KINGSVILLE, Texas – The final home matches in a pair of illustrious careers will also the be last two contests of the 2018 regular season for the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's volleyball team, with the Javelinas preparing to play the MSU Texas Mustangs on Friday at 7 p.m. before hosting the Cameron Aggies on Senior Day on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Steinke Physical Education Center.
Coach Tanya Allen and the Javelinas will be bidding farewell to Madison Brabham (Kingwood, Texas) and Haley Hutchinson (Georgetown, Texas). Both student-athletes have been wearing Blue and Gold for four years and will leave the school having written their names into the program record books.
"Both of these kids have been starters for us for four years," said Allen. "It's been a privilege to see them grow because I think [looking back at] them as freshman, I don't they'd recognize themselves now. It's been great watching them grow into fantastic players."
During her senior year, Hutchinson has moved into first place in program history in block assists and sets played. She has since become the first Javelina to every rack up 400 block assists in a career and is two sets away from reaching the benchmark of 500 sets played, which no player has previously accomplished for the Blue and Gold. Hutchinson is also just six total blocks away from the all-time Javelina record in that category, while also sitting in third place in TAMUK history in solo blocks and fifth in blocks per set.
This season, Hutchinson has taken on additional responsibilities along with her regular role as a middle blocker. Her 228 kills and average of 2.58 kills per set are both career-highs. She's also served up 16 aces after logging just one through her first three seasons.
Brabham has used her senior season to vault herself into the conversation for All-American recognition. Her 11 triple-doubles are the most in Division II and she's accomplished that feat while also averaging 3.76 kills per set, the best mark in the LSC and one that has her in the top 50 nationally.
The Kingwood native's last ride in Kingsville has included milestones such as becoming the 10th Javelina to reach 1,000 career kills. Her current total of 1,195 in that statistic has her in fifth place in the TAMUK record book. She tied the all-time Javelina record for kills in a match earlier this season, piling up 30 against WNMU on Oct. 13th. Brabham is also fifth in Javelina history in total blocks with 336 and hitting percentage at .247.
As a team, the Javelinas are looking to wrap up their spot in the Lone Star Conference Tournament. They are currently holding down the event's sixth seed with marks of 8-10 in the LSC and 16-13 overall. The Javs are a game-and-a-half behind Texas Woman's for the fifth spot and they're a full game ahead of UT Permian Basin and Eastern New Mexico. TAMUK, which secured a spot in the postseason on Saturday by beating West Texas while Western New Mexico fell to TWU, is currently slotted to face Angelo State in the first round of the conference tournament.
In contrast, the two squads visiting Kingsville this weekend have already been eliminated from postseason contention and will be playing simply for pride when they enter the SPEC. MSU Texas will be playing in their season finale on Friday, looking to end the year on high note after five consecutive losses.
Right side Sarah Eakin and setter Sarah Glawe have been the two standouts for coach Valerie Armstrong and MSU Texas to this point. Eakin's 1.27 blocks per set is the second-best average in the LSC and she's had multiple blocks in 12 consecutive matches. Glawe has the conference's third-best rate of assists per set at 7.56. In a match against Cameron earlier this season, she passed out 49 helpers and she also has five double-doubles to her credit.
The Aggies will enter Saturday's clash off a win over MSU Texas on Tuesday, attempting to pick up consecutive victories for the first time this season. The Aggies have been strongest in the middle this year, as senior Brandy Carr has helped them put together the league's second highest average of blocks per set. Invidually, Carr ranks fourth in the LSC in that statistic and she's topped five blocks per set six times in 2018, though the Javelinas limited her to only two the first time these teams met.
To find live video, stats and recaps for both matches, visit Javelinaathletics.com. To keep up with everything related to Javelina volleyball all season long, follow @JavelinaVB on Twitter and @javelinasports on Instagram, like Javelina Volleyball on Facebook and visit Javelinasports.com.
