BANNER ELK, N.C. - The Gardner-Webb volleyball team (10-15, 2-7 Big South) returns to action on Wednesday night, traveling to Lees-McRae (10-14, 9-6 Conference Carolinas) for the first ever match-up between the two programs

GAME INFORMATION
Game 26: Gardner-Webb (10-15, 2-7 Big South) at Lees-McRae (10-14, 9-6 Conference Carolinas)
Location: Williams Gymnasium - Banner Elk, N.C.
First Serve: 6:00 pm
Stream: Conference Carolinas Digital Network
Series History: First Ever Meeting

GARDNER-WEBB NOTES

• The Runnin' Bulldogs are fresh off a successful week both in and out of conference play, defeating NC Central at home last Tuesday night before splittig league games with High Point and Radford
• Gardner-Webb is led on the attack by a freshman and a sophomore. Freshman outside hitter Haedyn Crumbley has a team-high 180 kills, followed by sophomore outside hitter Samia Sayd with 165
• Redshirt junior Serena Kohler is fresh off her best game of the season last Saturday at Charleston Southern, with 19 kills. 20 digs and a .288% hitting percentage
• In the assist column, sophomore setter Olivia Lefebvre leads the way for GWU with 504, and over 5.4 per set. Lefebvre has posted a series of career games in Big South play with her top-five best performances all coming since league play opened in September, including 39 assists at High Point and 30 at Winthrop
• Junior middle Milla Lugo is top ten in the Big South Conference in hitting percentage through seven games, with 65 kills at a tune of .304%. Lugo is also third in the league in total blocks since the start of conference play with 35, including six against Radford on Saturday
• On the defensive end, graduate libero Nalani McBride has been excellent, with 530 digs and 5.64 digs per set this season. McBride remains the national leader in total digs, and sits top five in digs per set across all of NCAA Division I, while also remaining in reach of the program record of 660 digs in one season
• McBride recently reached a career milestone as well, recording her 1000th dig between Gardner-Webb and Temple on last Saturday against Radford, on the way to claiming her fifth Big South Libero of The Week Award
• Among a team of mostly freshman and sophomores, freshman right side Sarina Galyean has seen some excellent play for GWU, with 76 total kills including 12 against Marshall and 10 against Queens in consecutive games
• Other newcomers to the team include redshirt freshman right side Alexis Maesch, who has standout games this season against Campbell with 12 kills and a .241% hitting percentage, and Radford this past Saturday with seven kills, two block assists and a .500 hitting percentage
• Junior outside hitter Nicole Osborne emerged in a big way for Gardner-Webb over a busy Big South weekend, recording a season-high six kills, with two digs and a block assist off the bench against Radford
• As a team, Gardner-Webb ranks first in the Big South in several key categories, with 1118 kills, 57 solo blocks, 141 service aces, and 1691 digs
• With the aforementioned win over Radford on Saturday afternoon, the Runnin' Bulldogs have reached double-digit wins for only the second time since 2017 and for the first time since 2023