HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana volleyball squad wraps up a five-match homestand this week with Southland Conference matches at the University Center Tuesday against the University of New Orleans, Thursday against Sam Houston State and Saturday against Lamar.
Match times are 7 p.m. both Tuesday and Thursday, and noon on Saturday for Senior Day. Five seniors,
Brooke Balser,
Shelby Devlin,
Mikayla Shippy,
Tiffany Thomas and
Veronica Turk, will be honored before Saturday's match. Saturday is also volleyball's Alumni Day and the Southeastern Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.
Admission to all home volleyball matches is free this season. Southeastern students and campus organizations can earn points toward their new Lion Up Loyalty account at all three matches just by checking-in on the mobile app while in attendance.
Fans can also watch the matches live on LionVision, Southeastern's subscription-based video stream, or follow live statistics. Links for both are available on the volleyball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.
Southeastern (11-14, 5-6 Southland) split a pair of conference matches last week, defeating Nicholls in four sets and dropping a four-setter to McNeese.
Head coach
Jim Smoot enters the week three wins shy of 400 in his career. The Lady Lions enter the week in seventh place in the conference standings with the top eight eligible squads advancing to the Southland Tournament, Nov. 20-22, in Conway, Arkansas.
Southeastern has a chance to distance itself from its closest competitors as all three opponents this coming week sit below the Lady Lions in the standings.
Landry Bullock (3.07 kills per set),
Sarah Friedman (2.54 k/set) and
Parrie Hartley (2.04 k/set) pace the Lady Lion offense this season under the direction of Shippy (6.39 assists per set) and
Haley Baker (5.86 a/set). Bullock ranks 10th in the conference in kills. Freshman
Monica Ramon leads the team with 27 service aces.
Balser (3.60 d/set), Ramon (2.67 digs per set) and
Madi Odom (2.13 d/set) anchor the back row defensively. Balser's average ranks ninth in the conference. Turk (0.70 b/set) an
Rachael Bunn (0.59 b/set) lead Southeastern's front-line defensive effort.
New Orleans (15-13, 4-7 Southland) has won three-in-a-row and defeated the Lady Lions earlier this season.
Blessing Dunn (2.71 k/set), Cara Sander (2.33 k/set) and Celeste Ramirez (8.21 a/set) lead the Privateer offensive attack. Shaylene Reimer's 38 service aces are tops on the squad. Kaitlyn Grice (0.77 b/set) is UNO's leading blocker and Lauren Levy (2.76 d/set) is one of four Privateer players averaging at least two digs per set.
Sam Houston (11-15, 5-7 Southland) has dropped six of its last seven matches coming into Thursday's contest in Hammond.
Jordyn Vaughn (3.28 k/set), Brooke White (3.20 k/set) and Michelle Griffith are the Bearkats top offensive players. Shelby Genung (0.66 b/set) is the leading blocker on the squad and Claire Kilpatrick (4.14 d/set) is sixth in the conference in digs.
Lamar (13-12, 3-8 Southland), which is led by former Southeastern assistant coach Alan Edwards, also faces a three-match week. Edwards coached current Lady Lion assistant
Emilyn Jordan as a freshman. The Cardinals play Tuesday at Stephen F. Austin and Thursday at New Orleans before making the trip to Hammond for Saturday's contest.
Cortney Moore (2.88 k/set), Chelsea Grant (2.76 k/set), Haley Morton (6.44 a/set) and Ashley Ellis (4.54 a/set) pace the Cardinal offense. Grant is second in the conference with an average of 1.27 blocks per set. Lauren Stahlman (4.29 d/set) currently ranks fourth in the Southland in digs.
Saturday's Alumni Day festivities, held in conjunction with the Hall of Fame ceremonies, begins with registration and lunch at 11 a.m. in room 125 of the University Center. All former players in attendance at the match will be honored on the court between sets two and three. For more information on Alumni Day activities contact
Larry Hymel of the Southeastern Alumni Association at (985) 549-3228.
Former Lady Lion volleyball player Denise Kubena Wyninger will be honored at the annual Hall of Fame reception and program later Saturday in the Hall of Champions, located on the University Center's main concourse. She, along with former softball player Rachel Ray Fitzgerald, will be officially inducted into the Southeastern Athletics Hall of Fame at halftime of that evening's football game against Incarnate Word in Strawberry Stadium.