KINGSVILLE, Texas – For the ninth consecutive season, the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's volleyball team has booked a ticket to the Lone Star Conference Tournament and in the 2019 edition of this postseason melee, the Javelinas have been seeded 11th and will take on sixth-seeded Arkansas-Fort Smith in the tournament's first round on Tuesday at the Stubblefield Center in Fort Smith, Ark.
With the LSC in its first season since expanding to include 18 programs, the conference tournament now includes the top 12 teams, ranked according to RPI. The first four seeds get a bye in the initial stage with seeds 5-8 hosting the four games to open the event. The final three rounds will be hosted by A&M-Commerce starting on Thursday.
In two of the last three years, the Javelinas have made their presence known at the conference tournament by advancing to the semifinals. In 2018 in Stephenville, Texas, then-junior Talleyshia Morris (Tulsa, Okla.) helped lead the Javs to the brink of the conference final, totaling 18 blocks in two matches and hitting .533 on 15 swings in LSC semifinals against A&M-Commerce. For her efforts, she was chosen to the LSC's All-Tournament Team.
Morris has continued her excellent play in 2019 and sits in the top 10 in the LSC in total blocks and blocks per set. Her 123 total blocks in 2019 put her in the top 10 in program history for a single season and she's also had two matches in which she's logged 11 rejections, tied for the fifth-most in a match by a Javelina all-time. Offensively, Morris owns the team's best hitting percentage at .265 with a team-high 236 kills. Her career hitting percentage of .260 puts her fourth in the TAMUK record book.
While Morris' average of 1.03 blocks per set does put her in the conference's top 10, its only second-best on TAMUK's roster behind sophomore Kailey Estrada (San Antonio, Texas). Estrada owns a rate of 1.06 rejections per set, sixth in the conference, and closed out the regular season with 13 total blocks over her team's final two matches. She helped the Javs to a win over St. Mary's on Friday night with seven blocks along with 11 kills and a .647 hitting percentage, the highest kill rate by Javelina in 2019.
Freshman Jordan Schenkel (San Antonio, Texas) has taken over at the libero spot for the Blue and Gold and, over her team's last six matches, she's averaged 4.59 digs per set. Over a full season, that would put her sixth in the LSC. Her season-high in scoops came against Eastern New Mexico on Nov. 2nd, when she finished with 27.
Schenkel, Estrada, Morris and the rest of the Javelinas will be tasked with attempting to slow down a UAFS offense that owns the 16th- best hitting percentage in the nation. Despite a record of 17-1 in LSC play and an overall mark of 24-5, the Lions, who received votes in the most recent American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, were seeded sixth in the LSC Tournament.
The two most dangerous cogs in the Lions' offensive machine are middle hitter Lexie Johnston and outside hitter Anna Demmer. Johnston's hitting percentage of .400 is not only tops in the LSC, but also sixth in Division II. Over one five-match stretch in 2019, she racked up 63 kills against two errors in 108 attacks for a .565 kill rate.
Demmer is third in the conference in kills per set at 3.49, with her season-high of 27 coming on Nov. 2nd against UT Tyler. She's also second on the team in digs with 341 and total blocks with 68. When TAMUK and UAFS met in Kingsville on Oct. 19, Johnston and Demmer combined for 27 kills against two errors on 56 attacks.
Live video and stats for every match the Javelinas play in the conference tournament will be available via links on Javelinaathletics.com and a recap will be posted at the end of every contest. To keep up with Javelina volleyball all season long, follow @JavelinaVB and @JavelinaSports on Twitter and Instagram, visit TAMUK Volleyball on Facebook, subscribe to the Javelina Athletics YouTube Channel and visit Javelinaathletics.com. Watch your Javelinas live today on the Javelina Sports Network sponsored by Mendoza's Pharmacy.
