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KINGSVILLE, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville volleyball team concludes their eight-match homestand on Wednesday against Oklahoma Panhandle State at 7 p.m. in the Gil H. Steinke Physical Education Center-Kingsville Hampton Inn Court. This weekend will see the Javelinas travel to face Texas A&M-Commerce and Texas Woman's for their first two road Lone Star Conference contests of the season. Friday sees the Blue and Gold face the Pioneers at 5 p.m. at Kitty Magee Arena and follow with a 2 p.m. match Saturday in The Field House to take on the Lions.
 
TAMUK enters the week with a 6-5 record and are 1-1 in conference play. The Aggies are 1-9 and have dropped two Heartland Conference contests. Both A&M-C and TWU lead the LSC with a 2-0 record while the Lions are 8-3 overall and the Pioneers are 8-2.
 
Scouting Texas A&M-Kingsville
After a 22-kill weekend without recording an error, setter Casey Klobedans leads the league with a .367 attack percentage. She is third in the LSC at 10.16 a/s and 17th in the national with 447 total assists.
 
Ashley Bukowski leads the team with 3.11 k/s and is followed closely by Krystal Faison at 3.02. Tied for 10 in the conference with 2.93 k/s is Valarie Moehrig.
 
Defensively, Haley Hutchinson paces the Javelinas with 31 kills. Also with over 20 rejections are Madison Brabham (27), Klobedans (21) and Moehrig (20). Sophomore Brett Zaccardo goes into the matches with 224 digs and a 5.09 per set average, ranking 22nd and 58th in Division II respectively.
 
Scouting Oklahoma Panhandle State
Coming into Kingsville with a team best 58 kills, 1.81 k/s and .234 attack percentage is Kaitlyn Carr. She is one of five players to average at least one kills a set. Three players have seen time at setter this year for the Aggies. Abigail Reinick leads the squad with 95 assists (3.28 a/s) and is followed by Celci Bakos at 81 assists (2.61 a/s). Julia Ibara has appeared in 13 sets, totaling 43 assists.
 
Defensively, Madigan Gonzales has a team-high 23 blocks, nine of them being solo. Carr (10) is the only other player with double-digit blocks. Getting credit for 94 digs for a 2.85 d/s average is Dejiana Rubo.
 
The Javelinas won the only previous meeting between the programs in three sets on Sept. 9, 2011 in Canyon, Texas. That meeting saw the Blue and Gold hold the Aggies to 23 kills and a .040 attack percentage while totaling 35 kills and a .325 hitting percentage themselves.
 
Scouting Texas Woman's
Makayla Mayfield is the only player with over 100 kills this season for TWU at 114. She also has a team-high 11 service aces. Hillary Shaffer paces the Pioneers with a .338 attack percentage and is averaging 2.73 kills a set. Also averaging over two kills per set are Mallory Kuechle (2.12) and Sara Oxford (2.36). Setting them up is Joey Redwine with 316 total assists and 9.58 a/s.
 
At the net, Shaffer has posted a team-high 33 blocks and five solo rejections. Oxford is second with 26 blocks. Haley Collins (17), Kuechle (18) and Redwine (18) have double-digit rejections as well. Kuechle enters with a team-high 133 digs (4.03 d/s) and is followed closely by Torie Talkington (125 d, 3.79 d/s).
 
TWU leads the all-time series 34-7. Last year the teams split the season series with the home team winning each time. The last time the Blue and Gold won in Denton was Oct. 4, 2013 in five sets.
 
Scouting Texas A&M-Commerce
Both Taryn Driver (132) and Layne Little (131) have triple-digit kills this season. Leading the Lions with a .345 attack percentage is Sydney Reyes while averaging 1.5 k/s. Setter Courtney Tate has been credited with 450 assists in 45 sets this season while also leading the squad with 12 service aces.
 
Jaslyn Wacker sports a team-high 38 blocks. Little has 22 rejections and both Driver and Reyes go into the week with 21 blocks apiece. Ashley Mireles is fifth in the LSC with 4.29 d/s.
 
A&M-C holds a 26-12 advantage all-time versus TAMUK. Five of the last eight matches have been won by the Javelinas, including season sweeps in 2014 and 2011. In Commerce, the Blue and Gold have won five of 15 meetings.
 
Double-Doubles
After the third week of competition, the Javelinas have totaled 18 double-doubles between three players. Faison leads the team with seven, followed by Bukowski (6) and Klobedans (5). Entering the week, Bukowski has recorded four consecutive double-doubles while Faison posted three straight.
 
Zaccardo's Career-Highs
Sophomore libero Zaccardo set new career-highs in assists and digs against Our Lady of the Lake. She recorded 31 digs in the five-set contest to surpass her previous best of 30 at Eastern New Mexico last season. Her eight assists in the game broke her old mark of seven set earlier this season against St. Mary's.
 
LSC Player of the Week for Zaccardo
After her strong performance in the Emerald Beach Hotel Javelina Volleyball Invitational, Zaccardo was named the Lone Star Conference's Defensive Player of the Week. She totaled 75 digs for a 5.77 d/s mark. In the final match against Lubbock Christian, Zaccardo set a new program record with 29 digs in a three-set contest.
 
All-Time Winningest TAMUK Coach
With the Javelinas sweep of St. Mary's in their first match of the Emerald Beach Hotel Javelina Volleyball Invitational, head coach Tanya Allen became the winningest coach in program history. She earned her 69th victory since coming to Kingsville. Her win total surpassed Jane Kieschnick (2000-06) mark of 68 wins.
 
New 3-Set Dig Record
Zaccardo set a new team record in the Javelinas final match of their home tournament. She recorded 29 digs in the three-set victory over Lubbock Christian. The previous record was 26 set by Tara Grier against Eastern New Mexico at home on Sept. 15, 2007.
 
Assists Chase
Klobedans ended her freshman campaign with 1,171 assists, the 10th most on the career list. She has recorded 314 assists this season to give her 1,485 in her career, moving her to within 160 of ninth place. The program leader is Natalie Walther (2001-04) with 3,051.
 
Emerald Beach Hotel All-Tournament
Faison was the Blue and Gold's selection to the Emerald Beach Hotel Javelina Volleyball Invitational All-Tournament team. She led all players with 48 kills and was second with a 3.69 k/s average. Faison also recorded back-to-back double-doubles in the first two contests.
 
Maryville All-Tournament Team
With their second place finish at the Maryville Invitational to begin the season, TAMUK landed two players on the all-tournament team. Picking up the honors were Faison and Zaccardo.
 
Matched Service Aces Mark
Klobedans tied a Javelina service ace record in the season opener against Southern Wesleyan. She hit six aces in the five-set match. The previous Hoggie to reach the mark was Kim Martinez against Angelo State on Nov. 8, 1997 at home.
 
Klobedans LSC Preseason Setter
Klobedans was selected as the Lone Star Conference's Preseason Setter of the Year by the head coaches, sports information directors and media members. She was the conference's co-Setter of the Year after recording 1,171 assists (10.18 a/s).
 
Season Openers
Texas A&M-Kingsville improved to 10-18 all-time in season openers since 1988. The Javelinas have won their last two season opening contests. In head coach Tanya Allen's five seasons, TAMUK is 3-2 and 2-1 in neutral site contests.
 
Javelinas Picked Fifth in LSC
TAMUK was picked to finish fifth in the Lone Star Conference's 2015 preseason poll by coaches, sports information directors and media members. West Texas A&M was picked first with 19 of the possible 25 first place votes while the defending conference tournament champions Tarleton State were second with five first-place picks. Receiving the final first-place vote was Angelo State.
 
Live stats will be available for all three matches. Links can be found at the top of the article and on the volleyball schedule page.
 
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