Opponents:
Salem at Pfeiffer | October 28 | Misenheimer, N.C. | 12:00 p.m.
Salem vs. Bob Jones | October 28 | Misenheimer, N.C. | 2:00 p.m.

SPIRITS SEEKING NINTH VICTORY IN LEAGUE PLAY
Salem volleyball is looking to become the fifth different USA South Conference school in 2023 to earn at least nine wins. The others include Meredith (13), Greensboro (11), Methodist (10) and William Peace (9). A victory over league rival Pfeiffer would provide Salem with its ninth win of the season and mark the first time since 2018 and 2019 that the Spirits would have at least nine victories in back-to-back seasons, which is possible after winning a program-best 12 league games in 2022.

MORE ON THE CONFERENCE STANDINGS
Salem enters the weekend with an 8-7 mark in USA South Conference action, placing the Spirits sixth in the standings. Salem is 0.38 percentage points behind Southern Virginia, who is 8-6 entering the weekend. The Spirits have four league contests remaining on the schedule, which include matches with Pfeiffer, Southern Virginia, Roanoke and Mary Baldwin. Three of those four matches, with the exception of Pfeiffer, are at Varsity Gym.

SPIRITS TANGLE WITH METHODIST
Salem received a pair of double-digit kill performances from the duo of Anna Rymer (14) and Aspen Bradley (13), but it was 15 kills each from the Methodist tandem of Jeanana Fowler and Savannah Hovander that proved to be the difference as the Monarchs posted a 25-23, 25-22, 25-21 victory over Salem in a USA South Conference battle at the March F. Riddle Center.

Rymer, who has driven home 14 kills in two of her last four matches, wrapped up the contest with a .423 attack percentage after limiting herself to just three miscues. Bradley was also efficient in the outing, positing a .419 attack percentage as she delivered double-digit kills in 31 total attacks.

Teammate Valeria Rosa Lopez drove home six kills, but her nine digs were the individual highlight of the evening. Lopez's first three digs of the evening helped her surpass Zy Henderson for second-place on the program's all-time digs list, where she now trails only Taylor Moulton. Ella Brameus and Jolina Bun added seven digs each for the Spirits. Meanwhile, Ashlyn Wood handed out a team-best 24 assists.

LOPEZ NOW SECOND ALL-TIME IN DIGS
On Tuesday evening, senior Valeria Rosa Lopez came through with nine digs, which led all Salem defenders. Her third dig of the night had special significance for the Ponce, Puerto Rico, native, who passed Zy Henderson for the second-most digs in program history.

Lopez and Henderson are two of three Spirits with at least 1,000 career digs, along with the program leader in the category—Taylor Moulton.

Lopez, who leads the unit in digs this season with 297, has 1,280 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.

Lopez is not only chasing Moulton in career digs, but she also is looking to join Moulton as the only Spirit with at least 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs. With five regular season matches remaining, Lopez needs 55 kills to reach the 1,000-kill plateau at Salem. She has 945 kills, at a clip of 2.45 kills/set, in her four seasons.
Lopez would join Moulton and Kylie Taffer as the only players to reach 1,000 career kills. Lopez is the top kills artist on the 2023 season for Salem, with 284 to her credit.

LOPEZ CLIMBING THE ALL-TIME LISTS

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.

PFEIFFER, BOB JONES ANALYSIS FOR WEEKEND TRI-MATCH
Salem will make a short trek to Misenheimer, N.C., and clash with both Pfeiffer (12 p.m.) and Bob Jones (2 p.m.).

The Spirits hosted Pfeiffer earlier this season at Varsity Gym, earning a three-set sweeps by scores of 25-15, 25-18, 25-20. That victory not only marked the third sweep in the head-to-head series with the Falcons, but it also marked the third consecutive win in the series between the two programs by Salem, the longest winning streak by either team in the series.

The Falcons are 9-14 overall and 4-11 in USA South Conference action, winning their last two outings against both Mary Baldwin (3-0) and Brevard (3-2) along the way. Morgan Shrader tops all hitters with 188 kills, while Kylee Mayberry is the leader in assists (334). Gabby Edwards has come through with 268 digs (3.53 digs/set), while the front row is led by Madison Tate, who has 44 blocks (19 solo).

As for Bob Jones, Salem has met the Bruins on only one occasion, which came in 2022 in a September meeting at Brevard. The Bruins emerged in four sets in that outing, claiming a 23-25, 25-22, 25-18, 25-17 victory.

The Bruins head to the Triad on Friday afternoon and will take on both Regent and Carolina University before traveling to Misenheimer. Katherine Hoopes (283) and Victoria Glaze (278) top the team in kills, while Kiersten Hoopes is the leader in assists with 915. On defense, the back row is highlighted by Ktelyn Landkrohn highlights the lineup with 415 digs (4.41 digs/set) and the front row is led by Emily Lewis' 85 blocks (40 solo).

September 30, 2023 (vs. Pfeiffer): A three-set victory over Pfeiffer at Varsity Gym, highlighted by eight kills from Aspen Bradley, resulted in the 2023 Salem volleyball team equaling 2017 unit for the program record of most consecutive wins (six).

Salem, which moved to 13-5 overall and 5-3 in USA South Conference action, began its current six-match winning streak with a 3-1 triumph over Brevard on September 19th. Since that point the Spirits have claimed victories against N.C. Wesleyan (twice), Methodist, William Peace and Pfeiffer. The victory also marks the fifth sweep by Salem in the first month of the season and second of the last six outings.

Bradley topped individual leaders with eight kills in 16 attempts, while Anna Rymer added seven and Abrielle Eckenroth came through with six. The Spirits offense, which struggled to find its rhythm, tallied 31 digs by virtue of 15 assists from Ashlyn Wood and 11 from Rymer. Salem's defensive support came from Valeria Rosa Lopez, who tallied seven digs and five kills. Bradley was also active with three solo blocks.

All-Time Series vs. Pfeiffer

All-Time Series vs. Bob Jones