Opponent:
Salem at Methodist | October 24 | Fayetteville, N.C. | 7:00 p.m. | March F. Riddle Center

METHODIST MATCH HAS CONFERENCE STANDINGS IMPLICATIONS
With four wins in October, including three in USA South Conference action, the Salem volleyball team has positioned itself sixth in the league standings. On Tuesday evening, the Spirits can take a major step toward moving into the Top-4 of the league standings with a triumph at Methodist at 7 p.m.

MORE ON THE CONFERENCE STANDINGS
Salem enters Tuesday's match sixth in the league standings with an 8-6 mark (.571 winning percentage), which is one match behind Methodist (9-5, .643) and a half match behind Southern Virginia (.615). With a victory, Salem would place itself in a tie with Methodist at 9-6, giving both teams a .600 winning percentage, while turning their attention to the scoreboard for Wednesday's clash between Greensboro and Southern Virginia.

SALEM SWEEPS TRI-MATCH WITH N.C. WESLEYAN, CAROLINA UNIVERSITY
A pair of sweeps against N.C. Wesleyan and Carolina University at the first tri-match of the season held in Varsity Gym, provided Salem with its fourth win of the month and eighth home victory of the 2023 campaign.

The Spirits quickly took down N.C. Wesleyan in the open match of the day by scores of 26-24, 25-16, 25-17, resulting in the third win of the season and sixth straight in the series. Salem was led offensively by the duo of Anna Rymer and Valeria Rosa Lopez, who delivered 14 and 11 kills, respectively, resulting in a .237 attack percentage.

Rymer and Lopez led an offensive unit that witnessed eight Spirits notching at least two kills for the offensive attack, including Abrielle Eckenroth (six), Ella Brameus (five), Isabella Mann (three) and Aspen Bradley (three).

Ashlyn Wood handed out 18 assists, adding six digs, while Macy Nelson led the back row defense with 12 digs. Lopez capped off a double-double outing with 11 digs, while Bradley and Mann came through with a solo block each.

Salem returned to the court for the final match of the afternoon, securing a 25-13, 25-17, 25-20 victory over Carolina University. Bradley delivered a match-high 12 kills, finishing with a .500 attack percentage, as Salem posted 43 kills and a .336 attack percentage in the victory. It marked the third time in the 2023 season that the Spirits have posted a .300 attack percentage and first since a .389 attack percentage versus Thiel on September 1st.

Nelson was also effective defensively for the Spirits in the second triumph of the day, positing 10 digs. Lopez contributed nine, moving her within two digs of Zy Henderson, who is in second place on the program's all-time digs list (1,273).

While Bradley topped double-digit kills, she was joined by Rymer (nine kills), Nikita Sizemore (seven) and Lopez (six) with solid offensive performances.

LOPEZ NEEDS THREE DIGS TO MOVE TO SECOND ALL-TIME
After combining for 20 digs in a pair of matches against N.C. Wesleyan (11) and Carolina University (9) on Saturday afternoon, senior outside hitter Valeria Rosa Lopez has moved to within two digs of tying Zy Henderson for second-most digs in program history.

Lopez, who leads the unit in digs this season with 288, has 1,271 over the course of her Salem career. She entered the season with 983 digs to her credit, which placed her fifth in program history. Since September 1st, she has passed both Hannah Delcamp (994) and Mariah Sharon (998) for fourth and third, respectively.

With 17 double-digit dig performances to her credit this season, which gives her 68 in her career, Lopez has moved to within two of Henderson's mark. The program's all-time mark belongs to Taylor Moulton, who closed her career with 1,369.

Lopez is also in search of joining Moulton and Kylie Taffer as the only three players to reach 1,000 career kills. The top kills artist on the 2023 season for Salem, with 278 to her credit, Lopez sits 61 kills shy of reaching the 1,000 kill mark.

WOOD HAS SIGHTS SET ON MAHER
Ashlyn Wood, who became the fourth setter in program history in program history to reach 1,000 assists in her career against N.C. Wesleyan on September 23rd, is looking to move into the Top-3 in all-time assists by season's end.

Wood enters the week with 1,182 assists, needs 210 assists to equal Sara Maher for third in program history. Wood tallied 35 assists during Saturday's tri-match versus N.C. Wesleyan and Carolina University, resulting in a pair of Salem sweeps.

Wood has amassed 497 assists through the first 25 matches of the season, averaging 5.71 assists per set along the way. Last season, in her first year, Wood tallied 685 assists (5.91 assists/set).

SIZEMORE SLAMS SEVEN IN SALEM TRIUMPH
Senior outside hitter Nikita Sizemore, who saw action in her fifth match of the season on Saturday, slammed home seven of Salem's 43 total kills in the sweep of Carolina University.

With her seven-kill performance, which came in 10 total attacks, Sizemore set the single-match season-high for the Spirits in attack percentage with a .700. Along with her seven kills, Sizemore was also active on defense with four digs and a pair of assisted blocks.

Sizemore topped the previous single-match season-high for the Spirits in attack percentage, which was set by Anna Rymer, who delivered six kills in 10 attacks against Thiel in the second match of the season.

LOOKING BACK ON FIRST MATCH VERSUS MONARCHS
Salem senior outside hitter Valeria Rosa Lopez toppled the program's all-time single-match kill record, which had stood for 4,728 days, with a 27-kill, 15-dig outing that resulted in a .353 attack percentage as the Spirits claimed a thrilling five-set victory over Methodist (25-13,17-25,25-22,14-25,20-18) on Tuesday, September 26th at Varsity Gym.

Lopez, who had tied the mark set by Christine Tillman with a 23-kill outing on September 16, 2021 versus Ferrum, put her name atop the program's all-time list in kills with her performance against the Monarchs. Tillman established the mark on October 16, 2010, while Kylie Taffer (vs. Agnes Scott; Oct. 25, 2014 / Hollins; Oct. 8, 2015), Hillary McPhatter (Johnson & Wales; Oct. 17, 2014) and Lopez managed to equal the accomplishment.

Joining Lopez with solid individual performances were Aspen Bradley and Anna Rymer, who closed with 18 and 17 kills, respectively. Bradley was the most efficient hitter on the evening (.378 attack percentage), helping the Spirits to close with 79 kills and a .277 attack percentage in the victory. The 79 team kills shattered the previous mark of 62, which was set in a five-set match versus Agnes Scott on October 25, 2014 and Averett (Oct. 22, 2019).

Another key offensive figure was Ashlyn Wood, who dished out 35 assists in the triumph, while Rymer added 29. Senior Brianna Moore stepped in and offered two key assists during a key stretch of the third set, substituting for Rymer during a brief break. That trio, along with Jolina Bun, who handed out six of her own, helped Salem set the all-time single-match record for assists in (76). The previous mark of 59 came against Averett on October 22, 2019.

Lopez also anchored the back row for Salem with 15 digs, while Jolina Bun added 14, Macy Nelson and Rymer contributed 13 and Wood topped off a double-double outing with 10.

SINCE THE LAST MEETING
Methodist has posted a 5-3 mark since suffering its five-set loss to Salem on September 26th. The Monarchs wrapped up September with a four-set loss to Meredith before claiming four wins in a five-match stretch against N.C. Wesleyan (3-1), Pfeiffer (3-0), Brevard (3-1) and Mary Baldwin (3-0).

Methodist split a pair of USA South Conference clashes last week, posting a sweep of William Peace on Tuesday before falling in five sets to Greensboro College on Saturday.

The Monarchs enter the match on Tuesday with an overall mark of 14-7 and a conference record of 9-5.

A Salem victory against the Monarchs would mark the third-ever season sweep in program history. The other two seasons that the Spirits swept the season series came in 2019 and 2022.

Head-to-Head Series vs. Methodist