The Teams: Tarleton Texans (8-10, 0-4 WAC) at Utah Tech (7-6, 1-3 WAC)
at Southern Utah (2-11, 1-3 WAC)
Where: St. George, UT; Cedar City, UT
Venue: Burns Arena; America First Event Center
Times: Thursday, 7 p.m. CT; Saturday, 1 p.m. CT
Streaming Platform: WACinternational.tv Thursday; ESPN+ Saturday

TEXAN VOLLEYBALL MATCH DAY
 
Tarleton volleyball is heading to the state of Utah for two matches, one with Utah Tech and one with Southern Utah on Thursday and one on Saturday.
 
Tarleton is looking to break out of a seven-game losing streak and earn their first Western Athletic Conference victory of the season.
 
Updates can be found on @TarletonVB Twitter and @TarletonVolleyball Instagram accounts. Live stats links and video links can be found on the Tarleton volleyball schedule on TarletonSports.com. The 2022 Tarleton volleyball media guide is now available and is linked here.
 
MATCHUP NOTES
• Tarleton volleyball is visiting Utah for a two-match swing at Utah Tech on Thursday and at Southern Utah on Saturday. Texan volleyball and football will both be in Cedar City to take on Southern Utah on Saturday.
• The Texans are 2-2 all time vs. Utah Tech (formerly Dixie State). The teams' first meeting came as D2 foes in 2018 when Dixie State topped the Texans 3-1. The two teams then played two matches in the covid spring season on back-to-back days in Stephenville with each team earning a 3-0 sweep. The last meeting was in the 2021 season when the Trailblazers and Texans met in Abilene and Tarleton won 3-0 behind Lauren Kersey's 17 kills.
•      When Tarleton and Southern Utah square off on Saturday it will be the first ever meeting between the schools.
• Utah Tech enters Thursday's match on a one game win streak as they toppled NM State 3-1 in their last match. Southern Utah enters Saturday's match the losers of two straight. They fell to UTRGV 3-0 in their last match. Utah Tech and SUU played on Sept. 24 with SUU taking the match 3-1.
 
QUICK HITS
 
• Tarleton has had a tough start to WAC play as they are the losers of four straight conference matches and seven overall.
• The Texans have been without Megan Haynes for the last two matches and Grayson Schirpik for the last three. Despite missing two of their most formidable offensive players, they have played some of the top teams in the conference extremely well.
• Freshman outside hitter Joselyn Roberson led the way offensively for Tarleton vs. UTA, landing 9 kills on .316 hitting. The freshman has seen her role increase with injuries on the Texan roster. She landed a career-high 12 kills in the loss to UTRGV, also adding two blocks.
• Freshman middle blocker Emma Burke has been counted on to provide offensively and she has delivered. In the loss to SFA at home, Burke led Tarleton with 11 kills and also provided three blocks. She is now hitting .208 on the season, .225 in WAC play, and ranks second on the team with 39.0 blocks.
•  Freshman setter Megan Hodges totaled 67 assists between the two matches at Wisdom Gym last week. She has appeared in all 63 sets the Texans have played this season.
• Tarleton hit just .090 vs. SFA and .104 vs. UTA this past week. The offense looks to get back on track this week as Southern Utah has the 10th worst opponent hitting percentage in the conference.
• Tarleton will look to get in the win column on the road as they currently sit at 0-4 on the season. With plenty of road WAC contests upcoming, this is an opportune time for them to get rolling.
• As a team, Tarleton ranks 10th in hitting percentage, sixth in assists, seventh in blocks, fourth in service aces and tied for sixth in kills in the WAC out of 13 teams.

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 second in the WAC with a .364 hitting percentage as well as being in ninth with 0.95 blocks per set. Hair leads the Texans in blocks (60), hitting percentage (.364) and service aces (25). She has garnered two WAC Freshman of the Week honors and has five matches with double-digit kills as a middle blocker.
Emma Burke is second on the team behind Hair with 39 blocks this season. She has appeared in 17 of 18 matches as a middle blocker and landed a career-high 11 kills vs. SFA in Wisdom Gym. One of Burke's more impressive matches came at Northern Colorado when she totaled a career-high seven blocks to go with four kills on seven attacks.
Megan Hodges has been Tarleton's primary setter for the whole season. She leads the team with 420 assists and ranks seventh in the WAC with 6.67 assists per set. She also has added 116 digs on the year which is good for second on the team. In four conference games, Hodges has posted 36,43, 39 and 28 assists.
Breanna McDonough has factored heavily into the rotation, seeing time in all 18 matches as a right side. She ranks second on the team with 141 kills and has four matches of double-digit kills. One of her more impressive matches on the season came at SFA when she posted a career-high 13 kills on .370 hitting.
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.
 
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 212 digs and has posted 15+ digs in seven 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.
 
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 .366 hitting percentage and has a team-high 58 blocks.
 
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
Tarleton will return to Wisdom Gym for a non-conference match with Texas A&M–Commerce on Tuesday, Oct. 11, at 6 p.m. CT. The match will be streamed on ESPN+ and is a pink out match.