SAN ANGELO, Texas – It all comes down to the conference tournament for the Western New Mexico University volleyball team as they compete in the Lone Star Conference Tournament this Thursday through Saturday hosted by top seed Angelo State.
The Lady Mustangs will match-up with the two-seed Tarleton State. WNMU is 16-15 overall and finished 8-12 in conference action. The other matches include top-seed Angelo State against eighth-seed Midwestern State, third-seed Texas A&M-Kingsville versus sixth-seed West Texas A&M and fourth-seed Eastern New Mexico versus fifth-seed Texas A&M-Commerce. WNMU will play the second match of the day on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. (Central Time). If they win, they would then face either Texas A&M-Kingsville or West Texas A&M at 5 p.m. on Friday night.
For WNMU, they will look to their recent matchup with the TexAnns as inspiration into the match this week. The Lady Mustangs nearly came away with the big victory over Tarleton State, but weren't able to finish the win dropping a tough five-set loss. The TexAnns won the earlier meeting this season as well in Stephenville, 3-0.
Junior
Heather Verrill (Barstow, CA/Barstow ) leads the team in kills with 309, followed by senior
Shannon Rich (Folsom, CA/Folsom) (231), junior
Samantha Haupeakui (San Mateo, CA/Aragon) (213), junior
Kalie Lyle (Phoenix, AZ/Sandra Day O' Connor ) (177), junior
Morgan Lyneis (Victorville, CA/Apple Valley) (176) and junior
Kelli McGhiey (Pearl City, HI/Sacred Hearts Academy ) (135). Junior
Melanie Hughes (Riverside, CA/Martin Luther King Jr.) leads the way in assists with 587 and adds a team-best 36 service aces. On defense, junior
Ashley Mataele (Laie, HI/Kahuku) has 524 digs and Rich leads in blocks with 134. Haupeakui (98) and Verrill (96) are next on the list in blocks.
As a team, the Lady Mustangs are second in the conference and 18
th nationally in blocks per set (2.26), fourth and 39
th nationally in hitting percentage (.228), fourth in team service aces (165) and third and 16
th nationally in team total blocks (255.5).
Individually, Rich leads the conference in blocks per set (1.19), 23rn nationally and in total blocks (134), 14
th nationally. She checks in fifth in the LSC in hitting percentage (.315). Mataele is second in the LSC in total digs (524), 66
th nationally and third in digs per set (4.64).
Tarleton State, currently receiving votes in the latest AVCA Poll and would technically be 28
th if the poll extended that far, are on a six-match winning streak with an overall record of 24-5 and 16-4 in the LSC. The TexAnns are 4-0 in neutral site games this season. Their last loss came on the same floor they will play Thursday at the Junell Center against Angelo State on Oct. 26.
The Lady Mustangs contained Hailey Roberts through most of the game last week before she got loose for 18 kills. She leads the TexAnns with 532 kills, posting 5.27 kills per set. Hannah McManus (199) and Autumn Taylor (198) are next on the list. Jordyn Keamo, coming off of a LSC Setter of the Week award, has 1,102 assists and 60 service aces. On defense, Adrianna Knutson has 462 digs, Roberts with 329 and in blocking, McManus has 103.
Live video and stats will be available for the match.
