Winners of its last six matches, the Alabama State volleyball team will return home this weekend to play a pair of meaningful SWAC contests.  The Lady Hornets, fresh off of two wins last weekend at Grambling State and Ark. Pine Bluff, will host Mississippi Valley and Jackson State in their first matchups at home against each opponent in 2016.
 
The Lady Hornets (7-7, 4-0 SWAC) currently sit alone in the top of the east division.   They are three games ahead of Jackson State (1-13, 1-2 SWAC) and four games ahead of Mississippi Valley (2-10, 0-3 SWAC) in conference play.   
 
The Lady Hornets will face Valley on Friday for a 7 p.m. matchup they are led in hitting by Kalin Barnes with 88 kills (2.38 k/s).  Setter Brooklyn Hudson is fifth in the SWAC with 170 touches averaging 4.86 assists per set. 
 
"I am not sure what to expect from Valley this weekend," said head coach Penny Lucas-White.  "I know they have a lot of new kids on their roster, but my focus will be on my side of the net as we continue to grow as a team and making progress to becoming more cohesive, more as a unit and becoming more synchronized in the rhythm of the game.  So I am real pleased with that."  
 
Alabama State hopes to continue their win streak as they take on the Jackson State Tigers on Saturday for another 7 p.m. game time.  JSU currently sits in third place in the east division with no losses thus far on this side of the conference bracket.  The Tigers lone win is against Mississippi Valley.
 
State will look to put some more distance between them and JSU as they won the 2015 conference championship last season, as this will not be an easy task. Jackson State boats a balanced offensive attack with three players totaling more than 50 kills.  Setter Arianna Salas is among the SWAC leaders in assists with 249 (5.53 a/s), while Desiree Mack leads the team with 80 kills (1.86 k/s).  Kianna Shelton leads the team on block duty with 24.)
 
"Playing against Jackson State is always going to be a rival game of course, because they are the reigning SWAC champions," Lucas White said.  "We have a debt with them, so we need to show up and play well.  My kids always tend to play well at home, but with that being said we're still a pretty relatively new team.  We need to come out and be ready to compete.  I've seen Jackson State and how they are performing so you can't let their record fool you.  They won the SWAC championship with an 11-21 record, but those kids still know when to play.  They show up when it's SWAC time."
"With that being said I teach my girls that we show up to play when the whistle is blown, it doesn't matter who's on the opposing side.  So our fans should be prepared for another exciting weekend and we are ready to play."
 
This weekend is slated as Connection weekend.  The team is inviting all local middle schools and high schools to root them on as they open conference play at home.
 
Live stats will be available for both matches through http://www.sidearmstats.com/alasu/wvball/.
 
 
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