Opponent:
Salem vs. Methodist | September 26 | Winston-Salem, N.C. | 7 p.m. | Varsity Gym

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE SPIRITS
The Salem volleyball team wrapped up its extended stay in Rocky Mount, N.C., with a pair of wins against N.C. Wesleyan on Saturday, September 23rd. The Spirits opened the afternoon with a 3-0 triumph (25-18, 25-20, 26-24) before coming through with a 3-1 victory (26-28, 25-21, 25-20, 25-18) in the second set to move to 10-5 overall.

Valeria Rosa Lopez capped off the first match of the afternoon with 14 kills and a .345 attack percentage after committing just four errors in 29 total attacks, helping the Spirits cap off the sweep of N.C. Wesleyan 25-18, 25-20, 26-24. Teammate Abrielle Eckenroth was also active for the Salem offense with seven kills, posting a .429 attack percentage, with just one error.

The tandem of Anna Rymer (13 assists) and Ashlyn Wood (18) helped Salem notch 39 total kills and a .269 attack percentage as a unit. Rymer, who notched three assisted blocks, was also active on the back row with 12 digs, while Lopez and first-year Victoria Stratmann tallied 10 digs.

Sophomore Aspen Bradley overcame a difficult first match to post a team-high 16 kills, making five errors in the process, to finish with a .344 attack percentage for the Spirits. Joining Bradley in double figure kills were Rymer (15) and Lopez (11) as Salem tallied 62 kills and a .281 attack percentage after limiting itself to 14 errors.

The setting combo of Rymer (27) and Wood (20) reached at least 20 assists for Salem's offense, while Rymer led the back row with 18 digs. Lopez was also active on the back row with 16 digs and first-year libero Jolina Bun contributed 15 in the match.

RYMER BECOMES FIRST-EVER USA SOUTH PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Salem middle hitter Anna Rymer capped off a week where she recorded 61 assists, 39 digs, 32 kills and nine blocks by being named USA South Conference Player of the Week in a statement from the league office on Monday. Rymer becomes the Spirit to earn the distinction from the USA South in program history.

Rymer joined teammates Jolina Bun and Adalyn Raney, who earned USA South Rookie of the Week, among Spirits to claim weekly honors from the league. Bun claimed the first in-season honor for the Spirits on September 4th and Raney mirrored the accomplishment as the top rookie a week later for Salem.

While Rymer becomes the eighth different player in program history to earn a conference Player of the Week in program history, she is the first to do so for the Spirits as a USA South Conference affiliate. The seven others, which include Zy Henderson (twice), Roslyn Nixon (twice), Christine Tillman, Chelsea Jones, Michelle Morgan, Hillary McPhatter and Taylor Rhodes. Those seven players were named Player of the Week by the Great South Athletic Conference between 2009 and14.

In three matches last week for Salem, Rymer amassed 61 assists (5.55 assists/set), 32 kills (2.91 kills/set) and a .387 attack percentage for the offense after committing just three errors in 11 sets. Her defensive impact came by virtue of 39 digs (3.55 digs/set), nine blocks (three solo) and seven service aces.

TRACKING LOPEZ'S MOVE UP THE STATISTICAL CHARTS
Salem senior outside hitter Valeria Rosa Lopez has moved into the Top-4 of two major statistical categories.

Lopez enters the week with 832 career kills, which is fourth-most all-time in program history. The Ponce, Puerto Rico native, sits nine kills away from tying Madelyn Chappell for third-most in Spirits' history with 841.

Lopez has also climbed to third on Salem's all-time digs list, trailing Zy Henderson by 106 digs, who is second on the all-time list with 1,273. Lopez is 202 away from the program's all-time dig leader, Taylor Moulton, who ended her career with 1,369.

REACHING THE 1,000-ASSIST PLATEAU
Over the weekend, in the 46th-match of her collegiate career, Ashlyn Wood became the fourth player in Salem history to hand out 1,000 career assists.

Wood, who amassed 685 assists (5.91 assists/set) in her first season at Salem, joined Hannah Delcamp, Chelsea Jones and Sara Maher as the only Spirits to eclipse 1,000 assists in a career.

The Kings Mountain, N.C., native has been a consistent component of the Salem offensive attack since joining the program in 2022. She has handed out at least 25 assists on 14 occasions, including 10 times over the course of her first year.

Earlier this month, in a four-set clash with Randolph on September 8th, Wood establish her single-match career-high in assists with 36 as the Spirits completed the 3-1 victory.

HOW THE MONARCHS HAVE FAIRED IN 2023
Methodist heads into Tuesday's match with a 9-3 overall record and a 4-1 mark in USA South Conference play. The Monarchs are locked in a second place tie with Meredith, trailing only William Peace who is 4-0 in league play.

The Monarchs have won eight of their last nine matches since sweeping both Ferrum and Hollins on September 8th at the Maroon Classic. Five of those eight wins have come by virtue of a sweep, which was the outcome against Greensboro on Saturday, September 23rd in Fayetteville, N.C.

Jamie Holton leads the way for the Methodist offensive attack with 172 kills (3.74 kills/set), while teammates Savannah Hovander (141), Jeanana Fowler (132) and Aniyah Tate (100) have also eclipsed the 100-kill mark on the slate.

Hannah Hewett has quarterbacked the Methodist offense with 476 assists, allowing the Monarchs to average 13.13 kills/set. Defensively, Blake O'Brien leads the back row with 275 digs (5.98 digs/set), while Fowler has proved to be a nuisance for opposing offenses with 35 total blocks (12 solo).

SALEM WHEN SQUARING OFF AGAINST THE MONARCHS
Salem heads into Tuesday's clash with Methodist in search of its first three-match winning streak in the all-time series.

The opportunity to claim a third straight win over the Monarchs came after Salem won both matches of the series in 2022. The Spirits took the first match of the series in 3-1 fashion (25-18, 25-18, 23-25, 25-19) on September 24th.

Salem followed that by earning a 3-0 triumph by earning a 25-20, 25-19, 25-20 victory against Methodist on October 15th.

While the Spirits have managed to claim just back-to-back wins against Methodist, the Monarchs opened the series with 11 consecutive wins, six of which came by virtue of a sweep.

Head-to-Head Series vs. Methodist