SAN ANGELO, Texas (November 19, 2021) – The Lubbock Christian University is the highest remaining seed heading into the semifinals of the Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championship, and the No.3-seeded Lady Chaparrals will try to end the string of upsets at the tournament Friday at 5 p.m., as they face No.10-seed St. Edward's.
  

Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championship - Semifinals
OPPONENT	LOCATION	DAY	TIME (CT)	WATCH	STATS
St. Edward's	San Angelo, Texas	Fri, Nov. 18	Noon	Video	Stats

MATCH NOTES (PDF)

THE IF'S: 
✅ LCU WINS – An LCU win would mark LCU's second postseason win ever in the LSC Championship and would qualify them for the championship match at 6 p.m. to face either West Texas A&M or UT Permian Basin.
 
✘ LCU LOSES – An LCU loss would eliminate them from the single-elimination tournament and place them with an 1-2 all-time record at the LSC Championship. LCU would also have to await their NCAA postseason fate (NCAA announces the postseason field Monday).
 
St. Edward's | Friday, Nov. 19 | 5 p.m. | 
- The Lady Chaps and Hilltoppers are meeting for a second time this season and recently met on Nov.12 in Austin, Texas, where LCU won 3-2. LCU has a 15-8 all-time advantage in the series, which dates back to the 1989 season. The Lady Chaps had won six straight meetings before SEU had a three-match win streak interrupted with LCU's win this season. LCU is 2-1 all-time against SEU in postseason play. Each team has a win on the opposition's home floor in the postseason, as LCU topped SEU in the 1998 NAIA Southwest Tournament in Austin and SEU defeated LCU in the 2018 Heartland Conference Tournament in Lubbock. The one prior postseason meeting on a neutral floor resulted in a LCU win at the 2016 Heartland Conference Tournament in Fort Smith, Ark.
- SEU was preseason picked to finish seventh in the Lone Star Conference. They went 6-7 overall last season, finishing second in the South Division with a 6-6 conference mark. They are 15-11 this season and tied for ninth in the LSC with an 8-9 record, resulting in a No.10-seed at the championship tournament. SEU is 6-2 in neutral site matches this season, including a 3-2 win Friday over No.2-seed UT Tyler.
- The Hilltoppers are second in the LSC with 1.68 aces per set. Caroline Swan is second in the LSC and is 76^th in Division II with 0.44 aces per set. She has 40 on the season (second in the LSC). Teammate Maya Smalls is 13^th in the LSC with a pace of 0.32 aces per set.
- SEU ranks 20^th nationally in team attacks per set, with 39.08 attacks per set. Kaitlyn Krafka is the team leader with 9.48 attacks per set, ranking sixth in the LSC.   
- Setter Emily Tran ranks second in the LSC with 10.33 assists per set, which is 35^th nationally. She has 919 total assists, ranking second in the conference.
 
LADY CHAP NOTES
- LCU opened conference play with their best conference start since 2018 (6-0 start) and completed LSC play this season with a 14-3 conference mark and garnered the No.3-seed for the LSC Championships. They enter Friday's play 20-7 overall, which is a 17-win turnaround from their 3-10 record last season.

- The Lady Chaps are in the semifinals of the LSC Championships for the first time. They are making their second LSC Championships appearance (third season in the LSC) and are 1-1 all-time in the championships following a 3-0 win Thursday over No.6-seed Dallas Baptist. Prior to Thursday, their last postseason win was against St. Edward's on Nov.18, 2016 in the Heartland Conference Tournament in Fort Smith, Ark.

- The NCAA released their third region rankings of the NCAA Division II South Central Region, and LCU remains the No.7-seed for a second consecutive week (they were No.9 in the first rankings released). For LCU to qualify for their first NCAA Division II postseason tournament berth, they would have to receive an "automatic qualifier" by winning the LSC Championship or finish as one of six at-large berths (finish in the top eight in the region rankings, as two gain automatic berths from their respective conference and the other six receive at-large berths).

- Of the Lady Chaps seven losses on the season, four are against nationally ranked programs. On Nov. 18, the Lady Chaps faced a ranked opponent (No.25 West Texas A&M) for a fifth time this season, and produced a 3-2 win to improve to 1-4 against AVCA Top-25 nationally ranked programs this season.

- The Lady Chaps provided balance in conference play, as Hannah Froeschl (146), Aaliyah Gray (144), Sage Chain (138) and Jenna Lyons (134) each had over 130 kills in LSC play. Zoe Parker's 17 aces, Kendall Mahaney's 4.22 digs per set, Froeschl's has 1.17 blocks per set and Jalee Sims' 9.24 assists per set each led LCU in LSC contests. Froeschl ranks second in the LSC in blocks in conference matches, with a mark of 74 (second in blocks per set at 1.17). LCU finished ranking second the LSC in conference matches, averaging 2.38 blocks per set (behind 2.47 by West Texas A&M).

- Lubbock Christian is 2-4 in neutral site play this season. Aaliyah Gray leads LCU in neutral site play with 66 kills for an average of 3.05 per set. Hannah Froeschl and Sage Chain co-lead LCU with 17 blocks on the road, and each have .77 blocks per set. Kendall Mahaney leads LCU in digs per set (4.27) in their six neutral site contests.

- LCU went 0-13 in the second set of matches played last season. This season, LCU has won the second set in 21 of their 27 matches (LCU is 17-4 when winning the second set). LCU is 14-0 when winning the opening set and 16-0 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 .213 and ranks fifth in the LSC and 76^th nationally. Hannah Froeschl leads LCU in hitting, ranking 11th in the LSC hitting .290. 

- Jalee Sims has 16 double-doubles over the past 23 matches, which has her with 27 in her LCU career (17 on the season). She ranks fourth in the LSC in assists (860) and is fifth in assists per set (8.78). She eclipsed the 1,000 mark in career assists at Western New Mexico (Oct. 28).

- LCU has 104 team blocks over the prior 11 matches, which has them second in the LSC in total blocks (216) and third in blocks per set (2.16 per set, ranking 39^th nationally). Sage Chain is averaging 4.7 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. She is second on the squad and is third in the LSC with 98 blocks (third in blocks per set 0.98). Hannah Froeschl leads LCU in blocks (102, second in LSC) and in blocks per set (1.02, second in LSC).

-With the combination of setter-play by Jalee Sims and Kayton Genenbacher, LCU ranks seventh in the conference in assists per set (11.44).

-The Lady Chaps finished ranking third in the LSC in conference play in holding opponents to a hitting percentage of .155. LCU held the opposition to a sub-.100 hitting percentage in five of their 17 LSC matches.

- True freshman Kendall Mahaney ranks 11th in the LSC in digs per set (4.32) and seventh in total digs (432). She has eight matches with at least 20 digs on the season and her season and career-high mark is a 26-dig performance she recorded against Texas A&M-Commerce.

- LCU has limited their opponents to 99 aces this season, which plays out to 0.99 per set and ranks as the second-best mark in the LSC (behind Angelo State at 0.86). They produced a mark of 1.02 (aces per set allowed by their opponents) in LSC matches, which ranked third in the conference. They have held their opponents without an ace in two matches this season.

- The Lady Chaps have served up 105 aces on the season, with aces from 10 different Lady Chaps.  Chloe Menard leads LCU with 21 aces, with Zoe Parker (20), Kendall Mahaney (18) and Hannah Froeschl (14) not far behind. Mady McCully is also in double figures in ace (11). On the error side, LCU opponents have served 139 errors (1.39 per set), while LCU has produced 77 serving errors.

- Aaliyah Gray, another true freshman, leads LCU in kills per set with a rate of 2.65 per set, which has her 20^th in the LSC in the category. Jenna Lyons follows her, 22^nd in the LSC, with a rate of 2.48 per set. Gray is second on the squad in overall kills with 241, which is four behind Froeschl (245).
 
LSC Postseason Honors
First Team All-LSC
Hannah Froeschl
Jalee Sims 
 
Second Team All-LSC
Sage Chain 
 
All-Freshman Team
Aaliyah Gray
Kendall Mahaney 
 
All-Academic
Jalee Sims
 
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