STEPHENVILLE – The Tarleton volleyball team returns to Lone Star Conference action this week as the team hosts Midwestern State on Thursday, Oct. 8 and Cameron on Sat. Oct. 10, at Wisdom Gym South in Stephenville.
Thursday's match Tarleton's first-ever “White Out the Gym” night. All fans are encouraged to show their support for the TexAnns by wearing as much white as they can to the game. The person wearing the most white will receive a gift certificate to The Olive Garden.
Saturday's match against Cameron serves as “Camp Day”. Kids wearing their t-shirt from the 2009 Tarleton TexAnn Volleyball Camp will receive free admission into Saturday's game.
The Mustangs head into Thursday's match with an overall record of 7-16 and a 3-0 mark in LSC play. MSU lost a mid-week match to Lubbock Christian on Tuesday, 3-1. The Mustangs went 2-1 at the Alamo City Classic in San Antonio last weekend.
Miranda Byrd leads the Mustangs with 224 kills while Sesley Graves tops the squad with .224 attacking percentage. Kimberly Jeffery leads the team with 400 assists and is followed by Dimery Michaels with 319 assists on the season. The Mustangs rank second in the conference in blocks, due in large part to Lauren Bayer who leads the team with 81 total blocks (23 blocks solo) and Graves who follows with 78 total blocks (15 blocks solo).
Thursday marks the 43rd meeting between the two teams with MSU leading the all-time series 23-19. The Mustangs have won two straight over the TexAnns, but are just 5-9 overall inside Wisdom Gym.
The Aggies are 13-6 overall and 1-2 in the LSC heading into their match against Texas A&M-Kingsville on Thursday. Cameron has won two straight that includes a 3-0 win over Wayland Baptist back on Sept. 28. Cameron's lone conference win came against Southeastern Oklahoma (3-1) back on Sept. 26.
The Aggies are led by their all-conference outside hitter, Lindsay Pazluk, who has 219 kills on a .244 attacking percentage. Laura Ellerbrock leads the Aggies with 764 offensive assists. Kellie Dickerson leads Cameron defensively with 44 total blocks (eight blocks solo). The Aggies are ranked second in the conference in multiple categories including hitting percentage (.219), kills per set (13.20), assists per set (12.16), and digs per set (16.91).
Cameron leads the all-time series with a commanding 25-4 record. The Aggies had won 10 straight over the TexAnns before last season's 3-2 loss to Tarleton in Lawton, Okla. Tarleton's last win over the Aggies prior to last season came back on Aug. 31, 2002. Cameron is 9-2 all-time at Wisdom Gym.
The TexAnns enter this week's play 7-14 overall following a 1-3 trip to Topeka, Kan. last weekend. Tarleton fell in five sets to both Northwest Missouri and No. 20 Truman State on Friday. The team concluded the Lady Blues Fall Classic on a high note defeating Southwest Baptist, 3-2, after falling to No. 9 Washburn, 3-0, earlier on Saturday. The TexAnns are 2-2 in the LSC heading into this week.
Shay Gracy leads all players with 225 kills and a .243 hitting percentage. The senior middle blocker also leads the team with 66 total blocks and 20 blocks solo. Rachel Wolf is second on the team with 192 kills. The junior outside hitter needs just two more kills to set a new season high after recording 193 kills last season. Erin Lynn is second on the team with 50 total blocks (six blocks solo). Sophomore setter Jessie Hartman sets up the offense on a full-time basis now and leads the team with 612 assists. Junior libero Shea McBrearty leads the team with 355 digs on the season. The Dripping Springs native recorded 79 digs last weekend and now ranks second all-time on Tarleton's career digs list with 1,175.
First serve between the TexAnns and Mustangs on Thursday is set for 7 p.m. Saturday's contest is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.
