LUBBOCK, Texas (November 5, 2021) – Lubbock Christian University's final regular season homestand takes place this weekend, as the Lady Chaps host Eastern New Mexico Friday (6 p.m.) and No.25 West Texas A&M Saturday (2 p.m.) for a pair of Lone Star Conference matches.
 

Lone Star Conference - Final Regular Season Homestand
OPPONENT	LOCATION	DAY	TIME (CT)	WATCH	STATS
Eastern New Mexico	Rip Griffin Center	Fri, Nov. 5	6 p.m.	Video	Stats
No.25 West Texas A&M	Rip Griffin Center	Sat, Nov. 6	2 p.m.	Video	Stats

MATCH NOTES (PDF)

EASTERN NEW MEXICO | Friday, Nov. 5 | 6 p.m. | 
- LCU and Eastern New Mexico are meeting for the 63^rd time all-time (third meeting as conference opponents). ENMU leads the all-time series with a 33-29 mark. LCU won the previous meeting 3-1 on Oct. 20, 2019 (in Lubbock) and has claimed the three prior meetings (LCU has won five of the last six encounters). LCU is 16-11 against ENMU all-time at home. The Lady Chaps have won the previous three meetings in Lubbock. Three of the previous four contests in Lubbock between the two programs have resulted in five-set decisions.
- ENMU, preseason picked last in the LSC, has certainly proved voters wrong, as they are 6-15 overall and one game under .500 in the LSC standings with a 6-7 mark. They are in a three-way tie for 10^th place in the conference standings, with the top-12 claiming a berth to the LSC Championships. They head to Lubbock on a five-match win streak, which includes a 3-0 home win over Texas A&M-Kingsville.
- Following a weekend sweep of matches, Mikaela Garvin was selected as the LSC Offensive Player of the Week and Rae Sapiga picked up LSC Setter of the Week. Garvin posted 14 kills with a hitting percentage of .433, while making one hitting error during ENMU's 3-2 victory over Texas A&M International. The next day, Garvin had 13 kills and a hitting percentage of .522 in a 3-0 sweep of Texas A&M-Kingsville.  Sapiga supplied 31 assists against Texas A&M International and followed up the next day with 26 assists against TAMUK.
- ENMU ranks fifth in blocks per set, with a mark of 2.05. The stat is their best national ranking statistic, ranking 65^th in the category in Division II. Individually, the 'Hounds are balanced, as they do not have a player in the top-15 of the LSC in the category.
- Rae Sapiga ranks second in the LSC in aces per set (.043) and with 30 aces on the campaign. 
 
No.15 WEST TEXAS A&M | Saturday, Nov. 6 | 2 p.m. | 
- Saturday's meeting marks the 48^th all-time matchup between the Lady Chaps and Lady Buffs (seventh as conference foes). WTAMU has had the upper hand in the series with a 33-13-1 all-time series lead. The Lady Buffs went 3-1 against the Lady Chaps last season, with the home team winning the first three matchups. The season series concluded with a 3-0 WT win in Lubbock on Feb. 24. LCU is 6-13 all-time at home against WTAMU.
- WTAMU went 10-4 last season, going 9-3 in LSC play. Their 2020 season ended in the semifinals of the LSC Championships, falling 3-0 to UT Tyler. This season, the Lady Buffs have rolled out to an 18-2 season, and they are 12-1 in the conference.
- Friday marks an important match for the Lady Buffs, as they face Angelo State in San Angelo, Texas in a battle between two 12-1 programs.
- WT's defense enters the week third nationally in holding opponents to a .094 attack percentage. There have only been two matches this season in which their opponents have hit over .200 (.256 has been the highest percentage allowed).
- Serving as assistant coach for the Lady Buffs is former LCU interim head coach and former Lady Chaps player Christa Branson. Branson played four seasons (2011-2014) for the Lady Chaps, spending much of the time at Libero. She combined for 986 digs (3.78 per set) in 83 career matches while at LCU. She joined the Lady Chaps coaching staff in 2019 and served as the interim head coach last season.
 
LADY CHAP NOTES
- LCU opened conference play with their best conference start since 2018 (6-0 start) and enter Friday's play 16-6 overall and 11-2 in conference, which has them in fourth place in the LSC.

- The Lady Chaps have already clinched one of 12 berths to the LSC Championships, and they are fighting to clinch one of four first-round-byes. With four conference matches remaining, LCU is two wins away from clinching a bye, or a win combined with a loss by UT Permian Basin and Texas A&M-Commerce. LCU, in their third season in the LSC, last qualified in 2019.

- The NCAA released the region rankings of the NCAA Division II South Central Region, and LCU is occupying the No.9 spot, as the rankings made their debut this week.

- Of the Lady Chaps six losses on the season, four are against nationally ranked programs. Of the Lady Chaps six losses on the season, four are against nationally ranked programs. Saturday, the Lady Chaps meet a nationally ranked opponent for a fifth time this season, as they are 0-4 against AVCA Top-25 nationally ranked programs after a 3-1 loss to No.4 Washburn, a 3-0 loss to No.15 Colorado School of Mines (both were on Sept. 10), a Oct. 6 loss (3-0) at Angelo State and a 3-1 home loss on Oct. 22 to No.15 UT Tyler. LCU is 2-11 since 2015 against nationally ranked programs. Their last win over a ranked opponent was a 3-1 win over No.15 Angelo State last season inside Rip Griffin Center (Oct. 22, 2020), which also marked their last win at home against a nationally ranked program.

- The Lady Chaps have provided balance in conference play, as Jenna Lyons (114), Aaliyah Gray (109), Hannah Froeschl (105) and Sage Chain (92) each have over 90 kills in LSC play. Zoe Parker has 13 aces, Kendall Mahaney has 4.39 digs per set, Froeschl has 1.22 blocks per set and Jalee Sims has provided 9.24 assists per set in LSC contests. Froeschl leads the LSC in blocks in conference matches, with a mark of 56 (also leads in blocks per set at 1.22). LCU leads the LSC in conference matches, averaging 2.41 blocks per set.

- Lubbock Christian is 6-1 in home matches this season, hitting .222 and holding the road teams to a .117 mark in attack percentage. Hannah Froeschl is hitting .320 with 2.64 kills per set at home. Froeschl leads LCU at home with 66 kills, with Jenna Lyons (59), Sage Chain (58) and Aaliyah Gray (44) providing balance on the attack. Lyons leads LCU at home with 3.11 kills per set. LCU has a 37-17 advantage in aces and a 60-43 advantage in blocks at home. Zoe Parker (10) and Chloe Menard (9) have combined for 19 aces in seven home matches. Chain (27, 1.08 per set) and Froeschl (25, 1.0 per set) lead LCU in total blocks at home, with teammate Kaitlyn Mayo also averaging over a block a set with 1.00 (16 total blocks) per set average.

- LCU went 0-13 in the second set of matches played last season. This season, LCU has won the second set in 18 of their 22 matches (LCU is 14-4 when winning the second set). LCU is 12-0 when winning the opening set and 13-0 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 72^nd nationally. Hannah Froeschl leads LCU in hitting, ranking 12th in the LSC hitting .288. 

- Jalee Sims has 13 double-doubles over the past 18 matches, which has her with 24 in her LCU career (14 on the season). She ranks second in the LSC in assists (670) and is fifth in assists per set (8.59). She eclipsed the 1,000 mark in career assists last Thursday at Western New Mexico.

- LCU has 57 team blocks over the prior six matches, which has them fourth in the LSC in total blocks (169) and third in blocks per set (2.11 per set, ranking 50^th nationally). Sage Chain is averaging 4.5 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 (80), with a pace of 1.00 per set, which ranks fourth in the conference (77^th nationally). Chain is not far behind, ranking tied for fifth in total blocks (73) and ninth in average blocks per set (0.91).

-With the combination of setter-play by Jalee Sims and Kayton Genenbacher, LCU ranks eighth in the conference assists per set (11.57).

-The Lady Chaps rank third in the LSC in conference play in holding opponents to a hitting percentage of .135. LCU has held the opposition to a sub-.100 hitting percentage in five of their 13 LSC matches.

- True freshman Kendall Mahaney ranks ninth in the LSC in digs per set (4.41) and fifth in total digs (353). 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 75 aces this season, which plays out to 0.94 per set and ranks as the second-best mark in the LSC (behind Angelo State at 0.82). They have a mark of 0.89 (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 88 aces on the season, with aces from 10 different Lady Chaps. Kendall Mahaney leads LCU with 16 aces, with Chloe Menard (15) and Zoe Parker and Hannah Froeschl not far behind with 14 aces. Mady McCully is also in double figures in ace (11). On the error side, LCU opponents have served 119 errors (1.49 per set), while LCU has produced 62 serving errors.

- Aaliyah Gray leads LCU in kills per set with a rate of 2.79 per set, which has her 15^th in the LSC in the category. Jenna Lyons follows her, 21^st in the LSC, with a rate of 2.56 per set. Gray led LCU with 25 kills on the week last week. She hit .300 on the week, getting 11 kills at WNMU and 14 at UTPB. Gray tied a career high in blocks at UTPB with four blocks. She also had nine digs on the week.