BEAUMONT, Texas — It comes down to the final week of the regular season to decide the seeding for next week's Southland Conference tournament.

Lamar volleyball finds itself in a three-way tie for second place alongside Southeastern Louisiana and Incarnate Word.

The Cardinals will be challenged this week as they must face first place Stephen F. Austin twice.
 
CATCHING UP: The LadyJacks have won 13 of their last 14 matches … Recently, SFA is on a six-game winning streak … SFA is coming off a five-set victory over Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday as it had to battle back and win the final three sets for the reverse sweep.

OFFENSIVE LEADERS: Sophomore opposite Katherine Holtman leads the offense with 273 kills, 330 points and 32 service aces … Holtman is tied for the fifth best hitting percentage in the Southland (.314) while she is sixth in both kills and points and tied for seventh in service aces … Senior outside hitter Camryn Hill is second on the team with 216 kills … SFA has four players with 100 or more assists … Senior setter Jayden Flynn leads the pack with 577 assists … SFA ranks second in the Southland as a team in points (1,659), hitting percentage (.258), assists (1,192) and service aces (174) while its third in kills (1,266).

DEFENSIVE LEADERS: Junior middle blocker Kyanna Creecy leads the way with 91 total blocks (81 block assists, 10 solo blocks) … Sophomore middle blocker Jordan Henderson ranks second on the team with 78 total blocks (69 block assists, nine solo blocks) … Junior outside hitter Caroline Kahle has a team high 353 digs while Hill is second with 307 … SFA ranks third in the conference in blocks (219).

2024 RECAP: The LadyJacks finished the season 24-9 overall and 14-2 in conference play … SFA, the second seed, was ousted in the Southland Conference tournament semifinals by A&M-Corpus Christi … The LadyJacks received an invitation to play in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship as they won their first round match up over Jackson State before falling to Arkansas State.

HEAD COACH: Debbie Humphreys is in her 38th season since taking over the helm in 1988 … Humphreys has accumulated 864 victories, ranking her second among active Division I coaches.
   

• SFA (18-7, 13-1)
• UTRGV (18-7, 13-1)
• Southeastern Louisiana (19-8, 11-4)
• Lamar (17-12, 10-4)
• UIW (14-12, 10-4)
• HCU (12-15, 7-7)
• East Texas A&M (9-16, 7-7)
• A&M-Corpus Christi (10-16, 6-8)
• McNeese (8-19, 4-11)
• New Orleans (8-20, 3-12)
• Nicholls (12-16, 2-13)
• Northwestern State (1-27, 0-14)

   
SFA vs. Lamar: SFA is 42-30 vs. Lamar all-time since 1976 … The LadyJacks have won the last 20 meetings from 2012 to 2024 … SFA has won 10 of the last 11 matches in straight sets … LU's last win over SFA came on Nov. 12, 2011 by way of four sets in Beaumont … The last time the Cardinals won in Nacogdoches was Oct. 25, 2008 by way of five sets.
 
LEADING THE CONFERENCE: LU leads the Southland Conference in six of the seven categories — points (1,781.5), assists (1,278), kills (1,351), blocks (244.5), service aces (186) and digs (1,874) ... The Cardinals are ranked sixth in the conference in hitting percentage (.210).

NATIONALLY RANKED: The Cardinals are fourth in Division I in both digs and attacks (4,100) … LU is also ranked 16th in digs per set (16.73), 21st in assists and 23rd in service aces.

GO, GABBY, GO: Gabby Baker leads the Southland Conference in digs (563) while she is third in digs per set (5.03) … Baker ranks second in Division I digs … Baker leads all freshmen in Division I in digs … She is one of three freshmen ranked in the top 10 in Division I in digs (The other two are: East Texas A&M's Jade Washington | 518 digs | No. 7 and College of Charleston's Juwana Martin | 515 digs | No. 8) …  Baker is 39 digs away from tying the single season program record for digs (602 digs | Andrea Hamilton, 2007).

OFFENSIVE LEADER: Maja Malinowska leads the Southland Conference in kills (390) and points (449) … Malinowska is tied for 24th in Division I in kills while she is 25th in points … She has recorded 17 double doubles this season … Malinowska is also ranked sixth in the conference in service aces (33) and eighth in digs (336).

BRINGING THE BOOM: Daniella Udegbunam leads the Southland Conference in solo blocks (37) while she is second in block assists (85) and total blocks (122) … Udegbunam ranks second in Division I in solo blocks while she is tied for 23rd in total blocks … The last time a Cardinal recorded 120 or more total blocks in a season was Chelsea Grant in 2015 (140 total blocks) … Udegbunam becomes the first Cardinal to tally 100 or more total blocks in a season since 2022 (Tytiana Johnson, 103 total blocks | Wiktoria Warpechowska, 100 total blocks).

THAT WINNING FEELING: LU's 10-game winning streak matched the fifth longest streak in program history … Only three other times has LU recorded a 10-game winning streak (1979, 1983, 1990) … In 16 seasons (2009-2024), the Cardinals had never posted a winning streak of more than five games.

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) … Prior to 2018 and 2019, LU had not posted back-to-back seasons of .500 or better at home since 2014 (5-3) and 2015 (10-4) … LU has currently won five straight matches at home for the first time since 2015 … The Cardinals have gone 15-5 at home the last two seasons.

THIS AND THAT: Taisha Rhone is fifth in the Southland in kills (286) and points (345.5) … Alexa Gonzalez is third in the conference in assists (885) and third in service aces (41) … Gonzalez has recorded 10 double-doubles this season … Gonzalez is 115 assists away from reaching 1,000 for the season (She's tallied 121 assists in her last three matches combined) … The last time an LU setter tallied 1,000 or more assists in a season was in 2022 (London Hatch, 1,140 assists) … Kinley Elms ranks 10th in the Southland in kills (180) and points (200).

GETTING RECOGNIZED: LU has had four players recognized as Southland Conference Players of the Week this season: Baker (Defensive Player of the Week / Sept. 22), Malinowska (Offensive Player of the Week / Oct. 20 | Offensive Player of the Week / Nov. 10) and Gonzalez (Setter of the Week / Oct. 20).

MILESTONE MOMENT: LU had two setters eclipse the 1,000-assist career mark this season … Jo Moffitt reached 1,008 career assists in her three-year career while Gonzalez now has 1,742 in her two-year career.

GAME HIGHS: Malinowska's .571 attack percentage vs. Nicholls is the highest in a match since 2018: (Tomar Thomas: 20 kills / .625 vs. Prairie View A&M) … Malinowska's 27 kills in a four-set win over Nicholls are the second most tallied in a four-set match in program history … Malinowska's 30 kills vs. Southeastern Louisiana on Nov. 6 are the fourth most tallied in a five-set match in program history … Baker's 38 digs vs. UL Monroe are the most in a five-set match in program history (Baker's 38 digs are currently tied for ninth most in a five-set match in Division I this season)  … Udegbunam's 14 total blocks vs. Texas Southern are the second most recorded in a five-set match in program history (Udegbunam's 14 total blocks are currently tied for fourth most in a five-set match in Division I this season) ... Gonzalez recorded 55 assists in a pair of four set matches vs. UIW and Nicholls, which is currently tied for 19th most in a four set match in Division I … Rhone's seven service aces vs. Nicholls on Nov. 1 are tied for the fifth most in a three set match in Division I this season.