SAN MARCOS – Between the four teams that Lamar University volleyball team will face at the Delta Zeta Classic, the Cardinals have played 87 matches between them and hold a 48-39 all-time series record. The tournament, hosted by Texas State, will feature the Bobcats, Indiana, Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern, and it is all set to begin with Cardinals and Hoosiers at 10 o'clock on Friday.
LU (3-1) is scheduled to play host Texas State (0-3) at 7 o'clock Friday, Prairie View (0-5) at 11 o'clock Saturday and Texas Southern (0-3) in the finale at 6 o'clock. Lamar and Texas Southern have already faced off this season, in the 2015 opener, and Big Red took the match 3-1.
The Tigers went 0-3 at the Lamar Invitational, losses to UAB and Marist, and have not played since. They took the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship last season after a 12-18 overall campaign and 7-1 league mark. It returned 14 players from 2014, including their leading hitter Kali Fluke- also named as the league's Preseason Offensive Player of the Year.
Fluke averages 2.54 kills per set and a .324 attack percentage (33 kills, 10 errors, 71 attempts), and is followed by Robyn Shannon at 1.92 kills a game.
Including the season opening win, the Cardinals hold a perfect 10-0 record over the Tigers. They also hold a perfect 17-0 mark over the Panthers of Prairie View.
The Panthers enter the Classic winless after failing to win a set at the Bearkat Volleyball Invitational, hosted by Southland Conference member Sam Houston State. That tournament featured SHSU, UTSA, Tulane and Montana State. Since, the Panthers fell to SLC member Houston Baptist on Tuesday, 3-0.
Setter Ana Kiso won league setter of the week honors and Sydney Walker took Bearkat Invitational all-tournament team honors. Kiso averages 5.47 assists per set this season, team best, and Sydney Walker is tied for second on the team with 1.60 digs a set.
Texas State started off its season with a rough stretch at the SMU/TCU Crosstown Challenge. It fell at TCU, 3-0, to Arizona, 3-0, and at SMU, 3-0. The Bobcats enter the new campaign after a 22-13 season last year and second place Sun Belt finish. This season, they return nine letterwinners and four starters plus the libero.
Through, three matches, Jaliyah Bolden leads with 2.11 kills a set, and Kelsey Weynand follows at 1.89. As a team, Texas State only averages 8.78 kills a set. Both Erin Hoppe and Emily Shelton average over four assists a game, and Alex Silver is the digs leader at 2.56 a set.
Texas State leads the all-time series against Lamar, a rivalry that has played every season since 1984, 21-39. LU has not defeated TSU since 2010, and has not done it at Texas State since 2008.
The matchup with Indiana will be the first for the two programs. The Hoosiers are coming off of a 15-17 season, which was the most wins the team had recorded since 2010. They return five starters and 11 letterwinnners.
Indiana had a successful weekend at the Middle Tennessee Blue Raider Bash after collecting wins over Bowling Green and host Middle Tennessee, both were 3-2 wins. It suffered its first loss to Cleveland State, also 3-2. Amelia Anderson is IU's leading hitter with a .281 average and 4.47 kills a set.
Lamar enters the weekend after suffering its first loss of the season at Rice on Tuesday. It came out and took the first game, but Rice capitalized on mistakes and took the momentum finishing out the last three sets. The Cardinals have two players averaging over three kills per set, both middle blockers.
Chelsea Grant averages 3.57 kills a set and a .338 attack percentage. She also leads the team with 1.43 blocks per set.
Cortney Moore averages 3.32 kills a set and has a team-leading 3.92 hitting percentage.
After the Delta Zeta Classic, Lamar moves on to the Louisiana Tech Invitational to play Southern, ULM and LA Tech.
