HOUSTON, Texas – The Southeastern Louisiana volleyball squad faces its final tuneup before Southland Conference play begins with matches against Alabama A&M, Prairie View A&M and host Houston at the Flo Hyman Collegiate Cup this weekend at the UH Athletics/Alumni Center.
Southeastern (3-6) matches up against Alabama A&M (1-10) at 12:30 p.m. Friday and Prairie View (0-10) later in the day at 5:30 p.m. The Lady Lions face the Cougars (7-2) at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
Live stats are available for all three matches and the Houston match will be streamed live. Links for stats and video are available on both the front page and volleyball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.
The Lady Lions have won their last two matches, holding off a scrappy Southern team in five sets Tuesday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 25-21, 21-25, 25-19, 22-25, 15-7. Four Lady Lions recorded double-digit kills in a balanced offensive attack.
Parrie Hartley (13),
Landry Bullock (12),
Tiffany Thomas (12) and
Rachael Bunn (10) led the offense off 39 assists from freshman setter
Haley Baker.
Bullock (3.12 kills per set), Thomas (2.30 k/set), Hartley (2.00 k/set) and Sarah Freidman (1.80 k/set) pace the Lady Lion offense this season under the direction of setters
Mikayla Shippy (5.82 a/set) and Baker (5.56 assists per set). Freshmen
Monica Ramon and Baker are tied for the team lead with 11 service aces each.
Brooke Balser (3.54 d/set), Ramon (2.76 digs per set) and
Madi Odom (1.85 d/set) anchor the back row defensively. Bunn (0.59 b/set),
Shelby Devlin (0.53 blocks per set), Thomas (0.43 b/set) and
Veronica Turk (0.39 b/set) lead Southeastern's front-line defensive effort.
Alabama A&M has dropped eight-in-a-row since defeating Alcorn State in a non-conference match at the JSU Gamecock Tournament.
Ashundria McNeal (3.47 k/set), Drea Matthews (3.32 k/set) and Megan Butler (8.00 a/set) lead the Lady Bulldog offense. Lauren Butler (4.10 d/set) anchors the back-row defense. McNeal (0.71 b/set) and Indonesia Jordan (0.61 b/set) are the team's top blockers.
Prairie View's last three matches have all been against Southland competition, dropping contests to Lamar, Houston Baptist and McNeese State.
Marissa Campbell (1.75 k/set) and Ana Kiso (5.50 a/set) pace the Lady Panther offense. Sydney Walker (1.77 d/set) and Kiso (1.70 d/set) are the team's top defenders.
Last time out, Houston defeated North Texas in straight sets.
Brookah Palmer (4.58 k/set), Hunter Wise (2.58 k/set) and Sara Afflerbaugh (2.10 k/set) are the Cougars top hitters. Keandra McCardell (7.48 a/set) and Sophie Paine (5.00 a/set) split the setting duties. Palmer's 14 service aces are tops on the squad.
Olivia O'Dell (6.06 d/set) is the top defender along the back row. Chenelle Walker (0.91 b/set), Courtney Smith (0.81 b/set) and Wise (0.71 b/set) are Houston's top blocking threats.
Southeastern opens conference play Thursday at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
