KINGSVILLE, Texas – Taking a quick break from Lone Star Conference play, the Texas A&M-Kingsville volleyball team heads westward to Laredo, Texas to face Texas A&M International at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in the TAMIU Kinesiology and Convocation Building. This is the first of two matches between the programs this season.
Winners of their last six road contests, the Javelinas are 16-9 on the season. The Dustdevils are 7-10 with all of their wins coming against Heartland Conference opponents.
Scouting Texas A&M-KingsvilleLeading the Blue and Gold offensively is the trio of
Ashley Bukowski,
Krystal Faison and
Valarie Moehrig. Faison has registered 292 kills, followed by Moehrig with 287 and Bukowski at 277. With their performances this season, TAMUK has the distinction of being the only Division II program with three players ranking in the top 100 of total kills.
Casey Klobedans has set them up for their attacks this season. She goes into the match averaging 10.03 assists a set. With 47 more assists, the Boerne, Texas native will become the second Javelina ever (Bianca Valenciano, '97 & '98) with multiple 1,000-assist seasons.
Also closing in on a historic season mark is
Brett Zaccardo. She is 26 digs shy of becoming the first player in program history to post multiple 500-dig campaigns.
Freshman
Haley Hutchinson is nearing the 100-block mark for the year. She currently has 93 with 21 of them being solo rejections. Second on the team in the category is fellow classmate
Madison Brabham with 71.
Scouting Texas A&M InternationalRamey Gardner leads TAMIU with 281 kills and 3.12 k/s. Madison Morris (184) and Paula Mrowczynska (189) both have surpassed the triple-digit kill mark this season as well. Mrowczynska paces the team with a .228 attack percentage. Setting them up for attacks is Lizzie Prieto. She has 605 this season for an average of 8.90 a set.
At the net, Samantha Gonzalez has recorded 39 blocks, eight of them by herself. Also adding over 30 blocks is Megan Unrath with 34.
Cassandra Hernandez has been credited with a team best 286 digs (4.21 d/s) and Prieto is right behind her with 218 digs (3.21 d/s).
TAMUK leads the all-time series 13-8 over the Dustdevils that includes an 8-2 mark in Laredo. The Javelinas have won the last four meetings and 12 of the previous 14. Last year, the Blue and Gold took both matches in three sets.
LSC Tournament BoundWith wins at Cameron and Midwestern State, TAMUK clinched a spot in the LSC Tournament for the fifth consecutive year. The Javelinas are currently in fourth place in the standings, half a game ahead of Texas A&M-Commerce. In front of the Blue and Gold is Angelo State (+2), Tarleton State (+3) and Texas Woman's (+1.5).
Season Sweep of MustangsFor the second straight season, the Hogs swept the season series from MSU. This has only happened on other time in program history (1999 & 2000).
Double-DoublesJavelina players have totaled 36 double-doubles this year. Faison leads the team with 14, followed by 12 courtesy of Klobedans and eight from Bukowski. Adding two double-doubles is Moehrig that came in back-to-back matches at home against Angelo State and Tarleton State.
Live stats and video will be available with links on the volleyball schedule page.
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