BEAUMONT, Texas — In the latest Southland Conference volleyball standings, Lamar University has climbed into third place after winning three matches in a row.

This week, LU hosts two teams that are tied for second place in the conference — University of Incarnate Word and Houston Christian.
2025 SCHEDULE: UIW has the fourth best RPI in the Southland Conference after playing nationally ranked opponents Arizona State (No. 8) and BYU (No. 21) as well Oklahoma which is receiving votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association rankings …  UIW began conference play 4-0 before being swept by UT Rio Grande Valley … The Cardinals recently rebounded with a five-set win over A&M-Corpus Christi.

2025 RECORD: 9-9 overall (5-1 in SLC play)

OFFENSIVE LEADERS: UIW has four players with 100 or more kills … Senior outside hitter / opposite Finley Evans leads the offense with 188 kills and 218.5 points … Senior outside hitter / opposite Kyla Malone is second with 168 kills … Junior outside hitter / opposite Kitana Tu'ufuli is third with 122 kills while sophomore setter Calissa Allison has 107 … Allison has a team high 463 assists and 21 service aces.

DEFENSIVE LEADERS: The defense has five players with 100 or more digs … Freshman libero Ashton Rogers leads the back line with 240 digs … Senior middle blocker Kade Thomas has a team high 50 total blocks (14 solo, 36 block assists) … Sophomore middle blocker Vanessa Eregie is second with 46 total blocks (12 solo, 34 block assists).

2024 RECAP: UIW finished 17-11 overall and 9-7 in league play … The Cardinals were seeded fifth at the conference tournament, falling in the semifinals to No. 1 seeded Southeastern Louisiana … UIW has made four straight trips to the SLC tournament since 2021.

HEAD COACH: Gabryel Ording is in her third season at the helm with a career record of 41-36. LU vs. UIW: UIW leads the all-time series 13-3 since the first meeting in 2013 … UIW has won the last eight matches … The last time LU won was on Sept. 25, 2018 by way of four sets in Beaumont … LU won the first two meetings in the series back in 2013 and 2014.
 
LEADING THE CONFERENCE: LU leads the Southland Conference in six of the seven categories — points (1,257.5), assists (891), kills (944), blocks (190.5), service aces (123) and digs (1,322).

NATIONALLY RANKED: The Cardinals are ranked third in NCAA Division I in total attacks (2,957) … LU is also third in NCAA Division I in total blocks, fourth in digs, 18th in assists and 22nd in kills.
  
GO, GABBY, GO: Gabby Baker leads all of NCAA Division I with 407 digs, two ahead of Gardner-Webb's Nalani McBride … Baker is one of three freshman liberos ranked in the top 10 (The other two are: East Texas A&M's Jade Washington (No. 8 / 360 digs) and College of Charleston's Jumana Martin (No. 10 / 352 digs)) … Baker leads the Southland Conference in digs while she ranks second in digs per set (4.96) … Baker is 21 digs away from tying the 10th highest dig total in a season in program history (The record is 428 shared by Shanda Hart (2000) and Natalie Sarver (2002)).

OFFENSIVE LEADER: Maja Malinowska ranks first in the conference in points (282) and second in kills (242) … Malinowska has tallied 10 double-doubles this season … She recorded the second most kills in a four-set match in program history after tallying 27 vs. Nicholls … Malinowska became the first Cardinal to hit .500 or better with 20 or more kills since Tomar Thomas in 2018 (20 kills / .625 vs. Mercer) … The last time a Cardinal hit .500 with 10 or more kills was Wiktoria Warpechowska in 2023 (14 kills / .500 vs. Nicholls) … Malinowska recorded the most kills in a match this season surpassing Taisha Rhone's 26 kills vs. UL Monroe on Sept. 16 …  Malinowska is 23 kills away from reaching 600 for her career.

BRINGING THE BOOM: Daniella Udegbunam is tied for sixth in NCAA Division I in total blocks (95) alongside Wyoming's Sarah Holcomb … Udegbunam ranks second in solo blocks (28) in NCAA Division I … Udegbunam leads the Southland Conference in solo blocks and total blocks while she is second in block assists (67).

HITTING HARD: In the four-set win over Nicholls, LU hit a collective .340 marking the first time the offense has hit over .330 in a match since 2019 (Prairie View A&M / .409).

GETTING RECOGNIZED: Baker became the first defensive player at LU to earn Southland Conference Player of the Week honors since Lauren Stahlman in 2015 … Baker earned the honor back on Sept. 22.

MILESTONE MOMENT: LU had two setters eclipse the 1,000-assist career mark this season … Jo Moffitt reached 1,005 career assists in her three-year career while Alexa Gonzalez now has 1,393 in her two-year career.

HOME SWEET HOME: LU is trying to post back-to-back seasons of .500 or better at home since 2018 (7-5) and 2019 (6-6) ... The Cardinals have gone 11-5 at home the last two seasons.

THIS AND THAT: Gonzalez ranks fourth in the conference in assists (536) and fourth in service aces (26) … Kinley Elms is tied ninth in kills (154) in the conference.