LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (2-0, 1-0 Heartland) at Texas A&M International (0-1, 0-1 Heartland)
Saturday, September 6, 2014 at 12 p.m.
Laredo, Texas (Kinesiology and Convocation Building)
 
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/tamiu/wvball/
Live Video: http://www.godustdevils.com/watch/
 
LAREDO, Texas (September 6, 2014) – The Lady Chaps look to finish off their first road trip of 2014 with a third victory on Saturday during a Heartland Conference contest at Texas A&M International. LCU and TAMIU will face off at noon in the Kinesiology and Convocation Building. The Lady Chaps are 5-0 all-time against the Dustdevils including a pair of victories in 2013.
 
LADY CHAPS LEAVE SAN ANTONIO UNBLEMISHED
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (September 5, 2014) – Lubbock Christian took care of business in the Alamo by wrapping up their season opening tour with a 3-0 sweep of Southern Nazarene in the first game of the St. Mary's Classic on Friday in Bill Greehey Arena.
Maddie Johnson, coming off a career-high night versus St. Mary's, was again effective with her game-high 13 kills, and Samantha Matthews showed improvement at the net, racking up nine kills and a solo block. The Lady Chaps (2-0, 1-0 Heartland) took the match by scores of 25-22, 25-20, and 25-17 while outpacing the Crimson Storm (0-1, 0-0 GAC) by 17 kills.
Matthews began the match with a cross court kill, and Johnson followed suit for a quick 2-0 LCU lead. Setter Erin Fisher threw off the defense by sending a set over for a 5-2 Lady Chap advantage. A kill by SNU's Taylor Jacobs tied the game at 10-10 before the teams exchanged several lead changes. The Lady Chaps were clinging to a 20-19 lead until another headsy play by Fisher and consecutive kills by Ariel Froeschl, Christiana Tavo and Johnson pushed the contest to game point at 24-19. A pair of SNU kills and an LCU attack error pulled the Crimson Storm to within 24-22 and forced Head Coach Jennifer Lawrence to call a timeout. Johnson came through after the break with a shot to the back corner to give LCU a 1-0 match lead.
In the second game, Bryce Shankle served up two aces for an early 5-4 LCU advantage. Four Lady Chap kills, including a powerful shot by Tavo that knocked an SNU defender down, pushed LCU out front, 9-5. A tip by Matthews over two SNU blockers gave the Lady Chaps an 18-14 advantage that progressed to an eventual 25-20 set win.
The third set saw a 7-7 tie until the Crimson Storm began to struggle and commit four sequential errors, leading to an SNU timeout. Southern Nazarene closed the gap to 14-12, but Johnson came alive to extend LCU's lead to 18-14. The Lady Chaps then went on a 7-3 run, finished off by a pair of Tavo kills, to claim the non-conference victory.
Fisher dished out a game-high 38 assists while adding a dozen digs, and Malori Maddox tallied a game-high 14 digs and contributed a pair of aces. LCU now holds a 49-10 all-time record over Southern Nazarene.
The Lady Chaps jump back into conference play tomorrow versus Texas A&M International University in Laredo at noon in the Kinesiology and Convocation Building.
 
LCU PREDICTED THIRD IN HEARTLAND
Lubbock Christian volleyball has been picked to finish third out of nine teams in the Heartland Conference as revealed in the annual preseason poll. The Lady Chaps picked up two first place votes in the ballots, voted on by head coaches and sports information directors within the league, for a total of 120 points. Regular season champion Arkansas-Fort Smith took the top spot with 11 first place votes and 151 points, while Dallas Baptist secured second place with four first place votes and 137 points. St. Edward's had the final first place vote and landed in fourth place with 114 points. Head Coach Jennifer Lawrence returns a squad that went 17-12 overall and 13-5 in the Heartland last season to finish in second place. Three of the five conference losses came against UAFS and DBU, with the Lions taking two from the Lady Chaps and the Patriots winning one.
 
LADY CHAP SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN
Of LCU's 23 contests, 16 of those matches will be versus Heartland Conference members. Non-conference foes include SNU, Arkansas Tech, Angelo State, along with Midwestern State and West Texas A&M, in which the Lady Chaps will face each once at the Rip Griffin Center and on the road. The first home contest for the Lady Chaps will be September 6 against Texas A&M International, and the last match at the Rip Griffin Center in 2014 will be held November 1 versus Texas - Permian Basin. The final opponent for LCU this upcoming season will be Angelo State on the road November 8.
 
TRIO OF LADY CHAPS ALL-HEARTLAND IN 2013
The Heartland Conference announced its All-Heartland Volleyball team for 2013, with three Lady Chaps representing Lubbock Christian. Juniors Erin Fisher and Kacey Deterding along with sophomore Amy Edwards each earned a spot on the 14-member roster. Fisher, a setter from Monahans, Texas, produced the highest total assist count on the season (995) as well as leading the league is assists per game at 11.71, exactly three more than the next closest competitor. She recorded three career highs during 2013, including 66 assists and 23 digs against UT-Permian Basin and five kills versus St. Edward's. An outside hitter from Lubbock, Texas, Deterding was atop the conference in total kills (442) and boasted the highest average per set with 4.17. She racked up four career highs on the season with 27 kills versus Eastern New Mexico, 28 digs and 2.5 blocks against UT-Permian Basin and two aces versus Dallas Baptist. Deterding also led the conference with 482 total points on the season, registering a league-high 4.55 per set. Edwards, a middle blocker from Brock, Texas, was sixth in the conference with a .256 hitting percentage and also sat in the sixth spot averaging 2.97 kills per set. She accumulated 3.50 points per set to rank her in third place. Three career highs were established by Edwards, with 21 kills against McMurry, seven digs versus St. Mary's and three aces against UT-Permian Basin. The Lady Chaps' three honors tied for the highest total with conference champion UA-Fort Smith. LCU (17-12, 13-5) finished in second place within the conference, but because it is currently a provisional member within the NCAA, the Lady Chaps are not eligible to compete in post-season play or earn end-of-season conference individual awards, despite the impressive finish during the first year in the new league.
 
2013 WEEKLY HONORS
Fisher and Deterding took the Heartland by storm last season, raking in a total of 11 Player of the Week Awards. Fisher's six Setter of the Week accolades was the most in the conference, and Deterding's five Hitter of the Week honors followed closely behind. No other athlete in the conference earned more than four awards. Collectively, the Lady Chaps accumulated a dozen Player of the Week awards, including Edwards' Hitter of the Week and Mallory Powell's Setter of the Week. The next highest team total within the conference is six awards, received by the Heartland Conference's first place team, UA-Fort Smith.