Southland Conference Weekly Update
10/16/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 16, 2000
There's Little Movement As Teams Vie For Top Six Spots In Southland With most teams having nine matches left on their Southland Conference schedules, standings become quite important with the top six advancing to the Conference Tournament Nov. 16-18 in Beaumont, Texas. The host institution, Lamar, is tied for fifth with McNeese State at 6-4. The Lady Cardinals won a non-conference match against Centenary to start the week. They hosted Stephen F. Austin Friday night and took a quick lead after winning game one, 15-3. The Ladyjacks recovered, though, to come back in three straight for the win. SFA was led by Kristy Rhodes, Jennifer Wilson and Marissa Dorcheus. LU's junior setter, Urissa White, had a career-high 71 assists. The following day against Texas-Arlington, White broke this mark with 79 assists as Lamar ended a 10-match losing streak to the Mavericks with a four-game marathon that went 2 hours and 30 minutes. The battle went Lamar's way, 17-15, 14-16, 15-9, 16-14. Alison Tuttle tied her career high with seven blocks against UTA and added a .429 hitting percentage.
The loss to Lamar was only UTA's second Conference loss all season and halted an eight-match winning streak. That match was also a record-setter for some Mavericks as Kisha Tucker posted a career-high 79 assists as well, which is fourth most in a match in UTA history. Tucker now has 5,068 assists in her four-year career, good for second place on the school's all-time list. Amber Pack dug a career-high 30 attempts against LU, giving her 7.5 digs per game in the match and 5.2 for the week. UTA got a scare in Lake Charles Friday when it fell behind, 2-1, to McNeese State. The Mavericks rallied for the five-game win with a combined team hitting percentage of .367 in the last two games. Trisha Walker had 23 kills for UTA, which is now 8-2 in second place.
McNeese State's Anissa Parker, who is second in the Conference in kills, set a school single-match record with 37 kills in a 3-1 victory over SFA. Parker recorded 22 kills the night before for a 6.5 average for the week. The Cowgirls split their matches to stay tied with Lamar for the last tournament spot, making tomorrow night's head-to-head contest at LU very important. On Sept. 12, McN defeated LU, 3-1.
Texas-San Antonio maintained its third-place spot with two Conference wins last week. UTSA knocked off both Nicholls State and Southeastern Louisiana in three games to improve to 8-3. It first dropped a non-conference contest at Rice, then came home for the weekend. Stacy Schmidt averaged 4.67 kills per game, Tamara Luckemeyer averaged 5.22 digs per game, and Charlsie Heifrin tallied three solo blocks and seven block assists along with 31 kills. Luckemeyer also had two double-doubles and 33 total kills.
The Southland leader, Southwest Texas, kept its perfect Conference record intact with wins over Sam Houston State, SLU and NICH to improve to 11-0. The Bobcats have strung together 13 straight victories, the second longest in school history behind 1986's 19-match streak. They have also won 27 consecutive games against Southland opponents, dating back to Sept. 16 when they dropped a game at UTA. On defense, Shauna Stahl had 3.13 digs per game and three total blocks. Tiffany Weidener lit the offense with 16 kills against SLU. Then against NICH, she had no errors and 12 kills, twice as many as anyone else on the court for either team. She hit .545 against the Lady Colonels for a .391 hitting percentage for the week.
Northwestern State had to fight off a scrappy SHSU team on Tuesday, winning in five. The Demons traveled to Corpus Christi, Texas, for a pair of matches Saturday. They defeated Texas A&M-CC, 3-1, and Texas-Pan American, 3-2, to improve their overall record to 11-11. Elizabeth Perez, who ranks second on the team in double doubles, posted double-digit kills in all three matches, slamming home 47 kills to lead NWLa. to a 3-0 week. The Demons have now accumulated the same number of wins as last year, with 10 total contests remaining.
SHSU and NICH were the only teams that moved in the Conference standings as the two traded spots. The Bearkats lost to NWLa., then defeated Louisiana-Monroe, 3-1.
With the loss at SHSU, ULM has now lost 31 consecutive SLC matches dating back to 1998. The Lady Indians went on the same trip with NWLa., losing to TAMU-CC and UTPA.
The second NCAA regional poll will be released tomorrow. Southwest Texas has won six straight since the Oct. 3rd poll, which ranked the Bobcats ninth in the Central Region.
The Southland Conference Tournament will culminate in a 2 p.m. championship match on Nov. 18 at Lamar's Montagne Center. The winner receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with the first round slated for Nov. 30-Dec. 3 at a campus site to be determined.
Southland Conference Volleyball Players of the Week Offensive Player of the Week Urissa White * junior * setter * Lamar Urissa White recorded a career-high 71 assists on Friday against Stephen F. Austin, then came back the next day to break that mark with 79 assists against Texas-Arlington. In 11 games last week, the junior from Austin, Texas, had a .200 hitting percentage, three services aces and 17.09 assists per game as Lamar went 2-1. She is now third in the league with 12.71 assists per game.
Also nominated: Anissa Parker, McN, Elizabeth Perez, NWLa., Tiffany Weidner, SWT, Kisha Tucker, UTA, Stacy Schmidt, UTSA.
Previous winners: Brigette Birdwell, LU, Kristy Rhodes, SFA, Anissa Parker, McN, Charlsie Heifrin, UTSA (twice), Laura Ivy, SWT.
Defensive Player of the Week Alison Tuttle * sophomore * middle blocker * Lamar Alison Tuttle was a dominating presence at the net last week, helping Lamar go 2-1 and stay in the hunt for a Conference tournament spot. The sophomore from Texarkana, Texas, recorded 14 total blocks - two block solos and 12 block assists - and tied a career high with seven blocks in the win over Texas-Arlington.
Also nominated: Shauna Stahl, SWT, Amber Pack, UTA, Tamara Luckemeyer, UTSA.
Previous winners: Natalie Sarver, LU, Jennifer Dallao, SWT, Shauna Stahl, SWT, Trisha Walker, UTA, Jennifer Dallao, SWT, Shanda Hart, LU.
-SLC-
