HUNTSVILLE, Texas – The Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team heads to the state of Texas for a pair of matches this week attempting to wrap up a spot in the 2012 Southland Conference Volleyball Tournament.

Southeastern (10-15, 5-10 Southland) faces the streaking Bearkats of Sam Houston State, now atop the Southland standings, Thursday at 7 p.m. in Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum. Sam Houston (16-9, 11-2 Southland) has won its last 11 matches overall and 10-straight in conference play. The Lady Lions can clinch a tournament berth with a win, or a Lamar loss.

Live statistics, courtesy Sam Houston, will be available at www.LionSports.net.

Leading the Lady Lion offense is Courtney Donald. Ranked third in the conference in kills (3.77 per set) and fourth in hitting percentage (.341), the senior middle blocker owns the sixth-best career attack percentage in school history. She also ranks among the best in Southeastern history in kills (7th), attempts (7th), solo blocks (10th), block assists (7th), total blocks (8th) and points (8th).

Veronica Turk (2.36 k/set), Tamra Grayson (1.73 k/set), Shelby Devlin (1.54 k/set) and Becky Bekelja (8.91 assists per set) are the other top offensive weapons for the Lady Lions. Southeastern owns the fourth-best attack percentage (.185) in the conference.

Libero Megan McMillin ranks fifth in the Southland with 4.09 digs per set. Lending a helping hand on defense are Bekelja (2.32 d/set), Morgan Todd (2.00 d/set), Taylor Buckner (1.92 d/set), and Cherish Krohn (1.90 d/set). Donald (82 total blocks) and Devlin (70 tb) are Southeastern's top blockers.

The Bearkats are led by Deveny Wells-Gibson (4.02 k/set) and reigning conference offensive player of the week Kendall Cleveland (3.23 k/set). Setter Tayler Gray is third in the Southland with 10.68 assists per set.

Gray (3.61 d/set) and Jamie Haas (3.25 d/set) are eighth and ninth in the conference, respectively, in digs, but as a team Sam Houston leads the conference in digs (17.40 per set) and opponent hitting percentage (.154) while ranking second in blocks (2.33 per set).

Southeastern remains tied with Nicholls State (10-16, 5-10 Southland) for seventh in the Southland after Stephen F. Austin dropped the Lady Colonels this past Saturday in a five-set decision. The top eight teams in the regular season make the conference tournament scheduled for Nov. 16-18 in Conway, Ark.

With three conference matches left, Southeastern holds a 2.5-game lead over Lamar (9-18, 2-12 Southland). McNeese State (7-20, 1-13 Southland) was eliminated from postseason play last Saturday, getting swept in straight sets by Lamar.  The Cardinals host Central Arkansas and Oral Roberts, and then must travel to Sam Houston State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Southeastern and Nicholls State, conference-travel partners, each have matches at Sam Houston State and A&M-Corpus Christi this coming week before facing off against each other Nov. 10 in Hammond.

The Lady Lions travel to A&M-Corpus Christi Saturday for their final conference road match of the season.