KINGSVILLE, Texas –For seniors Melanie Casteel (Dallas, Texas), Talleyshia Morris (Tulsa, Okla.) and Madelyn Perez (San Antonio, Texas), two more home matches remain as student-athletes for the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's volleyball team, which will close out its regular season against the St. Mary's Rattlers and the St. Edward's Hilltoppers in the last week before the start of the Lone Star Conference Tournament.
"This is a unique group of seniors," said coach Tanya Allen, "because they've only been here for two years. They came in and made an impact right away. I know they've had their struggles over the last two years, but I've seen them grow a lot. I'm really proud of that growth and where they are now. I think all three of them have really bright futures."
The weekend for the Javelinas begins against St. Mary's on Friday night with a 6 p.m. match before the team's regular season finale on Saturday, when they'll square off with Edward's in a contest that will begin at 2 p.m.
The goal for the Javelinas and their three seniors is to use these last two matches to improve the team's position for the LSC Tournament, which will begin on Nov. 19th. With a record of 5-3 in their division, to go along with marks of 7-9 in the conference and 16-14 overall, the Javs are in third place. The conference's top 12 teams get into the postseason tournament and, while the top four seeds get a first-round bye, the next four most highly-rated squads host a game in the initial stage.
The Rattlers and the Hilltoppers enter the weekend in markedly different positions in relation to the conference tournament. StMU sits in fifth place in their division at 2-6 with a 3-13 conference mark that includes six consecutive losses, while the Hilltoppers can wrap up the division crown with a win over Texas A&M International on Friday night.
Against the Rattlers, the Javelinas will be going for their second win in three tries in 2019 and a season sweep of St. Mary's in conference play following a five-set win in San Antonio on Oct. 12th. One of TAMUK's stars that night was Talleyshia Morris. She set career-highs in kills, with 21, and total blocks, with 11, marks she has matched since then, and hit .450 with only three errors on 11 attacks.
With 295 points, Morris has grabbed the top spot on the team in scoring and has surpassed her numbers from a year ago in almost every category. Her 119 total blocks are just two off the conference lead and put her four away from a mark that would reach the top 10 in program history. In block assists, she's already reached that that territory, logging 102, which stands as seventh-best by a Javelina in a single season. In her Javelina career, Morris has already taken possession of the 10th spot in the school record book with 216 rejections in Blue and Gold.
Morris and her teammates will face another challenge in an SEU team that sports one of the conference's most talented rosters. The Hilltoppers average 13.78 kills per set, 26th in the nation and they also rank near the top of the LSC in hitting percentage, aces and digs. They've accomplished this without having a single player in the conference's top five in any of these statistics.
Outside hitter Alexa McAndrew has put together an excellent season for coach Stefanie Holler's crew and leads the Hilltoppers in both kills and digs. She set her season-high in kills in an October win over the Javelinas, churning out 20 to go with 11 scoops for one of the nine double-doubles she's collected in 2019. McAndrew has been held to a negative hitting percentage in each of her last two matches, but, for the season, she's hitting .218.
Live streaming video and live stats for each match will be available via links on Javelinaathletics.com, which will also be the place to go for a postgame recap. You can keep up with Javelina volleyball all season long by following @JavelinaVB and @JavelinaSports on Twitter and Instagram, visiting TAMUK Volleyball on Facebook, subscribing to the Javelina Athletics YouTube Channel and visiting Javelinaathletics.com. Watch your Javelinas live today on the Javelina Sports Network sponsored by Mendoza's Pharmacy.
