Four teams – Angelo State, Lubbock Christian, Texas A&M-Kingsville, and UT Tyler – remain unbeaten after two weeks of Lone Star Conference games.
LSC volleyball teams are 95-99 overall this season. The squads are currently 13-17 combined against Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams, the other league in the NCAA Division II South Central Region.
LSC schedule and results available here:
http://www.lonestarconference.org/calendar.aspx?path=wvball&
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSIVE
Mikayla Ware, UT Tyler, SR, Criminal Justice, OH, San Antonio, Texas, Tom C. Clark HS
Ware averaged 4.67 kills per set and had a double-double in both 3-0 UT Tyler wins over St. Mary's and St. Edward's this weekend. The San Antonio, Texas native totaled 18 kills and 11 digs in the Friday night win over St. Mary's and 10 kills and 13 digs over St. Edward's on Saturday afternoon to record her fourth and fifth double-double on the year. She hit .208 for the weekend and totaled 31.5 points to help extend the Patriot's school record 20-straight regular season wins dating back to last spring. Ware ranks second in the Lone Star Conference with an average of 3.93 kills per set and 11th in the league with 4.26 digs per set.
DEFENSIVE
Nicole Murff, Texas A&M-Kingsville, JR, Biomedical Sciences, Libero, San Antonio, Texas, Antonian College Preparatory HS
Murff rattled off 28 digs in just three sets as the Javelinas cruised to their third straight sweep on Saturday. The junior’s 9.33 digs per set helped the Javelinas hold Texas A&M International to a hitting percentage of just .103, including a -.057 mark in the first set. No one in the Lone Star Conference boasts a better average of digs per set than Murff's 5.73 and she also is the LSC leader in aces per set with a rate of 0.50.
SETTER
Sadie Snay, West Texas A&M, JR, Sports & Exercise Science, S, Kingman, Arizona, Lee Williams HS
Snay paced the Lady Buffs offense that recorded a pair of victories to move to 9-2 on the season with 59 total assists in week four of play. The junior setter recorded 8.43 assists per set as WT hit .246 as a team. Against UT Permian Basin and Western New Mexico, she added two kills, two blocks and 10 digs.
WEEKLY AWARDS
Offensive
S-7 Christina Escamilla, UT Tyler
S-14 Kailyn Gilbreath, Angelo State
S-21 Jackie Alanis, Texas A&M-Kingsville
S-28 Mikayla Ware, UT Tyler
Defensive
S-7 Savannah Guzman, UT Tyler
S-14 Baleigh Allen, Angelo State
S-21 Hannah Froeschl, Lubbock Christian
S-28 Nicole Murff, Texas A&M-Kingsville
Setter
S-7 Kailyn Gilbreath, Angelo State
S-14 Celeste Vela, Texas A&M-Commerce
S-21 Kailyn Gilbreath, Angelo State (2)
S-28 Sadie Snay, West Texas A&M
SELECTED NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Maddy Rashford, Texas A&M-Commerce, recorded 32 kills this past weekend for A&M-Commerce at St. Edward’s and St. Mary’s. She had 17 kills in four sets on Friday and accumulated 15 kills in A&M-Commerce’s 3-0 win on Saturday at St. Mary’s.
Ayanna Jackson, Texas A&M-Kingsville, led the Javelinas with 13 kills on Saturday while hitting .370 in a three-set TAMUK victory over Texas A&M International. Both of those numbers were just off Jackson's season-highs and she also tossed in an ace and four total blocks as the Javelinas scored their third straight sweep to improve to 3-0 in LSC competition and 8-0 overall. Jackson's average of 0.97 blocks per set is the best on TAMUK's roster and puts her fourth in the LSC.
Delaney Fuller, Angelo State, was once again the focus of the Belles' attack, recording 25 kills in road matches against Midwestern State and Cameron. Against the Mustangs, Fuller converted 13 kills with an attack percentage of .296. Against the Aggies, she buried 12 kills with a .345 attack percentage.
Torrey Miller, West Texas A&M, led the Lady Buffs offense that collected a pair of victories over UT Permian Basin and Western New Mexico with two double-double matches. The sophomore compiled averaged 3.43 kills per set to hit .219. She had two service aces, four blocks and 24 digs, totaling 28 points. With her 24 kills the Brownwood, Texas native now leads the conference in total kills with 148 this season.
Morgan Demuth, Oklahoma Christian, posted double-digit kills in both matches and posted an outstanding .447 attack percentage as the Eagles rallied from an early deficit to beat Texas Woman’s 3-1 before dropping a five-set thriller against Dallas Baptist, a match in which OC fought off seven match points before falling. Against Texas Woman’s, OC trailed TWU by a set and was down 24-19 in the second set before rallying. Demuth had 14 kills in the match, along with a .667 attack percentage, having no errors on 21 total attacks. Against Dallas Baptist, she contributed 11 kills and six blocks to go with five digs. She scored 15.5 points for the Eagles in both matches.
Hannah Froeschl, Lubbock Christian, helped the Lady Chaps move to 4-0 in LSC play and 5-0 in road matches, as she averaged 10.5 points per match in road wins over Cameron (3-0) and Midwestern State (3-1) to extend LCU's win streak to five matches. She hit .375 with seven kills and three blocks in a straight-set win at Cameron, and followed with eight kills and a career-high matching seven blocks in a 12.5-point performance at MSU. In the win at MSU, LCU produced 13.0 blocks, matching the third-highest mark for a four-set match since 2008 and the most on the road since 2011.
Leah Palensky, DBU, helped lead the Lady Patriots to a pair of road wins over UAFS and Oklahoma Christian after posting a team-high 56 digs and 6.2 digs per set last week. Palensky recorded a season-high 32 digs in a four-set win at UAFS and her efforts limited DBU's opponents to a combined .144 hitting percentage in the two matches.
Lyric Hebert, Texas A&M-Commerce, totaled 42 digs in seven sets played this weekend. She averaged 6.5 digs per set in four sets at St. Edward’s on Friday and had 16 digs in 3-0 win on Saturday at St. Mary’s. She is 10th in the LSC with a digs per set average of 4.29.
Brylie Berryman, Oklahoma Christian, led the Eagles in digs in both matches during the week. She had 20 as OC rallied from an early deficit for a 3-1 win over Texas Woman’s, then added 22 as the Eagles dropped a five-set thriller against Dallas Baptist.
Savannah Guzman, UT Tyler, led the defensive effort in digs in both matches on Friday and Saturday that limited St. Mary's and St. Edward's offensives to a .095 attack percentage between the two matches. Guzman posted 11 digs in the 3-0 win over St. Mary's on Friday night and 14 digs in Saturday's sweep of St. Edward's to average 4.17 digs per set between the two matches. Guzman's efforts helped extend the UT Tyler regular season winning streak to a school-record 20 straight wins dating back to last spring. The Patriots limited St. Mary's to a .202 hitting percentage and St. Edward's to a .000 team hitting percentage to put together the best defensive performances from the 8-0 Patriots to date. Guzman ranks third in the Lone Star Conference for the year with an average of .496 digs per set.
Hannah Froeschl, Lubbock Christian, helped the team move to 4-0 in LSC play and 5-0 in road matches, as she averaged 10.5 points per match in road wins over Cameron (3-0) and Midwestern State (3-1) to extend LCU's win streak to five matches. She hit .375 with seven kills and three blocks in a straight-set win at Cameron, and followed with eight kills and a career-high matching seven blocks in a 12.5-point performance at MSU. In the win at MSU, LCU produced 13.0 blocks, matching the third-highest mark for a four-set match since 2008 and the most on the road since 2011.
Baleigh Allen, Angelo State, continues to be a dominant force at the net for the Belles. Against Midwestern State, Allen recorded two solo blocks to go along with five block assists. Against Cameron, she added a solo block as well as four block assists as the Belles opposition only hit .110 for the week. The Katy native leads the LSC with 1.24 blocks per set.
Chyra Thompson, UAFS, was a force at the net for the Lady Lions as they collected their first conference win of the season last weekend. Over two matches, she registered 11 blocks – two solo and nine assisted – for an average of 1.57 blocks per set. She also hit .359 with a team-high 20 kills. She registered seven blocks against DBU and hit .421 with 12 kills in a sweep of Texas Woman's.
Emily Witt, Texas A&M-Kingsville, put up the sets for a Javelina offense that hit .246 in a three-set win over Texas A&M International that improved TAMUK to 8-0 overall and 3-0 in the Lone Star Conference. Witt's stat line also included 11 digs, good enough for her fourth double-double of the season, and a pair of blocks. Witt's setting has helped the Javelinas craft the LSC's second-best hitting percentage and she also ranks in the top five in the conference in assists per set.
Celeste Vela, Texas A&M-Commerce, collected 82 assists in seven sets played against St. Edward’s and St. Mary’s. She had 44 assists in the three-set win at St. Mary’s on Saturday. She is seventh in the LSC with 307 assists on the season and third with an assists per set average of 9.90.
Chloe Price, UAFS, helped UAFS achieve its highest hitting percentage of the year as it hit .292 in a sweep of Texas Woman's. Price dished out 36 assists and recorded a double-double by adding 10 digs, five kills and three blocks. Price had 32 assists, 11 digs, six blocks and four kills against DBU. She averaged 9.71 assists for the weekend.
Jalee Sims, Lubbock Christian, helped the Lady Chaps move to 4-0 in LSC play and 5-0 in road matches, as she produced double-doubles in road wins over Cameron (3-0) and Midwestern State (3-1) to extend LCU's win streak to five matches. Sims' pair of double-double has her with eight double-doubles on the season and 18in of her LCU career (she has seven consecutive double-double performances). She had 29 assists and 13 digs in a straight-set win at Cameron and followed with 31 assists and 13 digs at MSU, which included four blocks and four kills for a 7.0-point performance against the Mustangs. Averaged 8.57 assists and 3.71 digs per set.
Kyla Chavez, Oklahoma Christian, normally a defensive specialist, was thrust into the role as OC’s primary setter and she played a key role as OC rallied from an early deficit for a 3-1 win over Texas Woman’s and took Dallas Baptist to five sets before falling. Chavez recorded a career-high 38 assists in each match (76 overall, an average of 8.44 per set) and contributed 27 digs (15 vs. TWU, 12 vs. DBU). She also had two kills and two blocks.
Kailyn Gilbreath, Angelo State, continues to be a vital part of the Belles' attack. Against Midwestern State, she recorded 26 assists before adding 20 more assists against Cameron. The senior averaged 6.57 assists per set for the weekend as the Belles hit .274 as a team.
Taylor Stoops, UT Tyler, notched 34 assists in the #23 UT Tyler sweeps of St. Mary's and St. Edward's this weekend to help move the Patriots to 8-0 on the year. Stoops had a double-double in Friday night's 3-0 win over St. Mary's with 16 assists and 11 digs, and then led the squad with 18 assists in Saturday's win over St. Edward's. The Patriots have now notched a school record 20 straight regular season wins dating back to last spring, and three straight 3-0 Lone Star Conference victories. Stoops assisted in manufacturing an offense that averaged 13.83 kills per set for the weekend and hit .233 as a team.