THE TEAMS:
WHERE: Stephenville, Texas
ARENA: Wisdom Gym (3,000)
TIME: 6 p.m. CT
STREAMING PLATFORM: ESPN+
TEXAN VOLLEYBALL MATCH DAY: Tarleton State Volleyball returns to Stephenville to face California Baptist after taking down the Wildcats in Abilene on Monday. This will be the second meeting this season between Tarleton and CBU. The Texans took their last matchup against the Lancers, 3-2.
QUICK HITS:
• The Purple and White are one match behind CBU in the WAC playoff seeding. With a win, they would move ahead of the Lancers.
• Emma Halcomb won WAC Libero of the Week for week 10, her second time winning the award this season.
• Halcomb reached a new career high on Monday, notching 34 digs against the Wildcats. This marks a WAC single-match high this season, making Halcomb the only player in the conference to have 30 or more digs in a match this year.
• Tarleton is 12th in the nation in total digs (1515). The Purple and White also rank 29th nationwide in digs per set (16.65).
• Megan Hodges reached her 2,000th career assist against ACU, becoming the eighth Texan all-time to achieve this mark.
• 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.
• Halcomb leads the WAC in total digs with 366. Hodges ranks fifth in the conference with 548 total assists.
• Allison Bryant notched her seventh double-double of the season on Monday, registering 18 kills and 17 digs in Abilene.
• Freshman Tatum Busch set a career-high 23 kills against California Baptist last time out. Her previous career high was 13.
• Yuna Ansquer set a career-high 28 assists against the Lancers last time the two teams played.
• The Lancers are on a two-match win streak, taking down both Southern Utah and Seattle U last week in Riverside.
• Allison Bryant holds the WAC individual high for most kills in a match this season (27). She also ranks 31st in the nation in total kills (337).
• Emma Burke and Allison Bryant both reached 500 career kills as a Texan. Bryant is seven kills away from her highest season total of her career (344).
'• 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 during week 5. 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.
• Freshman Madeline O'Gorman set two career highs on Saturday, notching five kills and four blocks against Utah Tech.
• 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 11 double-doubles this year.
• With a win against CBU, the Texans would move into WAC playoff seeding. They currently hold the head-to-head tiebreaker against CBU and ACU.
• 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:
• Tarleton trails the all time series, 3-4. The Texans are 2-3 in Stephenville.
• Tarleton is on a two match win streak against CBU.
• The Texans took the last matchup in Riverisde, 3-2.
• Freshman Tatum Busch set a career-high 23 kills against California Baptist last time out. Her previous career high was 13.
• Yuna Ansquer set a career-high 28 assists against the Lancers two weeks ago.
OPPONENT SCOUTING REPORT:
• The Lancers are on a two-match win streak, taking down both Southern Utah and Seattle U last week in Riverside.
• Madison Gilliland ranks third in the WAC with a .324 attack percentage.
• Mia Jerue ranks second in the conference with 0.44 aces per set.
• Amanda Darling leads the WAC in digs per set with 4.18.
• CBU holds the highest opponent hitting percentage allowed, with an average .259 against them per match.
• CBU averages a .174 hitting percentage per match, which ranks seventh throughout the conference.
• Reese Reed ranks ninthn in the WAC with 4.83 assists per set.
HALCOMB WINS WAC LIBERO OF THE WEEK:
• Emma Halcomb won WAC Libero of the Week for week 10, her second time winning the award this season.
• Halcomb reached a new career high on Monday, notching 34 digs against the Wildcats. This marks a WAC single-match high this season, making Halcomb the only player in the conference to have 30 or more digs in a match this year.
• Halcomb also won WAC Libero of the Week for week five, where she had 26 kills during the Texans win against ULM.
• Halcomb is the first player this season to record 30 or more digs in a WAC volleyball match.
TEXANS RANK AT TOP OF NATION:
• The Texans are 12th in the nation in total team digs (1515).
• Texans are 29th in the nation in digs per set (16.65).
• Allison Bryant is 31st in the nation in total kills with 337.
HODGES AND HALCOMB IN TEXAN HISTORY BOOKS:
• Megan Hodges reached her 2,000th career assist against ACU, becoming the eighth Texan all-time to achieve this mark and the 2nd in Tarleton's D1 history.
• Emma Halcomb just reached her 1,000th career dig last week, becoming the 16th Texan to accomplish this feat and the 2nd in Tarleton's D1 era.
BURKE AND BRYANT REACH 500 KILLS:
• Against GCU, Emma Burke recorded her 500th career kill at Tarleton.
• Allison Bryant sits at 681 kills during just two years at Tarleton.
• Bryant is on track to break her personal best kills in a season. She currently sits at 337 on the year. Her best is 344 in 2023.
STATS AMONG THE WAC:
• Allison Bryant is second in the WAC in total kills (337) and fifth in kills per set (3.7).
• Emma Burke is fifth in the WAC in hitting percentage (.278).
• Emma Halcomb is 1st in the WAC in total digs (366) and third in digs per set (4.11).
• Emma Burke is eighth in the WAC with 1.00 blocks per set.
• Burke is fifth in total blocks with 91.
• Hodges is seventh in the WAC in assists per set (6.02).
• Hodges is fifth in total assists (548).
• Tarleton is 1st in the WAC in digs (1515) and digs per set (16.65).
• The Texans are first in the WAC in total kills (1100).
• The Texans are sixth in the WAC in assists per set (11.3).
• 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 (34) against ACU on Monday.
• 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.
LAST WEEK'S RECAP:
• The Purple and White split last week, 1-1.
• The Texans took down the Wildcats at Moody Coliseum in Abilene on Monday, 3-2.
• Tarleton dropped Saturday's match to Utah Tech, 0-3.
• Emma Burke recorded 12 combined blocks during two matches last week.
• Allison Bryant notched her seventh double-double of the season, while Megan Hodges notched her 11th.
• Yuna Ansquer registered double-digit assists in both matches.
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 their win against the Wildcats, Tarleton jumped within one spot of three teams.
• The Texans are one match behind Seattle U, CBU, and Abilene Christian. With a win on Thursday, Tarleton would jump to the seventh seed in the WAC. They currently hold a tiebreaker against ACU and CBU.
• Tarleton will face Seattle U one more time before the season comes to a close.
Following their match against CBU, Tarleton will host Grand Canyon on Saturday afternoon at Wisdom Gym. The match will be streamed live on ESPN+ with first serve set for 1 p.m. CT.
