M 0
North Carolina State 3, UT Arlington 1
Wofford 3, Appalachian State 2
South Alabama 3, Florida A&M 1
Belmont 3, Georgia State 0
Oral Roberts 3, UL Monroe 0
Tulsa 3, Texas State 1
Nicholls State 3, UL Lafayette 1
Coastal Carolina 3, Howard 0
No. 19 Western Ky. 3, Arkansas State 1
Little Rock 3, UT Martin 0
UT Arlington 3, McNeese State 1
Ohio 3, Appalachian State 0
UL Monroe 3, Central Ark. 2

Upcoming Schedule

September 5 (Monday)
Georgia Southern at Winthrop - 5:00 PM

September 6 (Tuesday)
Appalachian State at Western Carolina - 5:00 PM
Southern Mississippi at South Alabama - 6:00 PM
Arkansas State at Ole Miss - 6:00 PM
McNeese State at UL Lafayette - 6:30 PM
UL Monroe at Stephen F. Austin - 6:30 PM
UT Arlington at Abilene Christian - 6:30 PM
Sam Houston State at Texas State - 6:30 PM

September 8 (Thursday)
(25) Georgia Tech at Georgia State - 11:30 AM
(25) Georgia at Georgia State - 4:00 PM
(26) Little Rock vs. Florida A&M - 5:00 PM
(27) Central Arkansas at Arkansas State - 6:00 PM

September 9 (Friday)
(28) South Alabama vs. Marist - 9:00 AM
(29) Appalachian State at Morehead State - 10:00 AM
(30) UL Monroe vs. Houston Baptist - 10:00 AM
(26) Little Rock vs. Baylor - 10:30 AM
(31) Buffalo at Georgia Southern - 11:00 AM
(32) Texas State vs. CSU Bakersfield - 12:00 PM
(33) Troy vs. Chicago State - 12:00 PM
(34) UL Lafayette at North Texas - 12:30 PM
(25) Kennesaw State at Georgia State - 2:00 PM
(29) Appalachian State vs. Northern Kentucky - 3:30 PM
(30) UL Monroe vs. San Jose State - 4:30 PM
(34) UL Lafayette vs. UNCW - 5:00 PM
(28) South Alabama at Florida Gulf Coast - 5:00 PM
(35) UT Arlington vs. UNLV - 5:00 PM
(32) Texas State vs. Utah - 5:00 PM
(33) Troy vs. Grambling State - 5:00 PM
(26) Little Rock at Florida State - 6:00 PM
(27) UT Martin at Arkansas State - 6:00 PM
(36) Coastal Carolina at Pittsburgh - 6:00 PM
(31) Wake Forest at Georgia Southern - 6:00 PM

September 10 (Saturday)
(36) Coastal Carolina vs. Michigan - 9:00 AM
(34) UL Lafayette vs. Indiana State - 9:00 AM
(33) Troy vs. Savannah State - 9:30 AM
(35) UT Arlington vs. UNLV - 10:00 AM
(29) Appalachian State vs. Ball State - 10:30 AM
(28) South Alabama vs. Indiana - 12:00 PM
(32) Texas State at Portland - 12:00 PM
(30) UL Monroe at Houston - 12:30 PM
(27) Tulsa at Arkansas State - 1:00 PM
(35) UT Arlington at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi - 2:00 PM
(33) Troy at Alabama State - 2:30 PM
(36) Coastal Carolina vs. American - 3:30 PM
(31) South Carolina at Georgia Southern - 5:00 PM

Tournament Legend:
25 - Georgia Challenge (Atlanta, Ga.)
26 - Home2 Suites by Hilton (Tallahassee, Fla.)
27 - A-State Invitational (Jonesboro, Ark.)
28 - FGCU Homewood Suites Classic (Fort Myers, Fla.)
29 - Morehead State Tournament (Morehead, Ky.)
30 - Houston Invitational (Houston, Texas)
31 - SpringHill Suites Invitational (Statesboro, Ga.)
32 - North Harbour Marriott Challenge (Portland, Ore.)
33 - Alabama State Tournament (Montgomery, Ala.)
34 - North Texas Invitational (Denton, Texas)
35 - Islanders Classic (Corpus Christi, Texas)
36 - Pittsburgh Invitational (Pittsburgh, Pa.)

* - Denotes Conference Match | All times central

WEEK 2 SUN BELT CONFERENCE OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Annayka Legros
Coastal Carolina | SR | OH
Annayka Legros was named an All-Tournament selection at the Notre Dame Shamrock Invitational. Led Coastal averaging 4.00 kills per set while hitting .604 overall. Hit over .600 against both Notre Dame and Howard, and over .400 against No. 24 Purdue. Also added nine kills against the ranked Boilermakers, and reached double figure kills against both Notre Dame and Howard.

WEEK 2 SUN BELT CONFERENCE DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Lauren Kirch
Texas State | SR | MB
Lauren Kirch led Texas State with 19 blocks over four matches for an average of 1.36 b/s. She posted six blocks and nine kills in the four-set contest against Baylor. The senior followed with a six-kill, two-block performance against Stephen F. Austin. In a sweep of Kennesaw State, she posted nine kills with a .500 attack percentage and had six blocks. The Carrollton, Texas native ended the week 13 kills on a .462 attack percentage and five rejections against Tulsa. Kirch finished the week with five digs and two assists as well.

WEEK 2 SUN BELT CONFERENCE SETTER OF THE WEEK

Mallory Warrington
Arkansas State | SR | S
Senior setter Mallory Warrington continued her fast start to the 2015 season with a fantastic showing at the Marcia E. Hamilton Classic that saw her claim all-tournament honors for the event. She dished out 161 assists (12.38 per set) in 13 sets of action and also had three service aces along with 28 digs. The Lake St. Louis, Mo., native dished out 49 assists in Friday’s win against Saint Louis before handing out 58 and 54, respectively, against Cal Poly and Western Kentucky with the 58 just one shy of her career high of 59. In the match against Cal Poly she had 16 digs to register her third double-double of the season along with three blocks and two aces.

WEEK 2 SUN BELT CONFERENCE FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK

Kenzie Fields
Arkansas State | FR | OH
Redshirt freshman Kenzie Fields had a great weekend at the Marcia E. Hamilton Classic in St. Louis, Mo., as she recorded 40 kills (3.08 per set) along with 27 digs (2.08 per set). The Bartlett, Tenn., native had nine kills in her first match against Saint Louis to go along with seven digs, four assists, and three blocks. She followed that performance up with a career-best 18 kills against Cal Poly along with 11 digs for her first career double-double. The outside hitter finished the weekend with 13 kills and nine digs against No. 19 Western Kentucky.

PREVIOUS PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
08.29 - Offensive: Emma Longley, Applachian State | Defensive: Markie Schaedig, Arkansas State
08.29 - Setter: Mallory Warrington, Arkansas State | Freshman: Emma Longley, Applachian State
09.04 - Offensive: Annayka Legros, Coastal Carolina | Defensive: Lauren Kirch, Texas State
09.04 - Setter: Mallory Warrington, Arkansas State | Freshman: Kenzie Fields, Arkansas State

AROUND THE SUN BELT CONFERENCE

Dillard Moving up LR Charts
Carolee Dillard kept up her strong defensive play as the redshirt senior tallied 17 total blocks at a rate of 1.21 per set in the Trojans’ four matches this weekend. Dillard now sits at 469 total blocks for her career, 95 away from the program’s all-time record of 564.

Little Rock Hosts Tournament
The Little Rock Trojans hosted its first-ever tournament in the Jack Stephens Center over the weekend (Sept. 1-3) as the Trojans faced off against Oklahoma, UAPB, Mississippi State and UT Martin.

Warhawks Go 3-1 at UCA Invite
The UL Monroe Warhawks went 3-1 in a weekend tournament at UCA defeating Alcorn State and Incarnate Word on Friday, Sept. 2. The Warhawks then split Saturday’s matches, falling to Oral Roberts before defeating tournament host, UCA, in the finale.

Chants Hot Start
The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers began the 2016 campaign with a 4-0 start for the second consecutive season and just the fourth 4-0 start in program history. The streak was snapped against No. 24 Purdue as the Chants fell 3-0 before sweeping Howard to close out the Shamrock Invite on Saturday, Sept. 3.

Bobcats Set Attendance Record
The Texas State volleyball team set a new attendance record of 3,634 in a 3-1 loss to Baylor on August 30. The previous attendance mark was set during the 2014 season, also against the Bears.

New Year, New Changes
With the addition of Coastal Carolina the Sun Belt now has 12 teams in women’s volleyball and will compete in divisional play for the 2016 season. This is the first time since the 2012 season the Sun Belt will compete in divisional play. Teams will play 16 conference games with the East division comprising of Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, South Alabama and Troy. The West division will comprise of Arkansas State, Little Rock, UL Lafayette, UL Monroe, UT Arlington and Texas State.

Championship Seeding
The 2016 Sun Belt Volleyball Championship will take place from Friday, Nov. 18 through Sunday, Nov. 18 at the College Park Center on the campus of UT Arlington. The top team in each division will be the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds. The top four in each division will earn berths to the tournament, however, seeds 3-8 will be determined based on overall conference winning percentage, regardless of the teams’ division.

Freshman Earns Two Honors in Week 1
Appalachian State’s Emma Longley picked up two awards this week after her debut as a Mountaineer this past weekend. Longley, a freshman from Raleigh, N.C., started her career with a tremendous debut with 30 kills in a five-set loss to Virginia Tech. Longley’s 30 kills were the most by a Mountaineer since the 2011 season. She tallied 53 kills and averaged 4.81 kills per set and was a large part of the Mountaineers’ 2-1 weekend at the Virginia Tech Invitational. Longley hit a season-high .524 in a sweep of Norfolk State on Saturday.

Pair of Red Wolves Earn accolades
Arkansas State seniors, Markie Schaedig and Mallory Warrington, picked up right where they left off last season as the duo earned this week’s Defensive Player of the Week honors and Setter of the Week honors following their performances over the weekend.

Schaedig registered a solid start to the 2016 season with 60 digs for a 5.45 per set average over A-State’s three opening-weekend matches. She recorded 19 digs in each of the Red Wolves’ 3-0 wins over Northwestern State and North Carolina State before adding 22 more in the team’s final match of the TCU Invitational against TCU.

Warrington had a fantastic weekend leading the A-State offense as the team hit .241 across the three matches. She dished out 127 assists (11.55 per set) and also picked up double-doubles with double-digit digs against Northwestern State and TCU. She handed out 37 assists against both Northwestern State and North Carolina State before recording 53 against TCU.

Chants Sweep Opening Tournament
Coastal Carolina swept its way through the Miami/FIU Invitational this past weekend defeating all three opponents face by a score of 3-0. It is the second straight year during the Jozsef Forman era that the Chanticleers (3-0) are crowned champions of their season-opening tournament. The Chants return to action this weekend for the Notre Dame Invitational.

A First for the LR Program
When Little Rock takes the floor on Friday, it will be the first time the program has ever fielded a roster with more than 12 players. The Trojans will tout a roster of 13 this season, the largest in program history. With eight returners from 2015, three transfers and two freshmen joined this season’s squad.

Returning Stats for Trojans
With the majority of last year’s roster returning, the Trojans hope to build off last season’s numbers. Out of 1,224 kills last season, 94 percent of them are returning this year. On the defensive side, Little Rock recorded 459 total blocks last season with 424 of those (92 percent) coming from returning players.

Mountaineer Frosh Tallies 30 Kills in Debut
The Mountaineers (0-1) were led by freshman Emma Longley who recorded 30 kills and 13 digs in her freshman debut. Longley’s 30 kills are the most by a Mountaineer since former student-athlete and assistant coach Anna Wagner recorded 31 on Aug. 26, 2011 against NC State.

Red Wolves Look to Continue Success
The Red Wolves went 28-2 a season ago with a winning percentage of .933. That winning percentage is the second best in school history behind the 1988 team that went 41-1 that had a mark of .976. The NCAA Tournament appearance in 2015 was the fifth in school history and first since 1999.

Receiving AVCA Votes
A-State received votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Preseason Poll with 23 points that would rank them 34th. A-State’s third opponent of the weekend, TCU, is also receiving votes with three points.

LR’s Dillard Fifth in Total Blocks
Dillard leads the SBC in active leaders for blocks with 452. She currently stands fifth overall in the NCAA behind BYU’s Whitney Young Howard.

Two in Top Ten in Digs
Georgia Southern’s Alex Beecher and Arkansas State’s Schaedig are ranked fourth and seventh, respectively, on the career active leaders for digs in the NCAA. Beecher has 1,789 digs in 357 sets played while Schaedig has 1,604 in 349 sets.

All-Time Wins for Texas State’s Chisum
Head Coach Karen Chisum began her 37th season in 2016 and ranks sixth among NCAA Division I active coaches with 821 career victories. Only nine other NCAA coaches in all three NCAA Divisions have recorded 800 wins. Chisum enters the 2016 campaign with an 821-521-3 career record. TXST was picked to finish second in the West division.