Match 27 | Southeastern (22-4, 14-0 SLC) at East Texas A&M (9-17, 6-8 SLC)
Nov. 14, 2024 | 6:30 p.m. | The Field House (3,055) | Commerce, Texas
Series History: SLU leads, 4-1
Last Meeting: Southeastern 3, Texas A&M-Commerce 1 (25-17, 25-17, 23-25, 25-15) (Oct. 21, 2023 – Commerce, Texas)
Television: ESPN+
Radio: None
 
Match 28 | Southeastern (22-4, 14-0 SLC) at Northwestern State (7-16, 2-12 SLC)
Nov. 16, 2024 | 6 p.m. | Prather Coliseum (3,400) | Natchitoches, La.
Series History: Series Tied, 33-33
Last Meeting: Southeastern 3, NSU 0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-16) (Oct. 14, 2023 – Hammond, La.)
Television: None
Radio: None

HAMMOND, La. – The back-to-back Southland Conference Regular Season Champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team will look to accomplish something not seen in the SLC since the 2019 season when it heads on the road for the final two matches of the regular season to take on East Texas A&M and Northwestern State.
 
Southeastern (22-4, 14-0 SLC) is riding the nation's longest win streak into the final week of the regular season at 22 victories in a row while having won 31-straight in SLC play and 34 in a row against Southland teams in all competitions. Should the Lady Lions pick off a pair of wins, they would become the first team since Stephen F. Austin in 2019 to go through the Southland portion of its schedule without a defeat, while being the first SLU team to accomplish the feat since joining the SLC.
 
Thursday's match between the Lady Lions and the former Texas A&M-Commerce (9-17, 6-8 SLC) is set for 6:30 p.m. in The Field House on the ETAMU campus. Thursday's battle of the will be televised on ESPN+.
 
Saturday's match against the Demons (7-16, 2-12 SLC) will begin at 6 p.m. in NSU's Prather Coliseum. The match will not be televised. Live stats for both matches will be available through the host institution.
 
Southeastern has already clinched a share of the SLC regular season championship and the number one seed in the upcoming SLC Championship Tournament, which is being held in the University Center next weekend. SLU needs one win to claim the regular season title outright.
 
Cicily Hidalgo, the reigning SLC Offensive Player of the Week, continues to lead the Lady Lion offense, averaging 4.33 points per set. She scores 3.62 kills per set on a .270 attack percentage while also getting points on 32 service aces this season and 59 total blocks on the year. Showing she's a top player defensively as well, she adds 3.05 digs per set to go with her block total when the opposition is on the attack.
 
Hannah Brewer has been making her presence felt, both on the outside and in the middle for Southeastern this season. She averages 3.02 points per set by getting 2.35 kills per set. Her 36 aces are tied for the fourth-most in the Southland this season. Defensively, she's been in on 44 total blocks this season while averaging 2.76 digs per set.
 
Four other Lions score at least two points per set on the year, starting with Kyra McKelvey who gets her points from 2.44 kills per set on a .316 attack percentage and 28 total blocks. Alexis Logarbo gets 2.43 points per set from 2.05 kills per set from a .271 attack percentage and 70 total blocks.
 
India Bennett scores 2.38 points per set from 1.52 kills per set and a .352 attack percentage while leading the Southland in blocks with 128, 12 more than her nearest challenger in the SLC. Keira Beverly rounds out the SLU leading scorers at 2.36 points per set. She scores 1.52 kills per set on a .321 attack percentage and has seven aces on the season. Beverly is Bennett's top aide in the block with 88 on the season.
 
SLU's offense runs through Gracie Duplechein and Ashley Richardson, who average 5.92 and 5.52 assists per set, respectively. Richardson has 18 service aces while Duplechein has 16 on the year.
 
Along the back line, Lexi Gonzalez leads the way with 3.47 digs per set while her 21 service aces are the third-most on the team, behind just Brewer and Hidalgo.
 
As a team, Southeastern leads the Southland in points per set at 17.86 and blocks at 2.62 per set. The Lady Lions get 13.76 kills per set on a team .244 attack percentage, both of which are the third-best in the SLC. Defensively, SLU holds its opponents to a .156 team attack percentage, 10.84 kills per set, and 0.94 service aces per set, all of which are the best in the conference.
 
East Texas A&M enters the final week of the season looking to end a two-match skid which saw them lose in five sets to Houston Christian and then, in their most recent match-up, fall in four sets to Incarnate Word, both on the road. The Lions from outside of Dallas are in a battle with Lamar and McNeese for one of the final two spots in the eight-team field at the SLC Championship Tournament. ETAMU could move all the way up to the six-seed by winning both of its remaining matches while HCU loses both of its matches this week.
 
Gracie Campbell is ETAMU's top offensive threat, averaging 3.55 points per set on the year. She scores 3.32 kills per set on a .205 attack percentage with eight service aces. She's also added nine total blocks to her score total and averages 1.77 digs per set.
 
Kitana Tuufuli is the next threat for the Lions in blue, scoring 3.51 points per set with 3.31 kills per set on a .234 attack percentage and a service ace. She's also been involved with 31 total blocks on the year.
 
Reese Fetty averages 3.01 points per set by tallying 2.59 kills per set on a .144 attack percentage. She has 19 service aces and 35 total blocks while accumulating 2.31 digs per set on the year.
 
Ellie Baumert has 38 service aces of the season, just two ahead of Brewer for second place in the chase for the SLC's top ace getter on the year. The ETAMU offense also runs through Baumert as the team's primary setter as she averages 7.51 assists per set. She also helps out on the back line, averaging 2.12 digs per set on the year. Savannah Jennings is a distant second on the squad with 3.53 assists per set.
 
Jade Smith is the leader of the back line, averaging 5.42 digs per set, while also accounting for 12 service aces on the year.
 
Avery Wilks has 23 service aces while Millie Allgood has added 14 aces for the Lions in 2024.
 
ETAMU averages 14.95 points per set with 12.02 kills per set while hitting .198 as a team. East Texas A&M's opponents average 17.53 points per set and 13.73 kills per set while hitting .238 against them.
 
Northwestern State will be looking to end its season on a high note as the Demons try to end a four-match skid when New Orleans heads to Natchitoches on Thursday before the Lady Lions invade on Saturday. NSU is mathematically eliminated from qualifying for the Southland Conference Championship Tournament.
 
Reaghan Thompson is the top scorer for the Demons on the season, averaging 4.09 points per set with 3.52 kills per set on a .191 attack percentage. She also has 19 service aces on the year, 51 total blocks, and averages 3.32 digs per set.
 
Teresa Garza is NSU's next top point-getter, averaging 3.91 points per set and 3.4 kills per set on a .205 attack percentage while leading the team in service aces with 22. She's also contributed 36 total blocks on the year and averages 3.14 digs per set.
 
Deja Benjamin rounds out the leading scorers for the Demons at 2.5 points per set. She gets her points from 1.58 kills per set on a .318 attack percentage with 16 service aces while leading the Demon block with 108 on the year.
 
The NSU offense runs through Gabby Seeds, who dishes out 7.95 assists per set while getting 10 service aces of her own. She also has 16 blocks and accounts for 1.23 digs per set with 23 kills on the year Amina Attra contributes on the set with 4.71 assists per set with 16 kills, four aces, and 1.75 digs per set.
 
Aiding on the NSU block is Samaya Wesson, who has 76 on the year while Olivia Bush has 61. Madisynne McQueen had 13 blocks to her name this season.
 
On the serve, Ashlyn Svoboda matches Benjamin with 16 aces while Hunter MacFarland has 15.
 
The Demons average 15.54 points per set off of 11.93 kills per set and a team .189 attack percentage. NSU opponents score 16.8 points per set, averaging 13.45 kills per set and hit .217 against the Demons.
 
When these two matches end, attention turns to the SLC Championship Tournament, which runs Fri., Nov. 22 to Sun., Nov. 24 in the University Center. The winner of the SLC Championship Tournament receives the coveted automatic berth to the NCAA Division I National Championship Tournament. Southeastern will open the SLC Tournament at 7 p.m. Friday night against the team that eventually clinches the eighth seed.
 
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
For more information on Lady Lions Volleyball, follow @LionUpVB or @JWhiteSLU on Twitter, @LionUpVB on Instagram, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.