BEAUMONT – After it tied a school record for the longest road swing to start the season, the Lamar University volleyball team finally gets its chance to play in McDonald Gym when it hosts two Southland Conference matches, starting with Central Arkansas at 7 p.m. Thursday night.
Hosting the Sugar Bears (8-9, 2-3 Southland Conference) will snap a road trip that lasted 15-matches for the Cardinals (2-13, 2-1). After UCA, Big Red will turn around and host Northwestern State (9-11, 4-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
Several events will surround both matches. Lamar Athletics will be handing out volleyball schedule T-shirts and posters, while supplies last Thursday night. Also, there will be free pizza for the first 100 students to arrive at the match. Saturday will be Camper Reunion day, and campers who attend the LU volleyball camps will get in free of charge if they wear the camp T-shirt. Also, Coach
Alan Edwards will have his "Chalk Talk" pregame approximately at 12:15 p.m.
"McDonald Gym is a special place to play. I know the players are excited about it. Our team plays better in a closer environment," said Edwards. "I've talked to a few student athletes that say they are coming, and hopefully it'll be McDonald at its finest."
Sitting at 2-1 during conference play, the Cardinals look to go 3-1 for the first time since 2010.
Since getting to Southland play, Lamar has been much better. It sits at 16.14 points earned a set, which is just a notch below Edwards' expectation of 17. As a whole, the team averages 11.86 kills a game and has a .207 attack percentage, both are well above the non-conference numbers of 10.41 and .131.
Chelsea Grant, who notched her career-high with 22 kills against Houston Baptist, is second in the conference with 3.34 kills a set in SLC matches only. Also second in the league is freshman
Dannisha House in blocks, 1.71 per set. House has really emerged as a force at the net. Despite only playing in 19 of 56 sets on the campaign, she is second in total blocks (27), only shy of
Ivette Dim's 44.
"Dannisha is just an outstanding athlete, and comes from an athletic family. She moves very well," said Edwards. "She's extremely quick laterally and good at closing the block. With the ball in the air, she can do things that most players can't do. She has a chance to be very special in her career."
Carlyn Stella has become a player in the backline defense for LU, and was given the chance to play libero against Houston Baptist. The chance payed off as she had 18 digs in the match, just one shy of the team's season best – which she recorded against Southeastern Louisiana.
"Carlyn has a big, heavy right arm and is tremendous in ball control. Our kids have said since she got here that she makes passing in serve-receive look really, really easy," said Edwards. "Having her there has been a huge plus. She does a good job of reading angles. With both her and (Lauren) Stahlman together, they've made our dig totals go up and helped us in transition."
The Sugar Bears take the floor Thursday having lost its last two matches but also with a great deal of success against LU. The two teams have squared off 16 times before, and UCA has won 12 of them – including the last seven. Big Red's last win against it was Nov. 5, 2011, and UCA is 5-3 in McDonald Gym.
Sophomore-transfer Haley Tippett is the team's leading hitter at 2.67 kills a set, followed by Samantha Anderson (2.56) and Megan Nash (2.25). In terms of attack percentage, Nash leads the way with a .291 mark, good enough for fourth in the league.
Defensively, two Sugar Bears average three or more digs a set this season, Amanda Dinmon at 3.33 and Tippett at 3.06. At the net, Savannah Allen leads the way with 1.12 blocks a set followed closely by Nash at 1.10.
"If we can serve tough on Central Arkansas, I think we can cause some issues for them," said Edwards. "They are going to block well. Hopefully we can slow them down a little bit in transition."
NSU and LU's storied history sits more with Big Red, who leads the all-time mark at 23-10, despite the Lady Demons holding the last five.
Northwestern State has claimed four of its last five, all in league play. Regan Rogers leads NSU in hitting with a 3.15 kills mark and Kourtney Seaton (1.72 k/s) has a team-best .220 attack mark. Defensively, Channing Burleson holds a 5.15 digs average – second in the Southland Conference – and is followed by Alexis Warren's 3.00 mark. At the net, both Seaton and Madeline Drake both have 0.79 blocks per set.
"With Northwestern State you're going to get a team that extends rallies and serves really tough," said Edwards. "They were a conference championships team a couple of years ago, and still have some of those kids on the roster. They just know how to win. It's always fun when they come in here."
NSU ranks second in the league in service aces as a team, 1.71. Setter Natalie Jaeger, who averages a team-best 8.87 assists per set, leads the way with 20 aces, followed by Burleson (16) and Warren (15).
After Saturday's match, the team will go on a brief two-match road swing that goes through Incarnate Word and San Antonio. The Cardinals' next match at home will be a quick one-stop contest against Abilene Christian on October 18.
