SILVER CITY, N.M. (October 28, 2021) – Lubbock Christian University returns to the road and returns to Lone Star Conference play Thursday, facing Western New Mexico with an opportunity to clinch a berth to the Lone Star Conference Championships. LCU will close the trip Saturday in Odessa, Texas facing UT Permian Basin.
 

Lone Star Conference Volleyball
OPPONENT	LOCATION	DAY	TIME (CT)	WATCH	STATS
Western New Mexico	Silver City, N.M.	Thur, Oct. 28	7 p.m.	Video	Stats
UT Permian Basin	Odessa, Texas	Sat, Oct. 30	2 p.m.	Video	Stats

MATCH NOTES (PDF)

WESTERN NEW MEXICO | Thursday, Oct. 28 | 7 p.m. (CT) | 
- LCU and Western New Mexico are meeting for the 13th time all-time, but it marks the third meeting as conference foes. LCU swept the divisional season series in 2019, which included a 3-0 win by LCU in their previous trip to Silver City. The two teams did not play last season, due to COVID, and WNMU leads the all-time series with a 7-5 mark. LCU has won the prior four meetings. The series goes back to 1986, but the two teams have only met three since the 1996 season. LCU is 1-1 all-time in Silver City, with Sept. 10, 1993 (2-0 WNMU) marking LCU's only visit prior to the 2019 season.
- WNMU is preseason picked to finish 16th in the Lone Star Conference. They did not compete in conference play last season (COVID) and played four matches the entire spring, falling in all four matches. They are 4-16 this season, with a 3-8 conference record, which has them tied for 13^th in the LSC. WNMU is 2-2 at home, riding a two-match home win streak. The two wins at home are their lone win of their last 10 matches played.
- Bria Augustine is the offensive target for WNMU. She ranks sixth in the LSC in total kills (217), seventh in total attacks (631) and 10^th in attacks per set (8.89).
- Serving aces is one of WNMU's best statistics, ranking fifth in the LSC with 106 on the season (sixth in the LSC with a pace of 1.49 per set). Hailey Hertzog leads WNMU with 28 aces (second in the LCU) and has 0.39 per set (fourth in the LSC).
- WNMU ranks fourth in the LSC in conference play in opponents digs, as opponents have 14.78 digs per set against them (in comparison, LCU opponents average 17.95 digs per set against them).
 
UT PERMIAN BASIN | Saturday, Oct. 30 | 2 p.m. | 
- The Lady Chaps and Falcons first squared off in 1995 and have met 48 times since, with LCU owning a 39-9 series advantage over the Falcons.  LCU had won 15 consecutive matches prior to 2019, but UTPB has won five of the last six meetings, including a head-to-head record of 3-1 last season. LCU is 18-4 all-time in Odessa in the series, with the two teams splitting a two-game conference series last season in Odessa. This meeting will mark their seventh LSC meeting (UTPB is 5-1 in the series with both teams being LSC members). The two programs were former Heartland Conference foes and LCU was 6-0 all-time in Heartland action against the Falcons.
- UTPB went 5-10 last season, going 3-9 in LSC play. They qualified for the LSC Championships, where they defeated St. Edward's in the opening round. They are preseason picked 10th this season in the LSC.
- UT Permian Basin is 14-5 this season and they open the week 9-2 in LSC play and are tied for fourth place (with LCU). The Falcons are 5-0 at home this season and their perfect home record will be put to the test Thursday, as they face nationally ranked Angelo State.
- UTPB has the nation's third-best attacks per set rate, with 40.38 attacks per set. Individually, Aquincia Strambler leads UTPB and is seventh in the LSC with 9.16 attacks per set (Strambler's 3.69 kills per set ranks fourth in the LSC).
- UTPB enters the week leading the LSC in digs and is ranked 15^th nationally with a per set rate of 18.4 digs per set. Daylee Doggett leads the Falcons with 4.74 digs per set, which ranks sixth.
 
LADY CHAP NOTES
- LCU opened conference play with their best conference start since 2018 (6-0 start) and enter Thursday's play 14-6 overall and 9-2 in conference, which has them tied for fourth in the LSC (with UT Permian Basin). LCU rallied from a 2-1 match deficit for a 3-2 win Saturday over Texas A&M-Commerce, which ended the Lions eight-match conference win streak, and tackled Wayland Baptist 3-1 in a non-conference match Monday to head into Thursday's match on a two-match win streak. A win by LCU Thursday would clinch one of 12 berths to the LSC Championships. LCU, in their third season in the LSC, last qualified in 2019.
- Of the Lady Chaps six losses on the season, four are against nationally ranked programs.
- The Lady Chaps have provided balance in conference play, as Jenna Lyons (96), Hannah Froeschl (88), Aaliyah Gray (84) and Sage Chain (76) each have over 70 kills in LSC play. Zoe Parker has 13 aces, Kendall Mahaney has 4.41 digs per set, Froeschl has 1.28 blocks per set and Jalee Sims has provided 8.97 assists per set in LSC contests. Froeschl leads the LSC in blocks per set in conference matches, with a mark of 1.28 per set (also leads in total blocks with 50). LCU leads the LSC in conference matches, averaging 2.49 blocks per set.
- Lubbock Christian is 7-1 in road matches this season, hitting .202 and holding the home teams to a .178 mark in attack percentage. Hannah Froeschl is hitting .296 with 2.55 kills per set on the road. Aaliyah Gray leads the team with 76 road kills (Froeschl has 74), putting her with a per-set rate of 2.7. LCU has a 31-22 advantage in serving aces on the road. Froeschl leads LCU on the road with 1.21 blocks per set and has 35 total blocks (Sage Chain is second with 27 blocks).
- LCU went 0-13 in the second set of matches played last season. This season, LCU has won the second set in 17 of their 20 matches (LCU is 13-4 when winning the second set). LCU is 12-0 when winning the opening set and 11-0 this season when winning the third set.  
- Last season, LCU had an attack percentage of .080, which ranked 16^th in the LSC. This season, LCU is hitting .216 and ranks fIfth in the LSC and 70^th nationally. Hannah Froeschl leads LCU in hitting, ranking 10th in the LSC hitting .293. 
- Jalee Sims has 12 double-doubles over the past 16 matches, which has her with 23 in her LCU career (13 on the season). She ranks second in the LSC in assists (595) and is sixth in assists per set (8.4). Saturday, she had a career-high 54 assists for her first match with at least 50 assists in her LCU career. She enters Thursday, her birthday, 33 assists away from hitting the 1,000 mark in her LCU career. Brady Marshall was the last Lady Chaps member to eclipse 1,000 career assists, completing the task in 2018.
- LCU has 44 team blocks over the prior four matches, which has them third in the LSC in total blocks (155) and fourth in blocks per set (2.2 per set, ranking 49^th nationally). Sage Chain is averaging 5.5 blocks per match in the span, including a career-high nine-block outing against Texas A&M-Commerce, which is the best mark by a Lady Chaps member this season. Hannah Froeschl is third in the conference in blocks (74), with a pace of 1.01 per set, which ranks fourth in the conference (77^th nationally). Chain is not far behind, ranking sixth in total blocks (67) and eighth in average blocks per set (0.92).
-With the combination of setter-play by Jalee Sims and Kayton Genenbacher, LCU ranks seventh in the conference assists per set (11.56).
-The Lady Chaps rank fourth in the LSC in conference play in holding opponents to a hitting percentage of .136. LCU has held the opposition to a sub-.100 hitting percentage in four of their 11 LSC matches.
- True freshman Kendall Mahaney ranks ninth in the LSC in digs per set (4.42) and fifth in total digs (323). She has seven matches with at least 20 digs on the season and her season and career-high mark is a 26-dig performance she recorded last Saturday against Texas A&M-Commerce.
- LCU has limited their opponents to 64 aces this season, which plays out to 0.88 per set and ranks as the second-best mark in the LSC (behind Angelo State at 0.80). They have a mark of 0.77 (aces per set allowed by their opponents) in LSC matches, which leads the conference. They have held their opponents without an ace in two matches this season.
- The Lady Chaps have served up 84 aces on the season, with aces from 10 different Lady Chaps. Kendall Mahaney leads LCU with 15 serving aces (Zoe Parker has 14, Chloe Menard and Hannah Froeschl each have 13 and Mady McCully has 10). On the error side, LCU opponents have served 108 errors (1.48 per set), while LCU has produced 57 serving errors.
- Aaliyah Gray leads LCU in kills per set with a rate of  2.70 per set, which has her 18^th in the LSC in the category. Jenna Lyons follows her, 19^th in the LSC, with a rate of 2.66 per set.
- The Lady Chaps face a mascot/nickname anomaly heading into the weekend. LCU will face the Mustangs (WNMU) and the Falcons (UTPB) this weekend, marking the second program this season LCU has faced using those nicknames. They will mark the fourth and fifth programs LCU faces that uses the same nickname. The others are Lions (2), Patriots (2) and Pioneers (2).