Nov. 1, 2007

BEAUMONT - Sitting in a tie for the Southland Conference lead with Stephen F. Austin, the Lamar University volleyball team will play their final four matches of the regular season at home, beginning with the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears and Northwestern State Lady Demons on Friday and Saturday at McDonald Gym.

The Lady Cards open the weekend with a 7 p.m. showdown with Central Arkansas on Friday. All fans in attendance of Fridays match are encouraged to wear pink for the "Pink Out McDonald Gym" night, sponsored by Zeta Tau Alpha, as a way to cap of October which was breast cancer awareness month. Lamar will close out the weekend with a 1 p.m. match against Northwestern State on Saturday.

The Lady Cardinals enter the weekend with an 11-1 record in SLC play and a 20-8 overall record after picking up wins at Sam Houston and SFA last weekend. Lamar has won 17 of their last 20 matches, including a 14-match win streak, which is the second-longest in school history.

Leading the way for the Lady Cardinals this year has been Molli Abel and Kaci Brewer who are each averaging 3.23 kills per game. Brewer, who was named SLC offensive player of the week on Monday, has also been solid defensively, averaging 2.69 digs per game. In addition to leading the team, Abel leads the conference in hitting percentage at .373, and is among league leaders in blocks with 1.12 rejections per game.

Adrianne Meengs has proven to be a versatile threat for the Lady Cards, posting four triple-doubles on the year. She is averaging 11.05 assist, 2.14 kills and 2.04 digs per game. Meengs has been named offensive player of the week two times this season.

Andrea Hamilton and Destiny Mason have provided the bulk of the defensive play for LU this season, averaging 4.88 and 3.27 digs per game respectively. Both players have earned a defensive player of the week award this season, with Mason grabbing the honor this week. Lauren Holdorff has also been a strong defensive presence at the net for the Lady Cards, averaging 1.04 blocks per game.

Central Arkansas enters the match with a 7-5 SLC record and a 21-8 overall record. The Sugar Bears are led by Chloe Smith and Amicha Williams who are averaging 3.81 and 3.40 kills per game respectively. The UCA offense is controlled by setter Robyn Smith who has passed out 12.72 assists per game, while the defense is led by Kelly Bence's 5.40 digs per game.

Northwestern State enters the weekend with an 8-13 overall record and a 4-8 record in conference play. They are led by Yelena Enware's 3.29 kills per game, while Luana Henriques has passed out 8.27 assists per game. The Lady Demon defense is led by Megan Manning who has averaged 4.51 dig per game.

After the weekend series with UCA and Northwestern State the Lady Cardinals will play their final two matches of the regular season the following Friday and Saturday against Texas A&M Corpus Christi and UTSA.