THE TEAMS:   

• Tarleton State Texans (6-16 overall, 1-8 WAC)  

• Abilene Christian Wildcats (8-12 overall, 3-6 WAC)

WHERE: Abilene, Texas
ARENA: Moody Coliseum (3,600)
TIME: 6 p.m. CT  

STREAMING PLATFORM: ESPN+

TEXAN VOLLEYBALL MATCH DAY: Tarleton State Volleyball will head to Abilene on Monday for their second match in three days. This will be the second meeting between the Texans and Wilcats. ACU won last time the two teams faced off, 3-2.

QUICK HITS:

• The Texans split their road trip last week, 1-1. Tarleton fell to Utah Tech in their most recent match on Saturday, Oct. 26.

• Tarleton is 11th in the nation in total digs (1425). The Purple and White also rank 35th nationwide in digs per set (16.4).

• 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 two 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 332. Hodges ranks fifth in the conference with 521 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 (319).

• 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.

• Freshman Madeline O'Gorman set two career highs on Saturday, notching five kills and four blocks against Utah Tech.

• 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.

• With a win against the Wildcats, Tarleton would move within one match of ACU, CBU, and Seattle U, who each have three conference wins.

• 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 7-13 in the all-time series.

• Tarleton holds a 3-8 record in Moody Coliseum.

• ACU won 3-2 in Stephenville during their last matchup against Tarleton.

• Allison Bryant had 21 kills and five aces against Abilene Christian on 10/10/24.

• Mary Kate Stasevich tied her career high of five blocks against the Wildcats.

• Tehana Mo'o tied her career high of 11 kills against ACU on 10/10/24.

OPPONENT SCOUTING REPORT:

• The Wildcats are on a four-match losing streak, with their most recent loss coming to Utah Tech, 0-3.

• The Wildcats sit at sixth place in WAC seeding with a 3-6 conference record.

• Madeline Guffy ranks sixth in the WAC with 6.50 assists per set.

• Bryley Steinhilber ranks eighth in the WAC with 3.14 kills per set.

• ACU is last in the WAC with an average .150 hitting percentage.

• ACU is fifth in the WAC for opponent hitting percentage, allowing an average .200 against them per match.

• The Wildcats won their last matchup against Tarleton earlier this year.

HODGES AND HALCOMB IN TEXAN HISTORY BOOKS:

• Megan Hodges currently sits at 1,998 career assists during her time at Tarleton. 

• Hodges needs two 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.

TARLETON SETS VOLLEYBALL ATTENDANCE RECORD:

• The Texans had 1,129 people in attendance during their homecoming match against Abilene Christian on 10/10/24.

• This marked an all-time attendance record for a Tarleton Volleyball home match, as well as an attendance record in their new home, Wisdom Gym.

• This was the first match above 1,000 fans in Tarleton Volleyball history.

BURKE AND BRYANT REACH 500 KILLS:

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

• Allison Bryant sits at 663 kills during just two years at Tarleton.

• Bryant is on track to break her personal best kills in a season. She currently sits at 319 on the year. Her best is 344 in 2023.

TEXANS RANK AT TOP OF NATION:

• The Texans are 11th in the nation in total team digs (1425).

• Texans are 35th in the nation in digs per set (16.4).

• Allison Bryant is 33rd in the nation in total kills with 319.

STATS AMONG THE WAC:

• Allison Bryant is second in the WAC in total kills (319) and fifth in kills per set (3.67).

• Emma Burke is seventh in the WAC in hitting percentage (.275).

• Emma Halcomb is 1st in the WAC in total digs (332) and third in digs per set (3.91).

• Emma Burke is eighth in the WAC with 0.99 blocks per set.

• Burke is fifth in total blocks with 86.

• Hodges is seventh in the WAC in assists per set (5.99).

• Hodges is fifth in total assists (521).

• Tarleton is 1st in the WAC in digs (1425) and digs per set (16.4).

• The Texans are first in the WAC in total kills (1047).

• The Texans are fifth in the WAC in assists per set (11.2).

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

RECENT SEASON AND CAREER HIGHS BROKEN:

• Against Utah Tech, Madeline O'Gorman set multiple career highs.

• O'Gorman recorded five kills and four blocks during three sets against the Trailblazers, marking two career-highs for her.

• 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 last time out. She has achieved this number twice this season. 

• Stasevich has tied her career-high of five blocks three times this year.

• 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 the Wildcats, Tarleton has the opportunity to jump within one match against ACU, CBU, and Seattle U, who all have three conference wins.

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

SCHINDLER RANKS AMONG TOP IN NATION:

• Head coach Mary Schindler has 379 victories in 621 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.

Following their match against ACU, Tarleton will host California Baptist in Stephenville on Halloween where fans will receive free Halloween ducks. The match will be streamed on ESPN+ with first serve set for 6 p.m. CT.