BEAUMONT, Texas — After a challenging eight-game road trip that spanned three different states, the Lamar University volleyball team returns home this weekend to host the two-day Lamar Invitational.
Cal State Fullerton, Abilene Christian and Texas Southern will be competing in the tournament which begins Friday with a full slate of four matches.
TITANS AT A GLANCE
Cal State Fullerton comes in 4-5 while riding a three-game losing skid.
This past weekend, the Titans faced Cal Baptist, University of New Mexico and Portland State at The Joust tournament in Riverside, Calif.
Cal State Fullerton went 2-1 at both the Vandal Invitational in Idaho and Seattle University tournament.
The Titans notched a pair of five-set wins over Idaho State while they swept Manhattan and won in four sets over Oral Roberts.
Cal State Fullerton will play its first 16 matches on the road before returning home on Oct. 9.
OFFENSIVE LEADERS: Senior middle blocker Ketesia Hall has a team-high 97 kills … Freshman outside hitter Lira Pukl Verdel leads the way with nine service aces … Junior setter Kahea Carvalho has a team-high 286 assists.
DEFENSIVE LEADERS: Freshman libero / defensive specialist Mia Feldhaus leads the back row with 118 digs … Freshman middle blocker Zariah Crosby has a team-high 30 total blocks … Hall and freshman middle blocker Hannah Hass are second on the team in total blocks with 29.
2024 RECAP: Cal State Fullerton had a challenging season, finishing 4-24 overall and 0-18 in The Big West … The program's last season with a record of .500 came in 2012 (16-16 overall) … The last time the Titans had a record better than .500 was in 2010 (26-6 overall).
2025 ROSTER: Seven upperclassmen / 11 underclassmen.
HEAD COACH: Nicky Cannon became the ninth head coach in program history when she took over on Feb. 4, 2025 … Cannon spent the previous three seasons as the head coach at UC Riverside … This is her second stint with the Titans as she served as an assistant coach in 2019.
TIGERS AT A GLANCE
Texas Southern faced some tough opponents over the weekend at the Sun City Classic in El Paso, going 1-2 against UCLA and UTEP.
The Tigers won their first match of the season with a sweep of Oral Roberts.
OFFENSIVE LEADERS: Junior outside hitter / right side Gracie Hill leads the team with 52 kills … Senior middle blocker Kourtni Collier ranks second on the team with 45 kills … Sophomore setter Kennedi Walker has a team-high 114 assists while junior setter Ava Ray has 102 … Walker and Collier each have a team-high seven service aces.
DEFENSIVE LEADERS: Collier also has a team-high 23 total blocks … Junior defensive specialist / libero Morelia Diaz leads the way with 89 digs.
2024 RECAP: The Tigers went 10-19 overall as they finished fifth in the Southwestern Athletic Conference with a 9-7 record … Texas Southern's last winning season came in 2017 (16-13 overall).
2025 ROSTER: Nine upperclassmen / eight underclassmen.
HEAD COACH: Alexis Austin enters her fourth season at the helm … Austin has led the Tigers to four straight SWAC tournament appearances.
WILDCATS AT A GLANCE
Abilene Christian is 4-7 after recently suffering a sweep to Tulsa on Monday.
The Wildcats began the season 2-2 with wins over Missouri State and Northwestern State. ACU then dropped four matches in a row, going 0-3 at a tournament hosted by Stephen F. Austin.
At the New Orleans/Nicholls crossover, the Wildcats snapped the skid with two sweeps of Grambling State and Arkansas - Pine Bluff.
OFFENSIVE LEADERS: Junior outside hitter Aubrey Beaver leads the way with 126 kills … Junior middle blocker Hannah Gonzalez is second on the team with 108 kills … Junior setter Rachel Koss has a team-high 349 assists … Junior defensive specialist / libero Abby Christian leads the offense with 20 service aces.
DEFENSIVE LEADERS: Gonzalez also leads the defense with 38 total blocks … Redshirt freshman libero Brennan Ramirez has a team-high 157 digs … Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Erika Gustafson has a team-high 10 solo blocks.
2024 RECAP: The Wildcats finished 10-18 overall and 5-11 in league play … ACU's last winning season was in 2011 when the program finished 21-14 overall as a member of the Lone Star Conference and Division II.
2025 ROSTER: Eight upperclassmen / Seven underclassmen.
HEAD COACH: Ijeoma Moronu Alstrup enters her third season … She previously served as an assistant coach at ACU from 2012-2015 after a four-year playing career with the Wildcats from 2007-2010.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
LU vs. Cal State Fullerton: The Titans are 1-2 all-time since the first meeting in 1985 … Both teams last met in 2009 … LU's lone win came in four sets back on Oct. 12, 1985.
LU vs. Texas Southern: The Cardinals are 14-1 all-time since the series began in 1990 … The Cardinals are 6-0 against the Tigers at home … LU has won six of the last seven meetings … Both teams met in 2024 in Huntsville with LU winning in straight sets … Since 2010, LU is 30-3 against SWAC schools.
LU vs. Abilene Christian: The Wildcats are 8-4 all-time since the first meeting in 2013 … ACU has won the last four meetings … The last time both teams met was in 2021 … LU's last win in the series came in 2019.
CARDINALS AT A GLANCE
GO, GABBY, GO: Gabby Baker enters the week with the fourth-most digs in the country … Baker is the only freshman ranked in the top five in NCAA Division I in total digs … Baker set a new program-high after tallying 38 digs in a five-set loss to the University of Louisiana Monroe, surpassing Kaeden Robinson's 37 digs in a five-set match vs. Nicholls in 2023 … Baker leads the Southland Conference with 243 digs.
LISTEN TO THE LYRICS: Lyric Jordan reached a career milestone of 700 career kills after she finished with 11 in the match vs. ULM … Jordan now has 708 career kills … She currently is tied for second in the Southland with 123 kills.
TAISHA TOUGH: Taisha Rhone tallied the most kills by a Cardinal this season after she had 26 against ULM … Rhone was one kill shy of tying her career-high of 27 set on Oct. 7, 2023.
SETTING MILESTONES: Alexa Gonzalez reached 1,000 career assists when she finished with 21 after a four-set win over Louisiana Tech on Sept. 7. She now has 1,123 career assists.
TOURNEY HISTORY: Since 1990, the Cardinal volleyball program has off and on hosted a tournament … The tourney has changed names several times from the Babe Zaharias Classic (1990, 1992), Lady Cardinals Classic (2001, 2002-2004), Cardinal Classic (2015) and Katrinka Crawford Invitational (2019, 2021-2022) … LU has gone 28-17 overall when hosting a tournament.
LEADING THE SOUTHLAND: LU leads the conference in points (714.5), kills (532), assists (510), total blocks (111.5), service aces (71) and digs (816) …
Daniella Udegbunam leads the league in total blocks (54) … Gonzalez ranks third in the SLC in assists while she's tied for sixth in service aces with 14.
#PeckEmCards
