BEAUMONT, Texas - Carrying over a theme from the previous weekend, Lamar University's volleyball team will again play in the same town and the same opponent as LU's football team. The Cards (6-9, 1-4 SLC) will travel to Huntsville, Texas, on Saturday to play at Sam Houston State (8-8, 4-0 SLC).

Lamar at Sam Houston State - October 12 at 1 p.m. -Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum

Sam Houston State is undefeated in conference play so far this year with a 3-1 win at Northwestern State, a 3-2 win at Central Arkansas, a three-set win against New Orleans, and a 3-0 win over Southeastern Louisiana at home. The Bearkats host Houston Baptist on Thursday before Lamar comes to town.

Brenda Gray has been the head coach of SHSU's volleyball program for 36 years, and has amassed an impressive resume in that time with three SLC Coach of the Year awards, two Southland Conference regular season championships, two SLC tournament championships, and a 707-509 career record including 303 SLC wins.

Sam Houston State is one of the best teams in the conference statistically, ranking fifth in team hitting percentage (.218), second in assists per set (12.60), first in kills per set (13.53), third in digs per set (16.73), and first in blocks per set (3.07). Their service game is the only place the Bearkats noticeably suffer with an 11th-ranked 1.07 aces a set. In contrast, Lamar shines in the service game with 1.78 aces per set, the second-best mark in the SLC and the 18th-best nation-wide.

Addison Miller is one of the best liberoes in the SLC with an astounding 5.33 digs a set, and Ashley Lewis has been pacing the conference with 4.07 kills a set. Lewis also leads the SLC in points a set with a 4.47 average, and Madilyn Miles is 10th in the league in assists per set with 5.80 per game.

The Last Time Out - at Northwestern State

On a tough night on the road, Lamar University (6-9, 1-4 SLC) fought hard but couldn't keep pace with Northwestern State University (12-7, 4-1 SLC). The Cards dropped a three-set decision to the Lady Demons in Prather Coliseum.

Abigale Nash led with seven kills and 12 digs, and Dannisha House and Kayla Neumann each had five kills along with two blocks for House and one block for Neumann. Erin Pequeno had nine digs and two aces.

Up Next

Lamar will return home after the SHSU game to host Central Arkansas (8-10, 2-3 SLC) on Oct. 17 and Nicholls (8-7, 2-2 SLC) on Oct. 19. The second half of the conference slate will begin Oct. 22 at McNeese (8-9, 1-4 SLC), and another road match at Houston Baptist (10-9, 2-2 SLC) will precede a four-game home stand for Lamar against UIW (4-15, 0-5 SLC), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (10-9, 3-3 SLC), New Orleans (9-10, 2-3 SLC), and Southeastern Louisiana (8-10, 3-2 SLC).