HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana volleyball team will open up play at the Southland Conference Tournament on Friday, facing top-seeded Texas State in a first round match at the UTSA Convocation Center.
The No. 8 seed Lady Lions (9-18, 5-11 SLC) and the top-seeded Bobcats (19-12, 13-3 SLC) will meet in the tournament’s first match with first serve scheduled for 11 a.m. Live stats and free live video streaming will be available at www.Southland.org. Should Southeastern upset Texas State, they would face the winner of No. 4 Lamar and fifth-seeded UT Arlington in Saturday’s semifinals at 1 p.m.
The semifinal winners will face off on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the championship match with a trip to the NCAA Tournament on the line. Sunday’s championship match will be televised on the Southland Television Network (Charter Channel 22 in the Hammond area).
Southeastern will be making its first trip to the Southland Conference Tournament since 2002. The Lady Lions rallied from two sets down to earn a 24-26, 22-25, 25-18, 25-18, 18-16 victory over McNeese State to claim the final tourney spot. Senior
Lauren Mayer led the Lady Lions’ comeback, finishing with 15 kills, 18 digs and seven block assists.
The Southeastern offense features a variety of weapons. Senior
Jessica Srajer leads the team with 2.49 kills per set, followed by junior
Allison Jones(2.31), Mayer (1.98), freshman
Taylor Buckner (1.89) and freshman
Courtney Donald (1.79). Sophomore
Arianne Cruckshank leads the team with 8.07 assists per set, but senior
Katie Collins (6.81) has handled the majority of the setting duties in the latter part of the season.
Senior
Margaret Pittman leads the team and ranks 10th in the Southland Conference with 28 service aces. All-Southland Conference selection and Lady Lion junior
Alex Greer and Collins follow Pittman with 24 and 15 aces, respectively.
Greer – the team’s first All-Southland pick since 2004 – leads the team and sits at fourth in the Southland Conference with 4.15 digs per set. Mayer (2.79), Buckner (2.43) and Cruckshank (2.19) are the other top dig producers for the Lady Lions. Senior
Julie Elliott leads the team with 49 total blocks, followed by Donald (47), Srajer (37), freshman
Alexis Braghini (35) and Mayer (30).
Southeastern will be facing off against the league’s hottest team in Texas State, which closed out the regular season by winning its last 10 matches with seven of those wins coming in three straight sets.
First team All-Southland Conference selection Jessica Weynand leads the Bobcats with 3.19 kills per set, followed closely by Mo Middleton (2.60), who was a second team All-Southland pick. Brittany Colins (5.59 assists per set), Shelby Irvin (4.60) and Caleigh McCorquodale (4.06) have all been effecitive setters for the Bobcats, while Middleton leads the team with 30 service aces.
Amber Calhoun’s team-high 86 total blocks was enough to earn her a first team All-Southland nod. Teammates AJ Watlington and Jillian Wolpman follow Calhoun with 57 and 55 blocks, respectively. Weynand is also the team’s dig leader with 2.61 per set, followed closely by Lydia Werchan (2.47), Ally Buitron (2.40) and Melinda Cave (2.27).
In the lone regular season meeting between the two schools, Texas State got past the Lady Lions, 25-20, 25-21, 25-20 on Oct. 24 in San Marcos, Texas. Elliott had eight kills and hit .462 in the loss. Watlington led a balanced Bobcat attack, finishing with 10 kills at TSU hit .252 for the match.
Southeastern will be making its third trip to the Southland Conference Tournament and will be looking to earn their first ever Southland postseason victory. The Lady Lions were eliminated in the first round of the 2001 and 2002 tournaments.