KINGSVILLE, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville volleyball team concludes the regular season this weekend with two matches in the Gil H. Steinke Physical Education Center-Kingsville Hampton Inn Court. The Javelinas will host Eastern New Mexico at 7 p.m. on Friday and then take on West Texas A&M at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Sporting an 18-13 record and 7-7 in the Lone Star Conference is the Blue and Gold. The Greyhounds are 13-18 overall and 4-11 in conference play and the Lady Buffs enter the weekend with a 14-16 mark and are also 4-11 in league action. Prior to playing TAMUK, WT plays at St. Edward's Thursday night.
Scouting Texas A&M-KingsvilleKrystal Faison leads the Blue and Gold with 347 kills, 2.99 k/s and 35 service aces. Junior
Valarie Moehrig has contributed 334 kills and completing the 300-kill trio is
Ashley Bukowski with 331.
Setting up the attacks is
Casey Klobedans with 1,161 assists (10.01 a/s). She is 10 shy of matching her total from last season. The sophomore could also move into second place on the program's single-season assist list with 108 more. Klobedans sports the highest attack percentage on the team at .279.
Freshman
Haley Hutchinson's 114 blocks is tied for the 10th most in a season by a Javelina, matching Lynell John's total from 1991. Contributing 84 rejections is fellow classmate
Madison Brabham and Klobedans adds 71 blocks.
Brett Zaccardo is second in the LSC and 20th in the nation with 583 digs, the third most ever by a TAMUK athlete in a year. Her 5.03 d/s mark also ranks second in the league.
Scouting Eastern New MexicoLauren Frye is second in the LSC with 459 kills and third with 4.03 k/s. She paces the Greyhounds in attack percentage at .238 as well. Brooklyn Biel is second on the squad with 254 kills, followed by Courtney Lawson with 213.
Alexis Aguirre is the team's primary setter after the switch to a 5-1 offensive system. She has recorded 1,019 assists for an average of 8.71 per set.
ENMU is first in the LSC with 171 service aces and 1.46 per stanza. Leading the squad is Lindsay Bost with 41 aces and right behind her is Lawson with 38.
Biel goes into Friday's match with 100 blocks, 20 of them solo. Frye is second on the squad with 71 rejections and Laura Landreth has added 67. Andrea Aguilar leads Eastern with 495 digs and averages 4.23 per set.
All-Time vs. Eastern New MexicoThe Greyhounds hold a 31-21 advantage in the all-time series. However, TAMUK has won eight straight and 15 of the last 17 meetings. The Javelinas last fell to ENMU on Sept. 9, 2011 in Canyon, Texas. The Blue and Gold won the first meeting this season in four sets behind 17 kills from Moehrig and 16 courtesy of Faison.
Scouting West Texas A&MCourtnee Curl paces WT with 297 kills and 2.80 k/s. Cori Haley is right behind her with 283 kills. Also recording over 200 kills this season are Elisa Bentsen (209) and Lexis Davis (256). Leading the squad with a .311 attack percentage is Davis. A team-high 899 assists (9.08 a/s) belongs to Jessica Jackson.
Defensively, Davis leads the squad with 123 blocks and Bentsen has contributed 113. Lauren Britten enters the weekend with 434 digs for an average of 3.81 per set. The trio of Aspen Sanders (240), Haley (201) and Jackson (212) all have over 200 digs this year.
All-Time vs. West Texas A&MWT has dominated the all-time series with TAMUK 48-8. The Javelinas won the first meeting this season 3-1 for their first victory over the Lady Buffs since Nov. 4, 2004. The Blue and Gold is 3-20 when playing WT in Kingsville.
LSC Tournament BoundTAMUK has already clinched a spot in the LSC Tournament for the fifth consecutive year. The Javelinas are currently tied for fourth with the Aggies, and both are half a game ahead of Texas A&M-Commerce. TAMUK can finish either fourth, fifth or sixth. The Javelinas hold the tie-breaker over CU and the Lions thanks to their victory over Angelo State earlier this year.
Live stats and video will be available for both matches. Links can be found on the volleyball schedule page.
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