THE TEAMS:   

• Tarleton State Texans (6-15 overall, 1-7 WAC)  

• Utah Tech Trailblazers (12-7 overall, 6-3 WAC)

WHERE: Stephenville, Texas
ARENA: Wisdom Gym (3,000)
TIME: 1 p.m. CT  

STREAMING PLATFORM: ESPN+

TEXAN VOLLEYBALL MATCH DAY: The Purple and White will return to Stephenville to face Utah Tech on Saturday. Tarleton is coming off their first conference win last week against CBU. This will be the first of four matches for the Texans in the span of a week.

QUICK HITS:

• The Texans split their road trip last week, 1-1. Tarleton fell to Grand Canyon in their most recent match on Saturday, Oct. 19.

• Tarleton is 11th in the nation in total digs (1380). The Purple and White also rank 35th nationwide in digs per set (16.43).

• Freshman Tatum Busch set a career-high 23 kills against California Baptist on Thursday. Her previous career high was 13. 

• Yuna Ansquer set a career-high 28 assists against the Lancers last Thursday.

• Emma Halcomb reached her 1,000th career dig at Tarleton, becoming the 16th Texan to do so and the second in Tarleton's D1 era.

• Megan Hodges is 16 assists away from reaching 2,000 career assists. When she accomplishes this feat, she will be the 8th Texan all-time to do so.

• Halcomb leads the WAC in total digs with 318. Hodges ranks fifth in the conference with 507 total assists.

• Allison Bryant holds the WAC individual high for most kills in a match this season (27). She also ranks 33rd in the nation in total kills (310).

• Bryant broke her career-high with five aces against Abilene Christian. This ranks T-2 in Tarleton's D1 Era History. Hodges tied this total two days later, breaking her career-high in aces against Utah Valley with five to tie Bryant on the leaderboard.

• Emma Burke and Allison Bryant both reached 500 career kills as a Texan. 

• The Texans set a new program attendance record of 1,129 fans against ACU during Tarleton's homecoming week.

• Two weeks ago, the Texans had three players break their career highs in service aces. Allison Bryant had five against Abilene Christian, Megan Hodges had five against Utah Valley, and Addison Goss registered four against California Baptist.

• Bryant was named WAC Player of the Week three weeks ago. 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.

• Halcomb was named WAC Libero of the Week three weeks ago. 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.

• Busch broke her career-high with 12 digs against Seattle U. Busch also recorded her first collegiate double-double (10 kills, 10 digs) vs UVU.

• Emma Burke tied her career-high for blocks with nine against Seattle U last Thursday. She has recorded multiple blocks in all but three matches.

• Tarleton holds four of the five top conference totals for most team digs in a match this season.

• 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 (6.10). She has recorded double-digit assists in every match this season.

• Ansquer and Hodges have combined for 20+ assists each in six matches this season. Hodges has 10 double-doubles this year.

• 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 also consists of Hannah McManus-Smith (5th season), Damien Hardy (1st season), and graduate assistant Matti Theurer (1st season).

SERIES HISTORY:

• The Texans trail the all-time series vs the Trailblazers, 3-4.

• UTU took their last matchup against Tarleton earlier this season, 3-1.

• The Texans are 1-2 against the Trailblazers in Stephenville.

• Halcomb notched 20 kills against Utah Tech on 9/28/24.

• Bryant recorded 15 kills during her most recent match against UTU.

• Hodges led the team with 27 assists, followed by Ansquer with 17.

OPPONENT SCOUTING REPORT:

• The Trailblazers rank third in the WAC with a 6-3 conference record. 

• Utah Tech is on a two-match win streak, beating Southern Utah and Abilene Christian. The Trailblazers have outscored their last two opponents 6-1 on sets.

• Libero Mya Laufiso won WAC Setter of the Week last week, her second time winning the award this season.

• UTU has two players in the WAC top-five for blocks. Cassidy Fried ranks third with 1.34 B/S, while Taylor Snow ranks fifth with 1.22 B/S.

• The trailblazers are holding their opponents to an average .164 hitting percentage this season.

TEXANS RANK AT TOP OF NATION:

• The Texans are 11th in the nation in total team digs (1380).

• Texans are 35th in the nation in digs per set (16.43).

• Allison Bryant is 33rd in the nation in total kills with 310.

HODGES AND HALCOMB IN TEXAN HISTORY BOOKS:

• Megan Hodges currently sits at 1,984 career assists during her time at Tarleton. 

• Hodges needs 16 more assists to become the eighth Texan to record 2,000 or more assists throughout their career. She will also be the second Texan to achieve this in Tarleton's D1 era.

• Emma Halcomb just reached her 1,000th career dig last week, becoming the 16th Texan to accomplish this feat.

BURKE AND BRYANT REACH 500 KILLS:

• Against GCU, Emma Burke recorded her 500th career kill at Tarleton.

• Allison Bryant sits at 654 kills during just two years at Tarleton.

• Bryant is on track to break her personal best kills in a season. She currently sits at 310 on the year. Her best is 344 in 2023.

STATS AMONG THE WAC:

• Allison Bryant is second in the WAC in total kills (310) and fifth in kills per set (3.69).

• Emma Burke is seventh in the WAC in hitting percentage (.279).

• Emma Halcomb is 1st in the WAC in total digs (318) and third in digs per set (3.88).

• Emma Burke is 10th in the WAC with 0.94 blocks per set.

• Burke is fifth in total blocks with 79.

• Hodges is seventh in the WAC in assists per set (6.04).

• Hodges is fifth in total assists (507).

• Tarleton is 1st in the WAC in digs (1380) and digs per set (16.43).

• The Texans are first in the WAC in total kills (1015).

• The Texans are fifth in the WAC in assists per set (11.27).

• Tarleton holds four of the five top conference totals for most digs in a match as a team.

LAST WEEK'S RECAP:

• The Texans earned their first conference win of the season against the CBU Lancers on Thursday in Riverside, CA.

• Tatum Busch set a match-high 23 kills, shattering her previous career high of 13. 

• Addison Goss set a new career-high with four aces against CBU.

• Allison Bryant registered 22 digs, notching her second match of the year with 20-plus digs. Her career-high is 23.

• Ansquer and Hodges had 20+ assists each for the fifth time this year.

• The Texans fell to GCU, 0-3, in Phoenix. Tarleton will play GCU one more time this season.

SCHINDLER RANKS AMONG TOP IN NATION:

• Head coach Mary Schindler has 379 victories in 620 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 20^th season, she is one of 24 active head coaches to coach 20 years or more at the same institution.

• Coach Schindler needs just 21 more victories to reach 400. She is already the winningest Texan coach in program history.

RECENT SEASON AND CAREER HIGHS BROKEN:

• Tatum Busch set a career-high 23 kills against CBU on Thursday.

• Bryant broke her career-high in aces with five agaist Abilene Christian last Thursday. This ranks T-2nd in Tarleton's D1 Era history.

• Addison Goss set a career-high four aces against CBU.

• Carly Lange set a season-high 12 digs against the Wildcats.

• Hodges notched a new career-high with five aces against the Wolverines. This tied Bryant for the T-2 spot in Tarleton D1 history.

• Halcomb broke her career-high in digs (26) against Louisiana-Monroe during the TSU Invitational.

• Burke tied her career-high of nine blocks against Seattle U.

• Tehana Mo'o tied her career-high of 11 kills against the Wildcats. She has achieved this number twice this season. 

• Stasevich tied her career-high with five blocks last Thursday against ACU. She tied that number again on Saturday vs Utah Valley.

• Ansquer set a new career-high of 28 assists during Tarleton's victory against CBU.

• Hodges has set a season-high of 48 assists twice this year.

• Ansquer broke her career-high with four blocks against ACU.

ON THE BUBBLE:

• The top 8 out of 9 WAC Volleyball teams make the conference tournament.

• With CBUs win against Southern Utah, the Lancers moved up to the eighth seed.

• With a win against Utah Tech, Tarleton has the opportunity to take the eighth spot back. They hold the tiebreaker against California Baptist.

• Tarleton will face California Baptist, Seattle U, and Abilene Christian one more time before the season comes to a close.

Following their match against Utah Tech, Tarleton will travel to Abilene on Monday to take on the Wildcats. The match will be streamed on ESPN+ with first serve set for 6 p.m. CT.