CEDAR CITY, Utah - Nov. 3 - Southern Utah women’s volleyball will wrap up its home slate this weekend when the Thunderbirds host Oral Roberts and Centenary College.  The games will be final home games for SUU this year as the T-Birds will close out the 2009 regular season on the road next weekend.

“Oral Roberts is a good team and they play very smart,” head coach Debby Baker said of Thursday night’s opponent.  “We struggled with digs on the road when we face them earlier this year, but we’ve improved since then.

“I’m excited to play both of these teams at home,” she continued.  “Even though Centenary hasn’t won a game in conference, they been able to play teams very close and they are not a team to overlook.”

Southern Utah will enter the games with a 6-18 record and will look to snap a four-game losing streak.  SUU’s Analaine Pelaez is the key to the Thunderbird attack as the freshman is leading the league in kills and kills per set this year.  Teammate Kylie Yardley is also in the top ten of the conference, ranking No. 9 in service aces per set.

Jazmine Ma’afala is second on the team with 256 kills this year while Brittney Clark leads the 818 assists.  Courtney Lelepali leads the team in two categories with 24 service aces this season and 346 digs.

Saturday night’s contest will also feature the first volleyball letter winner reunion with a light luncheon planned in the women’s volleyball locker room at Noon.  All former SUU volleyball players are encouraged to attend.  For more information on the reunion please contact, Kit Janes at 435-865-8252.  Both games are scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m.

Scouting Oral Roberts

Oral Roberts will enter the game on Thursday night with an overall record of 10-12 and 6-7 mark in conference.  The Golden Eagles split their most recent results after capturing a victory over Western Illinois, but a loss at home to IUPUI.

Serena Cate and Joana Gruber lead the ORU attack with 231 and 209 kills, respectively.  Cate leads the team with 709 total attempts.  Juliane Vieira has been the center of the ORU offense, gathering 865 assists this year.

Defensively, Vieira and Olivia Ophus are tops on the team with 220 and 202 digs, respectively.  Jocelyn Swier and Brittney Rush lead the team with 45 and 43 blocks, respectively.

Sheera Sirola is in her fifth year as head coach of the Golden Eagles after having played at ORU as a student-athlete from 1994-95.  Prior to serving as the head coach, Sirola served as an assistant to the program from 1996-2002.

Scouting Centenary

Centenary will enter the game on Saturday night with an overall record of 4-20 and have yet to win a conference match, carrying a Summit League mark of 0-13.  The Ladies are currently riding a four-game losing streak.

Brianna Kern leads the CC attack with a team-high 165 kills this year on a team-high 600 total attempts.  Jaclyn Lopez has directed the offense, totaling 583 assists this year.  As a team, the Ladies carry a .103 attacking percentage.

Bethany Kern has led the team defensively with a team-best 314 digs while Blair Claypoole has led the team with 60 blocks so far this season.

Dan Gwitt is in his second season as head coach of the Ladies after having played collegiately at Penn State University.  Gwitt graduated from Penn State in 2007.

Last Time against ORU & CC

Southern Utah captured its first road victory of the season with 3-1 win at Centenary, but followed the win with a 3-1 loss at Oral Roberts.

For the complete release, please click on the link at the top of the page.