Kingsville - With a key portion of its Lone Star Conference schedule on the horizon, the Texas A&M-Kingsville volleyball team hits the road for a pair of contests against its Oklahoma-based conference foes.

The weekend road trip starts with a Friday-night stop in Edmond, OK for a 6:00 p.m. bout with the Oklahoma Christian Eagles, and ends the next day with a match against the Cameron Aggies set for 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. While both teams have struggled since the start of conference play, going a combined 2-10, both have proved themselves dangerous foes in a difficult LSC.

"This will be a tough road trip," Head Coach Tanya Allen-Gonzalez said. "Both teams are better than their record reflects, and both teams have some big arms. We will need to pass well and sideout at a high percentage if we want to be successful."

The Hogs bring a 13-4 overall record and a 5-2 record in LSC play into the weekend, sitting in fifth in the conference standings - four of the five teams slotted above them remain ahead on their schedule. Two of them will be played on back-to-back days when TAMUK hosts Midwestern St. next Friday (Oct. 24) before clashing with Lubbock Christian on Homecoming Saturday (Oct. 25). The team is coming off of a 1-1 weekend where it fell to St. Edward's in four sets before making quick work of St. Mary's the following day with a dominant, 3-0 sweep. 

Scouting the Competition: The Oklahoma Christian Eagles

The Eagles enter the weekend with a 10-7 overall record but have struggled since starting conference play, starting their LSC schedule 2-4. After winning their first two conference matches of the year, including an upset win over No.22 Angelo State, they have lost four straight LSC matches.

Despite the team's struggles, it stays relatively efficient, averaging the sixth-best hitting percentage (.217) in the LSC, while also putting up the sixth-most assists per set (12.18) in the conference. Leading that efficient offense are a pair of seniors, middle blocker Camryn McGough, and outside hitter Annie Davis. McGough averages the third-best attack percentage in the LSC at .361, while Davis puts up the third-most kills per set in the LSC with 3.47. Another upperclassmen, redshirt junior MB Lauren Cary, leads the team in aces with an excellent .47 per set, the fourth-best average in the conference.

Scouting the Competition: The Cameron Aggies

The Aggies have started their year 4-16 overall and have yet to win and LSC match this season (0-6), though they did pick up a four-set win over UT-Dallas in Austin during the LSC Challenge (does not count toward LSC record). CU brings an eight-match losing streak into the weekend, which will begin with a Friday-night bout with Texas A&M-International before they host Kingsville on Saturday.

Sophomore MB Presleigh Roest leads the defensive front row for Cameron, averaging .90 blocks per set herself, the eighth-most in the LSC. Another young player shining for CU, sophomore OH Anastasija Andelic, leads the team in digs with 3.25 per set - four other Aggies average at least 2.00. The team's slew of savvy, talented hitters, allow it to let opponents put up just 1.62 blocks per set, the sixth-fewest in the LSC. Though no single hitter averages above 2.00 kills per set, seven different Aggies put up at least 1.40. 

Javelina Quick Hitters:

• Earlier this season, the Javelinas reached the best start, record wise, in the history of the program. In its existence since 1988, no TAMUK volleyball team had ever before held a 12-3 record through 15 matches. 
• Kingsville started Conference play with four straight wins, including a sweep of the Texas Woman's Pioneers in Denton, and a 3-2 upset of No.10 West Texas A&M in Kingsville - the first top-10 win for TAMUK since 2019. The Hogs finished their last road trip with a nail-biting five-set loss to the Western New Mexico in Silver City, taking their first LSC loss of the year, before going 1-1 against St. Edward's and St. Mary's in the SPEC last weekend
• Kingsville's high-powered offense is, statistically, one of the most potent offenses in the conference - it averages the second-highest team hitting percentage, the third-most kills, and the fourth-most assists
• The squad's defense has made great strides as the season has gone on as well, as it now averages the fewest opponent digs, the fewest opponent assists, and the fewest opponent kills in the LSC
• Senior RS/S Rylan Pollard has stuffed the stat sheet in every possible way early in the year, bringing averages of 3.09 kills/s (12th in LSC), 4.89 assists/s, and 2.18 digs/s , as well as a .275 hitting percentage (15th in LSC) into the weekend. She has already posted six triple doubles this season, by far the most in the nation, including a 17k-28a-12d match with two service aces and three total blocks, as well as a match with 11k-27a-25d, and two aces.
• Pollard has won the LSC's weekly honor as both a Setter and an overall offensive player, becoming just the second player in the history of the conference to accomplish such a feat
• Junior MB Natalee Rush has been absolutely stellar in her third season with the Hogs, stepping into a large offensive roll and averaging a .471 attack percentage, the best in the conference and the second-best in the country
• Senior RS Kendall Harrington has been the epitome of efficiency early in the year, averaging 2.77 kills/s (20th in LSC) while averaging a ridiculous .344 attack percentage (4th in LSC). She has already twice dropped single-match career highs in kills, with 16 in a five-set win over Harding and 18 in a five-set win over Southern Arkansas
• Harrington won her first ever LSC weekly honors earlier this season, bringing home the Offensive Player of the Week award for a weekend where she averaged 3.47 kills/s while swinging at .400, adding in eight digs and four total blocks
• Senior setter Elisa Carli, who led the LSC in service aces last season, is off to a hot start behind the service line again this year, her 26 total aces are the third-most in the LSC
• Defensively, junior DS/L Monique Gonzalez leads the team with 3.11 digs per set, with sophomore DS/L Tayae Garcia not far behind, averaging 2.78 d/s