THE TEAMS:
WHERE: Stephenville, Texas
ARENA: Wisdom Gym (3,000)
TIME: 6 p.m. CT
STREAMING PLATFORM: ESPN+
TEXAN VOLLEYBALL MATCH WEEK: The Texans will continue conference play on Thursday at 6 p.m. against Seattle U, marking their first home conference match of the season. The Purple and White will look to bounce back after dropping both matches on their Utah road trip last week. The Texans remain undefeated at Wisdom Gym with a perfect 4-0 record this year.
QUICK HITS:
• The Texans will host Seattle U for their WAC home opener, coming off two losses against Southern Utah and Utah Tech on the road to start conference play. The team who comes out on top will earn their first conference victory of the season.
• The Texans are 4-0 at Wisdom Gym and look to continue their home win streak against Seattle U.
• Tarleton leads Seattle U 5-0 in their all-time series. They look to continue their undefeated streak against the Redhawks.
• In her last match against Seattle U, Emma Burke led the team with six blocks and Megan Hodges led the team with 36 assists.
• Allison Bryant ranks sixth in the WAC in kills per set (3.54). She is second in the conference and 33rd in the nation in total kills, where she has 209 on the season.
• Emma Halcomb leads the WAC in total digs (241) and digs per set (4.08). Halcomb ranks 34th in the nation in total digs. She is the only player in the conference with over 200 digs and over 4 K/S.
• Halcomb holds the top two digs totals in a single match in the WAC this season.
• Allison Bryant was named WAC Player of the Week last week. Bryant was named TSU invitational's MVP as well. She broke the Texans' D1 era kills record with 27 against McNeese on Sept. 17. Bryant also broke her career-high in digs with 23 against Oral Roberts on Sept. 19.
• Emma Halcomb was named WAC Libero of the Week last week. She tied her career-high of 25 digs against McNeese on Sept. 17, then proceeded to
burst that number once again with a 26-dig outing against ULM on Sept. 21.
• Allison Bryant, Emma Halcomb, and Megan Hodges were all selected to the Tarleton State Invitational's All-Tournament team.
• In her last match against Seattle U, Hodges posted a double-double. Hodges leads the team with seven double-doubles, followed by Yuna Ansquer and Allison Bryant, each with three.
• Emma Burke has led the team in blocks in nine out of the last ten matches.
• Megan Hodges holds the Texans new D1 era single match record with 48 assists. She has reached that number twice this season. Hodges is currently seventh in the WAC in assists per set (6.46).
• Yuna Ansquer is sixth in the WAC in aces per set (0.37). She leads the Texans in aces with 18.
• Ansquer and Hodges have combined for 20+ assists each in four matches this season.
• The Texans are coming into the 2024 season after notching the most wins in a single season since becoming a Division l program last year.
• The Purple and White will face 2023 NCAA Tournament team Grand Canyon twice this season.
• The head coach for the Texans, Mary Schindler, is in her 20th season as the leading lady for Tarleton State Volleyball. The Texan coaching staff consists of assistant, Hannah McManus-Smith (5th season), assistant, Damien Hardy (1st season), and graduate assistant and former player, Matti Theurer (1st season).
SERIES HISTORY:
• Tarleton is undefeated against Seattle U, where they lead the all-time series 5-0.
• Tarleton took the last match, 3-2, on Oct. 26, 2023.
• Emma Burke led the team with six blocks during the most recent match against Seattle U.
• Megan Hodges had a double-double during the Texans' last match against Seattle U (36 assists, 12 digs).
UTAH ROAD TRIP RECAP:
• The Texans dropped their first two WAC matches to Southern Utah and Utah Tech.
• Tarleton lost 0-3 to Southern Utah and 1-3 to Utah Tech.
• Allison Bryant had 15 kills against Utah Tech.
• Megan Hodges had 41 combined assists through two games.
• Emma Burke had nine blocks combined through those two games.
STATS AMONG THE WAC:
• Allison Bryant is second in the WAC in total kills (209) and sixth in kills per set (3.54)
• Emma Halcomb is 1st in the WAC in digs (241) and digs per set (4.08)
• Yuna Ansquer is sixth in the WAC in service aces per set (0.37)
• Hodges is seventh in the WAC in assists per set (6.54).
• Tarleton is 1st in the WAC in digs (964) and digs per set (16.34)
• The Texans is fifth in the WAC in kills per set (12.19)
• The Texans is fifth in the WAC in assists per set (11.36)
• Tarleton holds four of the five top conference totals for most digs in a match as a team.
• Tarleton has tallied at least 11 aces as a team three times this season.
OPPONENT SCOUTING REPORT:
• Seattle U is 2-10 overall, 0-2 WAC.
• The Redhawks are on a three-match losing streak. Their most recent match was against Utah Valley, where they lost 1-3.
• Seattle U is fifth in the WAC in blocks per set (2.07).
• The Redhawks are third in the conference with 1.58 aces per set.
• Arianna Bilby ranks ninth in the conference with 2.91 kills per set.
• Merima Smajlovic ranks third in the conference with 0.44 aces per set.v
• Bilby leads the team with 131 kills, followed by Smajlovic (115).
• Seattle U has two players in the WAC top-ten for blocks.
TARLETON STATE INVITATIONAL RECAP:
• The Texans swept Alcorn State 3-0. Alcorn managed to get double-digit points in only one of the three sets played.
• Allison Bryant set a career-high in hitting percentage (.615) against Alcorn.
• The Texans reverse swept Houston Christian, winning 3-2.
• Yuna Ansquer and Megan Hodges both had double-doubles.
• Hodges (28 assists, 11 digs), led the team in assists, followed by Ansquer
(21 assists, 14 digs).
• Emma Burke tied her season-high in blocks with seven.
• Tarleton won the tournament with a 3-2 victory over Louisiana-Monroe.
• Ansquer set a career-high in assists with 27.
• Halcomb set a career-high in digs with 26.
• Hodges and Ansquer had 20-plus assists a piece.
• Madison Frank had 10 kills and four blocks.
BRYANT, HALCOMB WIN WAC WEEKLY AWARDS:
• Allison Bryant was named WAC player of the week last week.
• Bryant broke the Texans single-match kills record since they've been a D1 program. She had a career-high 27 kills against McNeese Sept. 17.
• Bryant also broke her career-high for digs with 23 against Oral Roberts Sept. 19.
• Bryant had three double-doubles in five matcheg during TSU Invitational week.
• Emma Halcomb won WAC libero of the week last week.
• Halcomb holds the top two digs totals in a single match in the WAC this season.
• Halcomb currently leads the WAC in digs (241) and digs per set (4.08).
• Halcomb broke her career-high in digs (26) against Louisiana-Monroe.
ANSQUER AND HODGES:
• During their home slate last week, Hodges and Ansquer combined for 20-plus assists each in three of four games.
• Hodges is currently seventh in the WAC in assists per set (6.46).
• Ansquer set a new career-high of 27 assists in the Texan's tournament-clinching match against ULM.
• Hodges has had double-digit assists in every game this season.
• Hodges has set a season-high of 48 twice this year.
• Hodges has seven double-doubles on the season, Ansquer has three.
• Ansquer has tallied a service ace in ten straight games.
• Hodges leads the team with seven double-doubles on the season.
SCHINDLER RANKS AMONG TOP IN NATION:
• Head coach Mary Schindler has 378 victories in 615 matches as a collegiate head coach, all at Tarleton.
• She ranks in the top 50 among active NCAA D1 head coaches in victories.
• Entering her 20th season, she is one of 24 active head coaches to coach 20 years or more at the same institution.
• Coach Schindler needs just 22 more victories to reach 400. She is already the winningest Texan coach in program history.
Following Thursday's match, Tarleton will travel to northeast Texas where they will take on UT Arlington. The Mavericks currently sit atop the WAC and are undefeated in conference play this season. The match will be streamed live on ESPN+ on Saturday at 12 p.m. CT.
