Nov. 10, 2008

BEAUMONT - After helping the Lamar University volleyball team to a pair of wins against Texas State and UT Arlington last week, outside hitter Genevieve Gladle was named the Southland Conference offensive Player of the Week.

Gladle, a sophomore from Lakeway, Texas, helped Lamar two a pair of wins over the weekend by averaging a double-double in kills and digs. In Saturday's win over UT Arlington Gladle tied her career-highs in kills and digs with 21 kills and 23 digs while hitting .370 in 46 swings. In the two matches against the Mavericks this year, Gladle averaged 21 kills and 18 digs with a .355 hitting percentage.

In Friday nights win over Texas State she had eight kills and nine digs while tying a career-high with five blocks. She helped boost the Lady Cardinals defensive effort that held the SLC's best hitting team to a .121 hitting percentage.

This is the first player of the week honor Gladle has received in her career. She is the third Lady Cardinals player to be recognized by the conference this season, as Lauren Holdorff was named offensive player of the week on October 13 and Andrea Hamilton earned defensive player of the week on October 27.

The Lady Cardinals, who are 11-2 in SLC play and in a tie for first place with Texas State, will be back in action on Tuesday night when they travel to Huntsville, Texas for their final road contest of the season against Sam Houston State at 7 p.m. Lamar enters the match on the heels of their two wins over Texas State and UT Arlington, while Sam Houston comes into the match off of a loss to Texas State on Saturday afternoon.

The Lady Cards are led by Gladle's 2.30 kills and 2.94 digs per set while Shalayne Blythe's 2.20 kills and 0.76 blocks per set. Lauren Holdorff is averaging 2.13 kills and a team-high 0.86 blocks per set while ranking first in the Southland Conference in hitting percentage in league play at .411. Kaci Brewer is averaging 2.22 kills and 2.18 digs and has had two straight double-double performances while Ashley Todd has paced the LU attack with 8.90 assists per set and Hamilton leads the defense with 3.66 digs per set.

Sam Houston is led by Anna Ferguson's 2.75 kills per set while Haley Thomas is averaging 2.42 kills and 0.86 blocks per set. The Bearkats offense has been controlled by Kym Loving who is averaging 8.31 assists per set and their defense is led by Shamira Washington's 2.82 digs per set.

After their showdown on Tuesday night, the Lady Cardinals will close out the regular season with a pair of home matches against SLC East competition at McDonald Gym. Lamar hosts Northwestern State on Friday at 7 p.m. and will finish the regular season against Central Arkansas on Saturday at 3 p.m.