After three weeks of action, a trio of teams are unbeaten with Angelo State and UT Tyler at 6-0, and Texas A&M-Kingsville at 4-0.
The Spring 2021 volleyball slate will feature a “bubble” format for 16 teams with four divisions consisting of four teams each on Tuesday-Wednesday playing dates. Each team has 12 divisional games over six weeks against the same opponent at the same site. Regular season competition will begin on Jan. 26 and will conclude on March 10 with the week of March 15-20 reserved for make-up contests.
The LSC Volleyball Championship will include 12 teams with the top three in each division. The opening round is set for March 23, followed by the quarterfinals on March 24, semifinals on March 30 and championship match on March 31.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSIVE
Kailyn Gilbreath, Angelo State, JR, Kinesiology, Right Side, Fort Worth, Texas, Boswell HS
Gilbreath continues to be an offensive force for the Rambelles, scoring 30 points against Lubbock Christian in a pair of wins. The junior posted a double-double with a match-best 11 kills and 11 digs in the first match while hitting .370. Gilbreath recorded a match-high 14 kills and hit .375 in the second victory of the week over the Lady Chaps. Registering 25 kills total, and a .373 hitting percentage, Gilbreath paced the ASU offense. She ended the two match series with 20 digs, 12 assists, six blocks and two aces as ASU moved to 6-0 this season.
DEFENSIVE
Mikayla Ware, UT Tyler, JR, Criminal Justice, OH, Mico, Texas, Tom C. Clark HS
Ware was instrumental in the Patriot's two wins over No. 16 Texas A&M-Commerce this week to move to 6-0 on the season. Ware was a big part of the Patriot's ability to limit the Lions to a team-hitting percentage of just .112 for the two matches, leading the way for UT Tyler with a total of 29 digs. She recorded a double-double in both games against Texas A&M-Commerce, going for 13 kills and 12 digs in a 3-0 sweep on Tuesday night and 15 kills and 17 digs in a 3-1 win on Wednesday night. Ware also posted four blocks for the week and contributed 32.0 points in the two matches in which UT Tyler out-scored the Lions by a 127-to-89 total. UT Tyler also received votes in the AVCA Division II National Coaches Poll for the first time in program history this week.
SETTER
Lindsey Ledyard, Angelo State, SR, Marketing, Setter, Cedar Park, Texas, Cedar Park HS
Ledyard remains ASU’s most versatile player while guiding the team with 65 total assists in a pair of sweeps against Lubbock Christian. The senior averaged 10.83 assists per set with 33 helpers in the first win and 32 in the second contest as the Rambelles hit .269 for the week. Ledyard added 14 digs, three blocks, four service aces and 6.5 points against the Lady Chaps. ASU improved to 6-0 on the season.
WEEKLY AWARDS
Offensive
J-29 Evelyn Torres, UT Tyler
F-4 Hannah Callison, UT Tyler
F-11 Kailyn Gilbreath, Angelo State
Defensive
J-29 Mikayla Ware, UT Tyler
F-4 Sydney Anderson, Texas A&M-Commerce
F-11 Mikayla Ware, UT Tyler (2)
Setter
J-29 Taylor Stoops, UT Tyler
F-4 Taylor Stoops, UT Tyler (2)
F-11 Lindsey Ledyard, Angelo State
SELECTED NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Torrey Miller, West Texas A&M, continued to lead the way offensively for the Lady Buffs this past week as they registered a pair of sweeps over UT Permian Basin at the WTAMU Fieldhouse "The Box" in Canyon. The Brownwood product registered 32 kills on 74 swings with 10 attack errors to hit .297 on the week with one assist, three service aces, 21 digs and three total blocks for 36.5 points. Miller registered 16 kills in each of the sweeps against the Falcons including a double-double on Tuesday night with 12 digs.
Meghan Merlino, Texas A&M-Kingsville, helped lead the Javelinas offense to back-to-back wins over Texas A&M International, putting them at 4-0 for the first time since 2016. In a sweep of the Dustdevils on Tuesday, she recorded a double-double, firing 13 kills, tied for a team-high, with 10 digs and also adding three block assists. In a four-set victory a day later, Merlino set a new career-high with 19 kills while contributing nine more digs and four rejections. Her 32 kills for the week, rate of 4.57 kills per set and 37 points were all team-bests for the Javelinas.
Kaia Saylor, Texas Woman's, turned in a pair of double-doubles this week with 27 kills and 15 digs and then a 13-kill, 19-dig performance against Dallas Baptist... has hit over .200 in every match this season...
Courtney Crownover, UAFS, led the Lions offense in a pair of wins over Oklahoma Christian. In the first match, she posted 18 kills, 23 assists and seven digs in the four-set win. She added 8 kills, 19 assists and 18 digs in the sweep of OC for a near triple double. For the week, averaged 6.0 assists per set and 3.57 digs per set.
Maddie Miksch, St. Edward’s, came in off the bench to ignite the Hilltopper offense as SEU won a pair of come from behind matches over St. Mary's.
Christina Escamilla, UT Tyler, posted an attack percentage of .571 in 27 swings for the week to help lead the league's top statistical offense to a pair of wins over #16 Texas A&M-Commerce. Escamilla recorded just a single attacking error in her 27 attempts, totaling 15 kills on her way to providing 17.0 points for the Patriots for the week in 3-0 and 3-1 wins over Texas A&M-Commerce. The Arlington, Texas native was especially impressive in the Patriots 3-1 win on Wednesday night, hitting .643 for the match with nine kills on 14 attempts with zero attacking errors. That efficient outing for Escamilla helped guide UT Tyler to their sixth straight win and the program's first-ever votes in the AVCA Division II National Coaches Poll.
Chandler Vogel, West Texas A&M, continued her steady defensive efforts in the back row for the Lady Buffs this past week as the senior led WT to a pair of sweeps over UT Permian Basin in Canyon. The Hereford, Texas product registered 37 digs (6.17/set) to go along with one kill and seven assists. Vogel now has 1,935 career digs which is fifth most in Lady Buff history, sitting just 151 digs shy of Lauren Britten's 2,086 spot in fourth.
Nicole Murff, Texas A&M-Kingsville, piled up a team-high 43 digs, collected six aces and helped the Javelina defense hold Texas A&M International to a .190 hitting percent as the Javs upped their record to 4-0 with two wins. Murff logged 18 digs and three aces in a Javelina sweep on Tuesday, then piled up 25 more on Wednesday and added another trio of aces. Her numbers for the week included an average of 6.14 digs per set.
Nikki Grant, St. Edward’s, came off the bench and was an immediate impact player for the Hilltopper defense. On night two, Grant posted 32 digs while the Hilltoppers held St. Mary's to a negative attack percentage in the final three sets to rally back from a 2-0 deficit for the second night in a row.
Lexy Lewis, UAFS, helped the Lions defense hold Oklahoma Christian to a .088 hitting percentage in the 3-1 win with 24 digs, 10 assists and two aces. In Wednesday’s victory, she recorded 10 digs and four assists as OC hit .127.
Sydney Stroh, Texas Woman's, moved into the libero role on Wednesday and turned in a 20-dig performance... hit double figures in digs in both matches this week.
Grace White, Angelo State, was an absolute wall of defense for the Belles, registering eight blocks against the Lubbock Christian Chaparrals in six sets. Averaging 1.33 blocks per set, White defensive capabilities kept the Chaps attacks down, keeping their hitting percentage to just .074 against the Belles. White was effective against the LCU defense as well, scoring 15.5 points and registering 11 kills and averaging 1.83 kills per set.
Emily Witt, Texas A&M-Kingsville, logged a pair of double-doubles while churning out a combined 86 assists in the Javelinas' two victories over Texas A&M International. She finished Tuesday's match with 37 assists and 10 digs and also contributed five kills without an error on 10 attacks. In another win on Wednesday, Witt finished with 49 helpers, the most in a single match by a Javelina since 2017, and her 18 digs were TAMUK's second-highest total. Witt averaged 12.29 assists per set for the week, helped the Javs hit .252 as a team and her contributions included four total blocks as well.
Bailey Wozniak, Texas Woman's, A model of consistency, dished out 37 assists in both matches against DBU... had a double-double in the opening match with 10 kills... also had four aces in the opener.
Taylor Stoops, UT Tyler, continued to elevate her play this week in the Patriot's weekly sweep of #16 Texas A&M-Commerce. Stoops totaled 52 assists for the week in just seven sets of action as the Patriots handled the Lions by final totals of 3-0 and 3-1 on Tuesday and Wednesday night. The Waxahachie, Texas native averaged 7.43 assists per set and helped the Patriots to a team-hitting percentage of .268 for the week. She recorded 22 assists and nine digs in the three-set sweep of the Lions on Tuesday night and 30 assists and six digs in the 3-1 win on Wednesday night. Stoops has won both Lone Star Conference Setter of the Week Awards this season and has continued to be the driving force of a UT Tyler squad that is hitting a league-best .272 as a team through the first three weeks of the season.
Natalia Walls, St. Edward’s, was strong in her first collegiate start, leading the Hilltoppers in assists. She also helped defensively, recording 30 digs on the week.
Sadie Snay, West Texas A&M, continued to pace the West Texas A&M offense this past week with a pair of sweeps against UT Permian Basin at the WTAMU Fieldhouse "The Box" in Canyon. The Kingman, Arizona product dished out 60 assists for an average of 10.0 per frame to go along with seven kills, two service aces, 19 digs and five total blocks for 11.5 points. Snay dished out 27 assists with 13 digs on Tuesday night against the Falcons for a double-double followed by a 33 assist performance on Wednesday night in Canyon.