The Teams: Tarleton Texans (5-7, 0-0 WAC) vs. Incarnate Word Cardinals (5-8, 0-0 SLC); Texas Southern Tigers (1-11, 0-0 SWAC)
Where: San Antonio, TX; Houston, TX
Facility: McDermott Center; H&PE Arena
Time: 6 p.m. CT (Wed); 6:30 p.m. CT (Thu)
Streaming Platform: uiwcardinals.com; Texas Southern YouTube
 
TEXAN VOLLEYBALL MATCH DAY
Tarleton will head south for a couple of true road games this week as the Texans visit San Antonio on Wednesday for a showdown with former Division II rival and current Southland Conference member Incarnate Word. The Texans will turn around Thursday and visit Houston for a match with Texas Southern. Tarleton will be off this weekend as they prepare to begin WAC play next week.
 
Both streams are expected to be streamed on each host school's respective website. Only Incarnate Word appears to have live stats. Details are subject to change throughout the week.
 
ABOUT THE MATCHUP

• For the first week this season, all of Tarleton's opponents have a previous history with the Texans.
• Tarleton and Incarnate Word have squared off 30 times since the series began in 1978. The Texans and Cardinals were rivals in the Lone Star Conference from 2006-12 and UIW holds an all-time lead in the series 18-12. The Cardinals are 9-2 against Tarleton in San Antonio.
• Tarleton and Texas Southern met twice over three days on a neutral court in September 1990 and the teams split the matches. The Texans won the first meeting 2-0 in a neutral site doubleheader at Huston-Tillotson and then the Tigers got even with a 2-0 sweep of their own in the third match of the River City Classic in San Antonio.

 
QUICK HITS

• Entering the fifth week of the season, Tarleton is the No. 5-ranked team in the WAC in team hit percentage. Tarleton is hitting .227 with 552 kills on 1,572 attempts with the fifth-fewest errors in the conference (195).
• Of the top 10 individual leaders in total kills in the WAC, seven of them reside in the Southwest Division with Lauren Kersey at No. 5 in the division and No. 6 in the WAC with 151 kills. Her 3.28 kills per set is ranked No. 4 in the division and No. 7 in the WAC.
• Lorin McNeil has proven to be one of the elite blockers in the Western Athletic Conference. Through 12 matches, McNeil ranks No. 1 in the WAC in total blocks (48.0) and is fourth in the WAC in blocks per set (1.04).
• As a team, Tarleton has hit .250 or higher in five of their last seven matches with a season-high .400 hit percentage against St. Thomas. The Texans had 45 kills with a season-low seven errors on 95 swings against the Tommies. It was Tarleton's first .400 hit performance as a Division I program, the 18th such performance in program history, and the first since hitting .408 against Midwestern State on Oct. 26, 2018.
• Against Texas State, Tarleton recorded a season-high 60 kills as a team. It's the third 60-kill team performance for Tarleton since joining NCAA Division I and their 10th such match since the beginning of the 2019 season.
• After recording 17 double-digit kill performances last spring, Lauren Kersey is picking up right where she left off. The senior leader leads the team with eight double-digit kill performances through the first 12 matches and five of those included .300 hit percentages or higher. She recorded a career-high 25 kills on a .524 hit percentage against Texas State on Sept. 17. It was her second career 20-kill performance.

 
WAC UPDATES

• WAC-ESPN+ ENTERS THREE-YEAR PARTNERSHIP: Continuing a relationship that spans more than 31 years, the Western Athletic Conference and ESPN have announced a new multi-year, multi-platform media rights agreement that will see over 500 annual events on ESPN+ and the ESPN App.
• FOUR NEW MEMBERS, ONE ON THE WAY: Just a year after welcoming two schools to the league in Dixie State and Tarleton, the WAC has opened its arms once again by bringing in the 'Texas 4'group of Abilene Christian, Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston, and Lamar. Tarleton will also bring in Southern Utah next year to grow by seven members over a three-year span.
• LEAGUE DIVISIONS: With the addition of the four Texas schools, the WAC has gone into two divisions for the first time since 2004. The Texans are a part of the Southwest Division that includes all six of the league's Texas schools – Tarleton, ACU, SFA, Sam Houston, Lamar, and UTRGV.
• OWNING THE LONE STAR STATE: With the addition of the four Texas schools, the WAC now boasts the largest presence of any conference in the nation at the NCAA Division I level in the state of Texas.

 
1,000-KILL CLUB
Amber Strange and Lauren Kersey have both eclipsed 1,000 career kills for their careers and will spend the rest of the season climbing Tarleton's all-time kill list. The complete top-10 list is as follows:
 

#	Player	Years	Kills
1.	Hailey Roberts	2014-17	2389
2.	Desiree Reed	2002-05	1545
3.	Sharon Lister	1996-99	1422
4.	Lacey Adkisson	2000-03	1355
5.	Missy Castro	2004-08	1276
6.	Belinda Hardee	1990-93	1261
7.	Kathy Buckler	1983-86	1194
8.	Amber Strange	2017-21	1121
9.	Stacie Murrah	2010-13	1117
10.	Marissa Galich	1995-98	1095
11.	Lauren Kersey	2018-21	1086

 
1,000-KILL TEAMMATES
Lauren Kersey joins Amber Strange in the Tarleton 1,000-kill club. They are the second set of teammates in program history to play together with over 1,000 kills. Previously, Marissa Galich and Sharon Lister at the end of the 1998 season were the only other 1,000-kill teammates to play together in program history.
 
2K PASSER TO 1K HITTER
Only one time in Tarleton's program history has a setter with at least 2,500 career assists ever played alongside a hitter with at least 1,000 career kills – Danielle Barker and Stacie Murrah in 2013. With four more assists from Kayla Brannon, this season will see the second as Brannon plays alongside 1,000-kill teammates Lauren Kersey and Amber Strange.
 
2,000-ASSIST CLUB
Kayla Brannon is among the top-5 all-time in the Tarleton assist leaders. Last season, she reached the 2,000-assist mark on a kill from Lauren Kersey for the 30th point (16-14) of set three against Dixie State on March 9. Brannon is the sixth player in the Tarleton top-10 list in assists to have played under head coach Mary Schindler, who is also No. 9 on the list. She passed Christina Ortiz in the win over UC San Diego on the same day that she set up Lauren Kersey's 1,000th career kill. The complete top-10 list is as follows:
 

#	School	League	Wins
1.	Danielle Barker	2010-13	3324
2.	Jessie Hartman	2008-11	3266
3.	Kayla Brannon	2018-21	2496
4.	Jordyn Keamo	2016-17	2404
5.	Christina Ortiz	2005-06	2313
6.	Didi Ebert	1997-98	2131
7.	Chandler Gow	2014-17	2020

 
NOTABLES

• SUPER SENIOR SEASON: The spring semester did not count as a season of eligibility for student-athletes around the country. Amber Strange and Natalya Chatham have been given the opportunity to return for an additional season of competition.
• WHAT THEY'RE SAYING – PROGRAM ON THE RISE: On July 6 in the El Paso Herald-Post, UTEP head coach Ben Wallis said the following about the Tarleton Volleyball program: "Tarleton State is a program on the rise who had significant wins last season and has had a long run of successful seasons under its head coach Mary Schindler."
• ALL-WAC KERSEY: Since joining the Western Athletic Conference in 2020, Lauren Kersey has been a mainstay on the All-WAC teams. The senior from Norman, Oklahoma was an All-WAC First Team selection following the spring season and is a Preseason All-WAC selection this fall.
• NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Tarleton has been racking up the frequent flyer miles through the first three weeks of the season. The Texans have gone from Stephenville to Miami to New York and California for tournament action. Tarleton has traveled 9,512 miles over the last three weeks but will now be playing in the state of Texas for the remainder of the season, beginning this weekend in Corpus Christi.

 
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
Tarleton will begin Western Athletic Conference play against new league rivals Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin in a visit to the Piney Woods next week. The Texans will square off with the Bearkats in Huntsville on Thursday before visiting the Lady 'Jacks in Nacogdoches on Saturday.