KINGSVILLE, Texas – For the second straight season, the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's volleyball team is off to a red-hot start and they'll try to keep the good times rolling on Saturday, when they'll host the Texas A&M International Dustdevils at the Steinke Physical Education Center in Kingsville, Texas at 1 p.m.
Prior to the 2020-21 campaign, Javelina volleyball had never started a season with eight straight wins, but Saturday's match will give the Javs the opportunity to accomplish that feat for the second consecutive time. It would also put TAMUK at 3-0 in the Lone Star Conference for just the second time.
"We're moving forward," said coach Tanya Allen, "but I don't think we've seen their best yet. I'm excited about that. I know what they're capable off and I know exactly how good they can be and we haven't reached that point yet. We keep pushing them, we keep working on getting better and I think more things are to come."
One of the main reasons for the Javelinas' success in their first two conference matches was excellent play on the outside, with sophomore Jackie Alanis (McAllen, Texas) and freshman Allison Stachowiak (Brownsville, Texas) playing starring roles.
Alanis is averaging 3.82 kills per set while hitting .296, making her one of only two players in the top five in the conference in kills average and in the top 15 in hitting percentage. Her efforts in TAMUK's first two LSC contests resulted in a stat line that included 29 smashes and a kill rate of .431 and earned Alanis an LSC Offensive Player of the Week award.
Stachowiak's work against the Mustangs yielded 10 kills and a .375 hitting percentage, a career-best for her on more than 10 attacks. With 59 finishers so far in the fall, the native of Brownsville has already surpassed her total from the spring and she's topped her season-high in that stat from the previous season three times, including a 13-kill afternoon against Western Colorado on Sept. 3rd.
Attempting to crash the party on Saturday and put an end to TAMUK's win streak is a Dustdevil team that's managed only two wins over the Javs in their last 20 tries. Overall, the all-time series edge belongs to the Blue and Gold by a 21-9 margin.
"International has two very good outside hitters," said Allen. "They hit for a pretty good percentage and they're scoring quite frequently. We're definitely going to have to amp up our blocking and we're going to keep working at that across the net."
TAMIU's lineup of outside hitters is led by senior Mackenzie Catalina, who's fourth in the LSC and tied for 33rd in the nation in kills per set with a mark of 3.82. She's churned out at least 13 kills in seven straight matches and rattled off 18 on Saturday, when the Dustdevils knocked off Cameron for their first win of the fall. She's also second on her squad in digs with 112.
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