Nov. 19, 2009

SAN ANTONIO – Fourth-seeded Lamar University faces No. 5-seed Texas-Arlington in the opening round of the 2009 Southland Conference Tournament Friday at 1:30 p.m. in the Convocation Center on the campus of Texas-San Antonio.

The other first round matchups have No. 1-Texas State playing No. 8-Southeastern Louisiana at 11 a.m., No. 2-Sam Houston State playing No. 7-Nicholls State at 4 p.m. and No. 3-Stephen F. Austin playing No. 6-UTSA at 6:30 p.m.

Lamar, the defending SLC Tournament champions, finished the regular season with a 14-13 overall record and a 9-7 mark in SLC play. UTA is 12-16 overall and 8-8 in SLC action. The Cardinals and Mavericks split the two regular season meetings with Lamar posting a 3-0 win in Beaumont and UTA winning 3-1 in Arlington.

UTA has a 45-16 overall record in SLC Tournament play, which represents more wins than any SLC team, and the Mavericks have won a league-best 10 tournament titles. Lamar is 4-8 all-time against UTA in SLC Tournament play.

Lamar is paced by senior setter Adrianne Meengs, who was named to the All-SLC first team on Tuesday. She leads the team with 8.95 assists per set. She ranks second on the team in hitting percentage at 2.93 and fifth in kills with 1.8 per set. She is the only SLC player to rank among the top 10 in both assists and hitting percentage.

A native of Friendswood, Meengs ranks seventh in the SLC in overall assists with 857, sixth in assists per set (8.74) and sixth in hitting percentage (.293). She also has the only triple-doubles in the league this season with three.

Senior Lauren Holdorff leads the team in kills with 243 (2.79 per set) and has a .277 attack percentage. Senior Kaci Brewer, who claimed SLC Tournament MVP honors last season, is second on the team with 196 kills with a .173 attack percentage. Bailey Smith leads the team with 305 digs (3.47).

The Cardinals have received steady production from a pair of freshmen middle blockers this season. Wendy Krell, who was named SLC Freshman of the Year, has a team best .300 attack percentage and led the SLC in league games only with a .354 hitting percentage. Freshman Jayme Bazile leads the team and the SLC with 1.25 blocks per set. She has 177 kills on the season with a .262 hitting percentage.

Tara Frantz leads UTA with 220 kills and has a .179 hitting percentage. Bianca Sauls is second on the team with 212 kills. Raegan Daniel has a team best 830 assists (8.47) and Emily Shearin leads the team with 1.07 blocks per set. Alicia Shaffer is tops in the team with 366 digs (3.73).