KINGSVILLE, Texas – Owners of a perfect 5-0 record at home so far in 2021-22, the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's volleyball team will attempt to keep their undefeated mark at the Steinke Physical Education Center intact during a weekend in which they'll entertain the Western New Mexico Mustangs on Friday at 6 p.m. and the UT Permian Basin Falcons at 1 p.m. on Saturday at the SPEC in Kingsville, Texas.
The match on Friday night will serve as Campers Day, while Saturday's contest against UTPB will be Pack the House Day, as the Javelinas hope to square off with the Falcons in front of a full house in their home arena.
This weekend at home will also give coach Tanya Allen a chance to add to her list of milestones as Javelina head coach. Already the program's winningest coach and closing in on 200 victories since coming to Kingsville, Allen enters this weekend needing one more triumph to become the first Javelina volleyball coach to reach 100 conference wins. Since the start of 2016, Allen's teams have gone 62-37 in LSC matches, including a perfect 12-0 record in the regular season in the spring of 2021.
Allen and her Javelinas will also be attempting to maintain their undefeated record at home and extend their win streak at the SPEC to 14-in-a-row. In five matches in their home building in 2021, the Javs have outhit their opponents, .263 to .095 and they held each of the last two teams to visit Kingsville to hitting percentages below .100. TAMUK's most recent home match was on Oct. 9th against DBU and the Javs limited the Patriots to a .090 kill rate, their lowest percentage of the season.
Nobody has been better when the Javelinas are at home than junior Nicole Murff (San Antonio, Texas), who has averaged an incredible 6.44 digs per set at the SPEC. That number includes a 28-dig performance against Texas A&M International on Sept. 25th, which also earned her LSC Defensive Player of the Week honors. Murff owns an overall mark of 5.68 digs per set, tops in the LSC and 15th in the nation and her current average in that category would be the best by any Javelina in more than 20 years.
For coach Holly Watts and her WNMU Mustangs, wins were difficult to come by in the early part of the season, but Watts' charges are coming off back-to-back wins for the first time in 2021. As the Mustangs disposed of Cameron and Midwestern State, their most lethal weapon was outside hitter Bria Augustine, who sent in 31 combined kills and also recorded a double-double in both contest. Augustine leads her team in both smashes and scoops in 2021 and her 14 aces are the second-most on WNMU's roster.
The Falcons have cruised through the first half of their LSC schedule to the tune of a 7-2 record and they're 12-5 overall in the fall. One of the key factors for UTPB has been a defense that leads the LSC in digs per set at 18.08 and the Falcons have also held opponents to a .164 hitting percentage, fourth in the conference.
On offense, no one has more points than outside hitter Aquincia Strambler, whose 221 points are the most on the Falcons' roster. Strambler has hit over .200 in her team's last seven matches, including a performance on Sept. 30th in which she hit .417 with 17 smashes in a victory over St. Edward's.
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