BEAUMONT, Texas — After a big weekend going 3-0 at the Lamar Invitational, the Cardinal volleyball team is hoping to keep the momentum rolling into the start of Southland Conference play.

The Cardinals travel to Edinburg to take on UT Rio Grande Valley for a midweek afternoon match on Wednesday.
2025 SCHEDULE: The Vaqueros wrapped up the Erie Insurance Invitational in Harrisonburg, Va. this past weekend going 2-1, finishing with back-to-back sweeps of William & Mary and Delaware State … UTRGV has won four of its last six matches.

2025 RECORD: 5-6 overall

OFFENSIVE LEADERS: Sophomore outside hitter Martina Franco has a team-high 91 kills and 102 points … Junior setter Isabella Costantini has tallied 345 assists and a team-high 14 service aces … Freshman outside hitter Dimitra Nanou ranks second on the team with 87 kills.

DEFENSIVE LEADERS: Junior libero Celianiz Cabranes leads the back row with 176 digs … Junior middle blocker Julianna Bryant has a team-high 29 total blocks while junior middle blocker Aaliyah Snead has 28.

2024 RECAP: UTRGV went 16-12 overall and 12-4 in its first year of Southland Conference play … The Vaqueros were invited to play in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship, dropping a first-round match to Arkansas State … UTRGV was seeded fourth at the conference tournament, falling in the quarterfinals to Incarnate Word.

HEAD COACH: Todd Lowery is in his 11th season at UTRGV … He has amassed a 172-134 record … He led the Vaqueros to four straight winning seasons from 2021-2024.
LU vs. UTRGV: The Cardinals are 28-9 vs. UTRGV all-time since the first meeting in 1984 … LU won the first 22 matches against the Vaqueros from 1984-1996 … The Vaqueros have won the last four matches … LU's last win came on Sept. 18, 2015.
 
LEADING THE WAY: The Cardinals continue to lead the Southland Conference in points (916.5), assists (644), kills (669), blocks (157.5), service aces (90) and digs (1,004) … LU enters the week ranked first in the nation in digs, first in total blocks, sixth in assists and eighth in kills. 

GO, GABBY, GO: Gabby Baker entered the week as the nation's top libero … She is the only freshman in NCAA Division I ranked in the top 10 in total digs … Baker leads the Southland Conference with 300 digs … She set the program record for digs in a five-set match when she tallied 38 against the University of Louisiana Monroe, surpassing Kaedon Robinson's program high mark of 37 set against Nicholls on Oct. 7, 2023 … Baker became the first Cardinal to earn Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors since 2015.

THEY'RE BACK: Maja Malinowska and Kinley Elms both returned to the court this past weekend … Malinowska ranks second in the Southland in kills (161) and points (189) … Malinowska ranks third on the team in service aces (12) and second in digs (145) … Elms is fourth on the team in kills (94) … She currently ranks eighth in the Southland in kills.

BLOCKING MACHINE: Daniella Udegbunam leads the conference with 79 total blocks … She's tallied 22 solo blocks and 57 block assists this season … She tallied 14 total blocks against Texas Southern which ranks second in program history for total blocks in a five-set match … She was three shy of tying the program record of 17 set by Chelsea Grant in 2014 … Udegbunam entered the week ranked third in the nation in total blocks.

CONFERENCE OPENERS: LU has not won on a conference opener since Sept. 27, 2014, when it took down Sam Houston in five sets.

ALEXA ASSISTS: Alexa Gonzalez ranks fourth in the Southland in assists (329) while she is fourth in service aces (18).

MILESTONE MARKS: Gonzalez surpassed 1,000 career assists this season … She has 1,186 assists in her two-year career … Jo Moffitt is 10 assists away from reaching 1,000 … She has 990 assists in her three-year career.