The Teams: Tarleton Texans (8-8, 0-2 WAC) vs. Stephen F. Austin (13-2, 1-1 WAC)
vs. UT Arlington (9-4, 1-0 WAC)
Where: Stephenville, Texas
Venue: Wisdom Volleyball Gym
Times: Thursday, 6 p.m. CT; Saturday, 1 p.m. CT
Streaming Platform: ESPN+ for both matches

TEXAN VOLLEYBALL MATCH DAY
 
Tarleton volleyball returns to Wisdom Gym for a whiteout on Thursday evening at 6 p.m. vs. Stephen F. Austin before hosting WAC newcomer UT Arlington on Saturday at 1 p.m.
 
The Texans will be looking to avenge their loss to the Ladyjacks last week when they play Thursday. Several Texans had career days in the loss, and they hope that a return to Wisdom Gym will help lead them to victory as it did a season ago. Thursday is a white out as well as Greek Day. There will be t-shirts given away upon entry to Wisdom.
 
Tarleton then turns its attention to the UTA Mavericks as the two teams will open the month of October with a tilt on Saturday afternoon.
 
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 set to host the SFA Ladyjacks just one week after playing them in Nacogdoches on Thursday, Sept. 22. SFA took the first match 3-1 in the two teams' first WAC match of the season. The Texans are now 1-3 all-time vs. SFA.
• The Ladyjacks took down the Texans in Shelton Gym before heading to Huntsville on Saturday and taking a loss to their rival Sam Houston in five sets.
• On Saturday Tarleton will welcome UTA to Wisdom Gym for the first time as a conference opponent. The Mavericks joined the Western Athletic Conference earlier this year and are in the midst of their first WAC schedule. The Mavericks started WAC play off with a bang, taking down Grand Canyon in Phoenix who was picked to finish third in the preseason WAC coaches' poll.
• Tarleton is 1-1 all time vs. UTA. The two teams met in the spring 2021 season for two matches on back-to-back days in Stephenville (Feb. 5-6, 2021). UTA won the first match in five sets, but Tarleton swept the Mavericks the following day.
 

QUICK HITS
 
• Tarleton has had a tough start to WAC play, beginning their slate 0-2 with losses to Stephen F. Austin on the road and UTRGV at home. They managed to take a set in each of the two matches, showing tremendous fight but hope for a better outcome soon.
• The Texans played their first two WAC matches without the play of kills and aces leader Grayson Schirpik. With a key piece such as Schirpik unable to suit up, Tarleton needed others to step up in her place. Below is a breakdown of who contributed with bigger numbers and a bigger opportunity, and who will continue to play a big part for Tarleton.
• Sophomore outside hitter Megan Haynes landed a then career-high 15 kills in the loss at SFA last Thursday. She was the Texans' main source of offense, hitting at a .289 clip while also adding four blocks. In the next match vs. UTRGV Haynes outdid her previous effort, landing a career-high 16 kills as the Texans battled the Vaqueros.
• Another outside hitter, freshman Joselyn Roberson saw a lot of time on the court last week. She was efficient at SFA, finishing with nine kills on .269 hitting. Roberson followed that match up with a career-high 12 kills in the loss to UTRGV, also adding two blocks.
• Freshman middle blocker Emma Burke has been a mainstay in the Texan starting lineup dating back to the Northern Colorado Classic. Burke posted the first double-digit kill match of her young career vs. UTRGV on Saturday with 10 kills on .429 hitting and also added three blocks. The 12 points scored from Burke was a career-high as she looks to continue her impressive freshman campaign.
•  Freshman setter Megan Hodges has stepped her game up to a new level in WAC play. She landed a then career-high 36 assists at SFA and topped it with 43 vs. UTRGV on Saturday. She secured her third double-double with 36 assists and 10 digs at SFA and landed three blocks - two at SFA and one vs. UTRGV - this past week for the first blocks of her career.

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 third in the WAC with a .366 hitting percentage as well as being in seventh with 1.04 blocks per set. Hair leads the Texans in blocks (58), hitting percentage (.366) and is second in service aces (19). 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 33 blocks this season. She has appeared in 15 of 16 matches as a middle blocker and landed a career-high 10 kills in her last match out vs. UTRGV. 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 353 assists and ranks seventh in the WAC with 6.30 assists per set. She also has added 101 digs on the year which is good for second on the team. In two conference games, Hodges has posted 36 and 43 assists which is the two highest outputs for her on the season.
Breanna McDonough has factored heavily into the rotation, seeing time in all 16 matches as a right side. She ranks third on the team with 125 kills and has three 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 hit the road for two matches in Utah next week as they play at Utah Tech in St. George and at Southern Utah in Cedar City on Thursday, Oct. 6 and Saturday, Oct. 8 respectively. Both matches will be streamed, Utah Tech on WACInternational.TV and Southern Utah on ESPN+.