HAMMOND, La. – The defending Southland Conference Champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team continues its potentially program-defining four-match home stand this week, putting its historic 16-match win streak on the line against Southland Conference co-leader Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Thursday before finishing the weekend with Alumni Day against Incarnate Word on Saturday.
 
The match between the Lady Lions (22-4, 13-1 SLC) and Islanders (18-8, 13-1 SLC) will start at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday while Saturday's match against the Cardinals (13-13, 5-9 SLC) will start at 11:00 a.m. with both matches taking place in the Pride Roofing University Center. Both matches will be live streamed on ESPN+ with live stats also available at LionSports.net. Thursday's match will also have a radio broadcast available on KSLU 90.9 FM in the Hammond/Ponchatoula area and worldwide at LionSports.net/ListenLive. Volleyball alumna looking to take part in Saturday's Alumni Match festivities should contact Assistant to the Athletic Director for Athletic Development Allie Crain for more information.
 
Southeastern enters the weekend having won its last 16 matches, the fourth-longest active win streak in all of Division I as well as program's longest win streak since the mid-1990s, and has already clinched a single bye in the upcoming Southland Conference Championship Tournament with a shot at securing one of the two double bye spots as soon as this weekend with a pair of wins and some outside help. Part of the current win streak were straight-sets wins on the road over both Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Incarnate Word back in late September.
 
Kailin Newsome continues to lead the Lady Lion attack, currently sitting second in the Southland in points per set,4.35, kills per set, 3.79, and serve aces per set, 0.42, for the season. She's raised her attack percentage to .222 on the year, averages 2.73 digs per set, the 10^th-best dig average in the conference, and has blocked 21 opposing attacks back for SLU points.
 
You don't have to look far down the conference rankings from Newsome to find Southeastern's next highest scorer, Rachel Hartmann. Hartmann is fourth in the SLC in scoring, averaging 3.75 points per set while her .338 attack percentage is also fourth-best in the Southland. She is sixth in the conference in kills per set with 3.14 while her 27 service aces are second-most on the team. She averages 2.34 digs per set and her 56 total blocks are third-most on the Southeastern squad.
 
Cicily Hidalgo also averages more than three points per set, scoring 3.04 points per period. She puts down 2.62 kills per set on a .253 attack percentage and has 15 service aces on the season. Defensively, she averages 2.73 digs per set and has played a role in 31 blocks for Lady Lion points.
 
Jacqueline Arrington has the third-best attack percentage in the Southland heading into the weekend's games, hitting .352 for the season as she's averaged 2.00 kills per set on the year. A lot of her 2.59 points per set comes at the net where her 1.02 blocks per set average is currently the third-best in the SLC.
 
Hannah Brewer has the ninth-best attack percentage in the Southland at .293, getting 1.28 kills per set. The rest of her 1.86 points per set are made up with 20 service aces on the season, third-most on the team, and 60 total blocks, second-most on the squad.
 
Gracie Duplechein has propelled herself into the upper echelon of the Southland when it comes to setting up her teammates as she now ranks second in the conference with 10.42 assists per set. She also has 19 kills, 19 service aces, averages 2.39 digs per set, and has been in on 20 blocks.
 
Ansley Tullis is currently seventh in the conference with a 3.58 dig per set average and has 17 service aces on the season.
 
Southeastern currently leads the SLC team standings in points per set, 17.62, assists per set, 13.00, service aces per set, 1.73, opponent hitting percentage, .177, and opponent kills per set, 11.45. They rank second in the conference in team hitting percentage, .265, kills per set, 13.87, opponent assists per set, 10.54, and opponent digs per set, 13.67.
 
Thursday's match against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will likely go a long way in determining which team will take home the Southland Conference regular season championship and the #1 seed in the SLC Championship Tournament, which A&M-Corpus Christi hosts this season. The Islanders are on their own massive win streak, having won 12-straight matches since their straight-sets loss to SLU which is currently tied for the 10^th-longest active win streak in all of NCAA Division I. A&M-Corpus Christi has also won 15-straight sets dating back to their October 19^th match at McNeese where they dropped the first set to the Cowgirls and haven't lost one since.
 
The Islander offense is led by Kyndal Payne, who is the conference's leading scorer at 4.45 points per set while her 3.98 kills per set is also the top mark in the SLC with her .300 hitting percentage being the eighth-best in the Southland. She has nine service aces on the season and her 2.84 dig per set average is second-best on the team while her 44 total blocks are the most for Corpus Christi. She is coming off of her second SLC Offensive Player of the Week honor of the season from this past weekend.
 
Leah Stolfus is the ninth-best scorer in the Southland, averaging 3.41 points per set. Her 2.98 kills per set is the eighth-best in the SLC while her .380 attack percentage is the second-best in the conference. She has added 13 service aces to her score line with 41 blocks which is second-most on the team.
 
Tori Arrington averages 2.45 points per set this season, scoring 2.17 kills per set on a .243 attack percentage and has 20 total blocks on the season.
 
Belle Morgan, a five-time SLC Setter of the Week this season, is the Islanders' top setter and server. She leads the conference at 10.62 assists per set while her 0.32 serve ace per set average is fifth-best in the Southland. She has 29 total aces on the season. She's also taken part in 33 blocks, third-most on the team, and averages 1.53 digs per set.
 
Joining Morgan with 20 or more service aces so far this season is Kayla White and Kendall Mahaney. White is also A&M-Corpus Christi's top back line player, averaging 4.38 digs per set, the third-most in the SLC. Also on the back line, Mahaney averages 2.37 digs per set.
 
The Islanders have the conference's best team attack percentage, .266, kills per set average, 14.44, opponent assist per set average, 10.48, opponent service ace per set average, 1.12, and opponent dig per set average, 13.61. They're second in the Southland in points per set, 17.49, assists per set, 12.99, opponent hitting percentage, .186, and opponent kills per set, 11.60.
 
Incarnate Word, Southeastern's opponent on Saturday, enters their Thursday night match at New Orleans looking to build off of a straight-sets win over Lamar on Saturday which ended a three-match slide for the Cardinals from San Antonio. Saturday's match will also mark the return of former SLU assistant and current UIW head coach Gabby Ording, who served four seasons in Hammond before getting the head job in San Antonio.
 
Allison Palmi is UIW's top scorer on the year, averaging 3.34 points per set which is the 10^th-highest scoring average in the Southland. Her 3.05 kills per set average is the seventh-best in the SLC while hitting .195 on the season. She also has six service aces and 36 total blocks on the season while averaging 1.69 digs per set.
 
Risa Sena averages 2.95 points per set on 2.53 kills per set and a .175 attack percentage. She also has 12 service aces heading into Thursday's action with 47 total blocks on the season.
 
Kyla Malone puts up 2.85 points per set on 2.48 kills per set and a .199 attack percentage to go with 12 service aces and 21 total blocks. She also averaged 2.16 digs per set.
 
Annamarie Alvarez scored 2.66 points per set with her 2.19 kills per set coming on the best attack percentage in the SLC at .413. She has also scored off of 71 total blocks this season, second most on the team and 10^th-best in the Southland.
 
Natalie Kimmel is the top setter and server for the Cardinals as her 42 service aces and 0.45 ace per set average leads the Southland while her 6.18 assists per set leads UIW and is the seventh-best average in the SLC. Anuhea Faitau averages 4.88 assists per set and is second on UIW and third in the SLC in aces with a 0.35 service aces per set average, currently holding 27 on the year. Kimmel provides 2.04 digs per set while Faitau gets 1.46 digs per set.
 
Mariela Nieto leads the UIW back line with 3.21 digs per set, the ninth-best average in the conference. At the net, Kade Thomas is the top blocker for the Cardinals with 74 on the year and has the fifth-best block average in the SLC at 0.97.
 
Southeastern's hopes for clinching a SLC Tournament double-bye this weekend rests on the Lady Lions winning both matches and having McNeese drop one of its two matches on the week, otherwise the race for a top-two spot in the tournament will come down to the final two matches of the season next week.
 
DIGGIN' IT CLUB / S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the Southeastern volleyball program are encouraged to join the Diggin' It Club. Lion volleyball alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners.
 
All membership fees and donations to both the Diggin' It Club and S Club (volleyball) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern volleyball program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
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