The Teams: Tarleton Texans (3-1, 0-0 WAC) vs. Southeastern Lions (4-0, 0-0 SLC); Tennessee State Tigers (0-2, 0-0 OVC); Prairie View A&M Panthers (0-4, 0-0 SWAC)
Where: Stephenville, TX
Stadium: Wisdom Volleyball Gym
Times: Friday: 10 a.m., 6 p.m. Saturday: 5 p.m.
Streaming Platform: ESPN+ for all Tarleton matches, WACInternational.TV for non-Tarleton matches

TEXAN VOLLEYBALL MATCH DAY
Tarleton returns home for their final home tournament of the season on Friday as they host Southeastern Louisiana, Tennessee State and Prairie View A&M in the Dr. Pam Littleton Classic.
 
The Texans first match on Friday at 10 a.m. CT is 'school day', a game for local school districts. The nightcap at 6 p.m. CT will be a tribute to Dr. Pam Littleton with 300 free T-Shirts being given away.
 
The late Pam Littleton served as a Professor of Mathematics at Tarleton State University from 1988 until she retired in 2011. She was the first female professor from Tarleton to receive the Regents Professor designation from the Texas A&M University System. Pam was a staunch supporter of Tarleton Athletics and Tarleton Volleyball specifically. Her husband Mark has carried on the tradition of supporting Tarleton Athletics and will be in attendance for the tribute, as he is for nearly all Tarleton home matches.
 
 
ABOUT THE MATCHUPS
•  Tarleton returns home to host the Dr. Pam Littleton Classic this weekend. The Texans will honor the late Dr. Littleton on Friday at 6 p.m. when they play Tennessee State.
•  The only team in the tournament that the Texans have squared off with previously is Prairie View A&M, who they are 2-0 all-time against. Both matches were played in 2021, with the first being in the spring covid-delayed season. That match was played in Prairie View and the Texans swept the Panthers. The next match was 10/14/2021 and the Texans once again swept.
•  SLU comes into the weekend sitting at 4-0, the only team in the field that is unbeaten. They have taken down Tulane, Prairie View A&M, Idaho State and Jackson State.
•  Tarleton assistant coach Tatiana Booth previously coached at Tennessee State, spending the 2019 and 2020 seasons in Nashville.
 
QUICK HITS
•  Tarleton is coming off a loss to Texas Tech in Lubbock. The score shows that the Red Raiders swept Tarleton, but if you look closer the Texans were ahead late in 2 of 3 sets and played Tech extremely close throughout. The match was a good opportunity for Tarleton to see an NCAA Tournament team from 2021 and how they stack up against them.
•  Grayson Schirpik led the Texans with 11 kills and 8 digs vs. Texas Tech. She has two matches with double-digit kills and leads the team with 41 overall. The 41 kills also rank seventh in the WAC.
•  Brianna Rhodes has been impressive for Tarleton thus far, leading the team and ranking sixth in the WAC with 12 blocks including 4 solo blocks. The senior's 12 blocks are already ahead of her season total of 10 last season.
•  Megan Hodges and Melina Maldonado have been the source of nearly all Tarleton assists up to this point. The freshman Hodges leads the Texans and ranks sixth in the WAC with 76 assists and had a season-high 25 in the season opener vs. Fairleigh Dickinson. Maldonado contributed a season-high 28 in the season opener as well and has 66 assists for the season, which is good for ninth in the WAC.
•  Freshman Breanna McDonough leads the team and ranks fifth in the WAC with a .357 hitting percentage and is second on the team with 33 kills. The Tampa, FL, native has had nine kills in two different matches.
•  The Texans as a team rank second in the WAC with 27 service aces, fourth in the WAC in hitting percentage (.235), and fourth in the WAC in blocks per set (2.23). 

 
NOTABLES
 
Repeat Production?
In 2021, Tarleton ranked third in the WAC in digs and hitting percentage (.228). They look to replicate that this season, albeit with a lot of new faces.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Impact Transfers
Jaylibeth Garcia-Rosa (MB/RS) comes to Tarleton in 2022 after an extremely impressive stint at Northwestern State. While at NSU she started all 30 matches in the 2021 season and led the team with 99 total blocks and led the Southland Conference with 37 solo blocks. She also led the team with 30 service aces. The 37 solo blocks rank fifth all-time in NSU single season history. Garcia-Rosa looks to immediately contribute on the Texan frontline.
 
Grayson Schirpik (OH) comes to Tarleton in 2022 after spending a season at the University of Houston. She contributed quite a bit in the 2021 season, seeing time in 21 matches. She was used primarily as a serving specialist, recording two service aces in three different matches. The Cougars saw big success in Schirpik's lone season on the squad as they posted 25 wins for just the fourth time in program history and finished second in the AAC for the first time ever. Schirpik's athleticism jumps out at you and she, just like Garcia-Rosa, will play a big part on the Texan front line.
 
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."
 
The Freshmen
With the Texans adding six true freshmen to the roster, some combination of the youngster's figure to contribute immediately.
Megan Hodges (S) comes to Tarleton from Celina HS and as Schindler noted "she's fast, moves the ball well and will contribute in the setter role." She landed on the TGCA Class 4A All-State team in 2019 and 2021.
Breanna McDonough (RS) comes to Tarleton from Berkeley Prep School in Tampa, FL. "She has what it takes to be a good player in this conference" Schindler said. She was a member of the AVCA Phenom List.
Ailie Hair (MB) comes to Tarleton from Liberty Hill HS. Schindler mentioned that Hair "Is a dynamic athlete and has a high contact point." Hair picked up All-District honors in each of her three varsity seasons, including 27-4A first team all-district honors in 2019 as a sophomore and 25-5A first team honors in 2021 as a senior.
Joselyn Roberson (OH) comes to Tarleton from San Marcos HS. She earned first team All-District 26-6A honors in 2021 and had over 1,000 kills in her career.
Emma Burke (MB) comes to Tarleton from Godley HS. According to Schindler she is "fast and a hard worker". Burke is versatile as is evidenced by earning District 11-4A hitter of the year in 2021 and District 11-4A server of the year in 2020.
Isabella Martinez (DS) comes to Tarleton from Hendrickson HS. Some of her feats in HS include District 18-5A Co-Defensive MVP in 2021, named to both the AVCA Phenom list and AVCA all-region team in 2021.
 
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
Tarleton will host UIW on Tuesday at 7 p.m. CT with the match being streamed on ESPN+. The match will be Tarleton's last match at Wisdom for 18 days until they kick off their home WAC slate vs. UTRGV on Sept. 24.