BEAUMONT, Texas — On Saturday morning, the Lamar University volleyball team will look to protect the home court as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi comes into town for a Southland Conference match.
 
2025 SCHEDULE: The Islanders are coming off a conference-opening four-set loss to Stephen F. Austin … A&M-Corpus Christi is riding a four-game losing skid after going 0-3 at the Rice Invitational II with tough losses suffered to Rice, No. 9 TCU and Cornell.

2025 RECORD: 4-9 overall (0-1 SLC)

OFFENSIVE LEADERS: Senior middle blocker Kaitlyn Baumann leads the way with 98 kills while senior middle blocker Katelyn Krienke has 97 … Sophomore setter Virginia Van Der Werff has a team-high 447 assists and 27 service aces …  Van Der Werff leads the conference in assists while she's second in service aces … The Islanders rank third in the conference in kills (582) and points (714).

DEFENSIVE LEADERS: Redshirt sophomore outside hitter / libero Brooklyn Jaeger leads the back row with 204 digs … Krienke leads the defense with 23 total blocks while Baumann is second with 21.

2024 RECAP: A&M-Corpus Christi finished the regular season as the No. 2 seed … The Islanders went 20-11 overall (12-4 in conference play) as the Southland Conference tournament champions … A&M-Corpus Christi made its first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2021.

HEAD COACH: Steve Greene is in his 10th season at the helm of the Islanders … He has amassed 159 career wins and seven winning seasons.
   
LU vs. A&M-Corpus Christi: The Islanders lead the all-time series 22-13 … Both teams first met on Sept. 1, 2000 … A&M-Corpus Christi has won the last 20 matches … The last time the Cardinals came out victorious was Oct. 28, 2011 … The Islanders have won by way of a sweep the last four meetings … LU last won a set on Nov. 10, 2022.
   
LEADING THE CONFERENCE: The Cardinals continue to lead the Southland Conference in six categories — points (952.5), assists (668), kills (696), blocks (164.5), service aces (92) and digs (1,044).

BEST IN THE NATION: LU enters the week leading NCAA Division I in blocks while it's tied for first in digs … LU is also eighth in assists and tied for 10th in kills.

GO, GABBY, GO: Gabby Baker became the first Cardinal defensive player to earn Southland Conference Player of the Week honors since Lauren Stahlman in 2015 … Baker leads the conference with 312 digs, averaging 4.88 per set … She is the No. 1 libero in NCAA Division I based on total digs, ahead of Gardner-Webb's Nalani McBride (311 digs) … Baker is the only freshman libero ranked in the top five … Looking at the top 10 liberos, East Texas A&M's Jade Washington is the only other freshman to crack the top 10 with 243 digs … Baker already set the program high mark for digs in a five-set match (38 digs vs. University of Louisiana Monroe).

BRINGING THE BOOM: Daniella Udegbunam leads the conference in total blocks with 81 … She currently ranks third in NCAA Division I in total blocks … Udegbunam's 14 total blocks during a five-set match against Texas Southern rank as the second highest number of total blocks in a five-set match in program history behind Chelsea Grant's 17 total blocks in 2014 against Sam Houston State.

REACHING 1,000 ASSISTS: Jo Moffitt became the second setter this season to reach 1,000 career assists … Moffitt was 10 assists away from reaching the milestone heading into the match vs. UT Rio Grande Valley … She now has 1,002 for her three-year career …  Alexa Gonzalez reached the 1,000 assists club earlier back on Sept. 7 … Gonzalez now has 1,196 assists in her two-year career.

OFFENSIVE LEADERS: Maja Malinowska leads the offense with 168 kills … She ranks second in the conference in kills and points (198.5) … Kinley Elms is one of two freshmen in the Southland ranked in the top 10 in kills … Gonzalez ranks fourth in the conference in assists (339) and service aces (18).

HOME SWEET HOME: The Cardinals are off to their first 4-0 start at home since 2015 … LU hasn't posted back-to-back seasons of .500 or better at home since 2018-2019.