Kingsville - After a pair of tough losses on the road, the Texas A&M-Kingsville volleyball team will be looking for revenge this weekend as it returns to the SPEC for a pair of crucial Lone Star Conference matches against Midwestern St. (Friday, 6:00 p.m.) and Lubbock Christian (Saturday, 2:00 p.m.).

The first match of the weekend will give the Hogs an opportunity to doll out a measure of revenge against the Mustangs, who gave the team its first of just two home losses this season back in September during the LSC Challenge. The second match, which will be played on Homecoming Saturday, will be a tough test for Kingsville as Lubbock brings an LSC-best 9-0 record in conference play into the weekend. 

"I expect the two matches this weekend to be battles," Head Coach Tanya Allen Gonzalez said. "Hitting this halfway point in the LSC is always difficult - not only difficult physically, but also mentally and emotionally. I'm proud of this team and I'm confident they can be tough enough to persevere in the last matches of the season."

As the back half of Conference play kicks into gear, the Javelinas sit in the eighth spot of the conference standings (5-4). Those standings, however, are bunched up around the Hogs, with the team sitting just two games outside of the four seed, while also being two games out of the 14th spot, making its next sequence of games all the more significant.

Prior to its early-season loss to the Mustangs, the Hogs had beaten their opponents from Wichita Falls four straight times and in 14 of their last 15 matches. Midwestern on the other hand, will be hoping to beat TAMUK twice in a row for the first time since the 2013 season.

Kingsville's matchup with Lubbock through the years, however, has been much closer, with LCU holding a 4-3 edge in the two program's seven matchups since the turn of the century. The last time the Javelinas and the Chaps met in Kingsville came back in 2022, when the Hogs took a three-set win over LCU.

Scouting the Competition: The Midwestern St. Mustangs

The Mustangs have started the year 13-5 and 6-3 in LSC play and, though they are a perfect 8-0 at home, they hold just a .500 record (4-4) on the road. One of those road wins, however, came over the Javelinas, with MSU reverse-sweeping TAMUK in Kingsville in the teams' final match before conference play.

The team had won four straight matches, three of which came in LSC play, before it fell, 3-2, to UT-Tyler in Tyler on Saturday. It will now look to get back into the win column behind a stellar defensive unit, which has led the conference in digs so far this season. The 19.33 digs per set that the crew averages are not only the most in the LSC but are also the seventh-most in the nation.

Like Kingsville, MSU has also been excellent behind the service line this year, leading the LSC in aces per set - averaging just 0.01 more than the Javelinas. The two teams rank quite close to one another in serve-receive as well, with the Mustangs averaging the second-fewest opponent service aces in the conference while Kingsville averages the third-fewest.

The team's offense, which has proved itself quite potent through the early stages of conference play, is coordinated by junior setter Alayna Guerrero, who leads the conference in assists per set with 10.70 (15th in the nation).

Scouting the Competition: The Lubbock Christian Chaps

The Chaps have been off to an excellent start this year, already topping their win total from last season (13). Most of those wins have come in conference play and have boosted LCU to its spot atop the LSC standings. The team carries a 9-0 conference record and a 13-match winning streak into the weekend, with its last loss coming to Fort Lewis College (3-2) back on September 12.

Lubbock's red-hot offense leads the conference in both kills (14.01/s, 19th in the nation) and assists (13.33/s, 13th in the nation). While no single Chap ranks in the top 10 in the LSC in kills/s, six of them average 2.00 k/s or more, and four average at least 2.60. One such player, senior middle blocker Lily Bickley, does her damage with supreme efficiency, averaging the fifth-best hitting percentage in the LSC, while her running mate, another senior MB, Bryleigh Schweer, sits just behind her with the sixth-best percentage.

Commanding that offense is a true freshman, Camdyn Sears, who averages the second-most assists per set in the LSC and has already won the conference's Setter of the Week award twice and its Freshman of the Week award three times. Senior defensive specialist/libero Abby Dominguez leads the back row, averaging 4.95 digs per set, the third most in the conference.

Javelina Quick Hitters:

• Earlier this season, the Javelinas reached the best start, record wise, in the history of the program. 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. Since then the Hogs have lost four of five and hold a 5-4 conference record, sitting in eighth place in the LSC standings
• Kingsville's high-powered offense is, statistically, one of the most potent offenses in the conference - it averages the third-highest team hitting percentage, the fourth-most kills, and the fifth-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 assists, and the fewest opponent kills, and second fewest opponent digs in the LSC
• Senior RS/S Rylan Pollard has stuffed the stat sheet in every possible way early in the year, bringing averages of 3.01 kills/s (15th in LSC), 4.86 assists/s, and 2.35 digs/s , as well as a .255 hitting percentage (19th in LSC) into the weekend. She has already posted seven 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 .465 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 2.70 kills/s (22nd in LSC) while averaging a ridiculous .315 attack percentage (7th 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 29 total aces are tied for the fourth most in the LSC - her 5.36 assists/s are also the 12th-most in the conference
• Defensively, junior DS/L Monique Gonzalez leads the team with 3.24 digs per set (16th in LSC), with sophomore DS/L Tayae Garcia not far behind, averaging 2.66 d/s