Oct. 9, 2008

BEAUMONT, Texas - The Lamar University volleyball team hosts a pair of Southland Conference divisional foes this weekend, as The UTSA Roadrunners and Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders come to McDonald Gym on Friday and Saturday.

The weekend gets started with a 7 p.m. showdown against West division leader UTSA who enters the match on a 10-match winning streak. All fans in attendance of Fridays match are encouraged to wear pink for the Pink Out McDonald Gym night, sponsored by the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, as a way to celebrate breast cancer awareness month On Saturday the Lady Cards will host Corpus Christi who is looking to bounce back from a five-set loss to UTSA last Friday.

The Lady Cardinals enter the weekend with a 4-8 overall record and a 2-1 mark in SLC play after dropping their last contest to Texas State last Saturday. Before the loss to Texas State, Lamar posted a pair of 3-1 victories over Sam Houston and UT-Arlington.

The Lady Cards are led by Genevieve Gladle who is averaging team highs in kills and digs with 2.48 kills and 3.34 digs per set. Shalayne Blythe is averaging 2.11 kills per set and Ashley Todd has paced the LU attack with 9.51 assists per set. Andrea Hamilton and Lauren Holdorff have been solid defensively this season, averaging 3.31 digs and 0.88 blocks per set respectively.

UTSA enters Friday's contest with the best record in the Southland Conference west Division at 11-6 overall, and are the only unbeaten team in conference play at 3-0. Their 10-match winning streak dates back to September 13, when they handed Georgia a 3-1 loss.

The Roadrunners are led by Kendra Rowland who is averaging 3.92 kills per match while Elise Huskey is averaging 2.54 kills per match. The setting duties for UTSA have been handled by Amber Brooks who is averaging 9.12 assists per set while the defense is led by Kelsey Jewasko's 4.33 digs per set.

Texas A&M Corpus Christi enters the weekend with a 3-10 overall record and a 1-2 mark in SLC play. Their lone victory in conference play came against UT Arlington on September 27, as the rolled to a 3-0 win.

The Islanders are led by Lauren Paslay's 3.11 kills per set while Molly McCabe is averaging 9.30 assists per set. The TAMUCC defense is led by Kandyce Nielson who is averaging 3.43 digs per set.

After the weekend series against UTSA and A&M Corpus Christi the Lady Cardinals will hit the road for a mid week showdown with Nicholls State on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Thibodaux, La. Lamar will return home next weekend for a 3 p.m. Saturday match against Southeastern Louisiana.