The Teams: Tarleton Texans (11-13, 3-6 WAC) vs. Utah Valley (13-7, 7-1 WAC); Seattle U (4-12, 0-8 WAC)
Where: Stephenville, Texas
Venue: Wisdom Volleyball Gym
Times: Thursday, 6 p.m. CT; Saturday, 1 p.m. CT
Streaming Platform: ESPN+

TEXAN VOLLEYBALL MATCH DAY
 
Tarleton volleyball is back in Stephenville, this time for its final two matches in Wisdom Volleyball Gym of the season.
 
As the end of the season grows near, every match is critical for the Texans who are fighting to get a spot in the WAC Volleyball Tournament. The top eight teams in the standings move on to the tournament in Edinburg.
 
Thursday sees second place Utah Valley take on the Texans at 6 p.m. Saturday, the Texans host Seattle U for senior day as five seniors, Brianna Rhodes, Emma Halcomb, Ana Costas, Haley Flanagan and Jaylibeth Garcia-Rosa will be honored. The match will also be Spooky Saturday as fans are encouraged to wear Halloween costumes.
 
MATCHUP NOTES
• Tarleton volleyball is set to host its final two home matches of the season in Wisdom Gym this week with Utah Valley and Seattle U coming to town.
• Tarleton will be taking on the Utah Valley Wolverines for the third time ever, with the record sitting at 1-1. Both matches were in the spring 2021 season on Feb. 19 and 20 in Stephenville. The Wolverines won the first match 3-1 but Tarleton responded the next day with a 3-1 victory of its own.
• Tarleton will play Seattle U for the third time ever as well. The Texans are 2-0 vs. the Redhawks as the teams played twice on Feb. 8-9 in Seattle in the spring 2021 season. Tarleton won 3-2 and 3-0 to sweep the Redhawks.
• Utah Valley is currently on a six-game winning streak. They have a 7-1 conference record with the lone loss coming to Sam Houston. The Wolverines are in second place in the WAC. Seattle U is winless in WAC play and has lost 10 straight matches.
 
QUICK HITS
 
• Tarleton is coming off a 3-1 loss to Abilene Christian on Saturday. Grayson Schirpik led Tarleton in kills with 14, while also adding eight digs. The Texans were out hit .225 to .081 with the Wildcats landing 54 kills to the Texans 39.
• The Texans hold a 3-6 conference record. California Baptist and Abilene Christian both hold the same record in the WAC with Sam Houston sitting at 3-7. Two teams that Tarleton beat, Southern Utah and Utah Tech are both 4-5, a game ahead of the Texans in the standings.
• Ailie Hair still ranks first in the WAC in hitting with a .372 clip. As a team the Texans are hitting seventh best in the WAC (.206), landing the seventh most assists per set (11.52), and the seventh most kills per set (12.37).
• The loss in Abilene dropped the Texans to 2-5 in true road matches. The two wins came on the Utah road trip where they defeated Utah Tech and Southern Utah consecutively. Tarleton will travel to Sam Houston, New Mexico State and UTRGV to conclude its regular season slate following the two home matches this week.
•  Emma Halcomb dug up a season-high 16 digs in the loss to the Wildcats Saturday. She started at libero in place of Ana Costas and put in the best defensive performance of her season.
• Tarleton has only been held to less than .100 hitting four times this season. The fourth time was at ACU. The Texans are 0-4 in these matches.
• Megan Haynes leads the Texans with 98 kills on .205 hitting in conference matches despite missing two conference matches. When Haynes is on and is a driving force of the offense, the Texans are usually at the top of their game.
 
NOTABLES
 
New Texans on the Block
 
All six freshmen for Tarleton have seen the court this season, with most of them playing a big part in the Texans' early season success. At times the Texans have had five true freshmen on the court at one time.
 
Ailie Hair sits first in the WAC with a .372 hitting percentage. Hair leads the Texans in blocks (85) and hitting percentage (.372). She has garnered two WAC Freshman of the Week honors and has seven matches with double-digit kills as a middle blocker.
Emma Burke is second on the team behind Hair with 53.0 blocks this season. She has appeared in 23 of 24 matches as a middle blocker and landed a career-high 11 kills vs. SFA in Wisdom Gym on Sept. 29. One of Burke's more impressive matches came vs. CBU when she totaled a career-high tying seven blocks to go with four kills on .500 hitting.
Megan Hodges has been Tarleton's primary setter for the whole season. She leads the team with 597 assists and ranks eighth in the WAC with 6.71 assists per set. She also has added 166 digs on the year which is good for second on the team. In nine conference matches, Hodges has never finished with less than 20 assists.
Breanna McDonough has factored heavily into the rotation, seeing time in all 24 matches as a right side. She ranks third on the team with 197 kills and has seven matches of double-digit kills. She won WAC Freshman of the Week on Oct. 10 after posting a career-high 14 kills on .357 hitting vs. Southern Utah.
Joselyn Roberson has seen more playing time as the season has progressed. The outside hitter now has two matches with double digit kills. Overall, she has landed 10 kills vs. FAU, nine at SFA and a career-high 12 vs. UTRGV.
 
WAC Awards
Freshman middle blocker Ailie Hair took home WAC Freshman of the Week honors in both week one and week two of the season. She currently holds a WAC leading .382 hitting percentage and has a team-high 80 blocks.
Freshman right side Breanna McDonough was named the WAC Freshman of the Week on Oct. 10 after she posted a career-high 14 kills in a win over Southern Utah the week prior.
 
Returning Digs Leader
Ana Costas (DS) led the Texans a season ago with 371 digs and 4.47 digs per set.  The 4.47 digs per set was good for fourth in the WAC. She plays a critical part for the team and as Coach Schindler noted, "is a fierce competitor." This season she once again leads Tarleton with 339 digs and has posted 15+ digs in 13 matches.
 
Three Hundred Fifty
Tarleton head coach Mary Schindler reached another milestone on Friday, Sept. 2, when Tarleton swept Tennessee State. The win gave Schindler 350 career wins, all while coaching at Tarleton.
 
Conference Tourney Time
The WAC approved reclassifying institutions to participate in all conference championships as early as this fall. This approval grants rights only for sports to compete in postseason conference play, not national postseason. The top 8 teams in the WAC move on to the conference tournament and this season Tarleton will be able to compete.
 
WAC Preseason Poll
Tarleton was picked to finish tied ninth out of 12 in the Western Athletic Conference. With 50 points, the Texans were picked behind league newcomer UT Arlington (54) and tied with Utah Tech (50). NM State was picked to win the league and Tarleton will travel to Las Cruces on Nov. 10.
 
New WAC Scheduling
This season the WAC has scrapped divisions completely after having a West and Southwest Division in 2021. The 13 teams from across the conference will play each other in preparation for the WAC Volleyball Tournament that will be held at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in Edinburg. The top 8 teams play in the conference tournament.
 
Conference Standings

 

UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
The Texans will travel to Huntsville for a match vs. Sam Houston in the Johnson Coliseum on Thursday, Nov. 3. The match will be streamed on ESPN+.