ANCHORAGE, Alaska (August 26, 2022) – Lubbock Christian University volleyball looks to rebound from a season-opening setback Friday night, as they play a neutral site contest against Pittsburg State at Seawolf Invitational hosted by Alaska Anchorage. Opening serve is scheduled for 8 p.m. (Central) inside Alaska Airlines Center.
 

Lady Chaps at Seawolf Invitational
OPPONENT	LOCATION	DAY	TIME (CT)	WATCH	STATS
Pittsburg State	Anchorage, Alaska	Fri., Aug. 26	8 p.m.	Video	Stats
GAME NOTES (PDF)

LOOKING AT PITTSBURG STATE  
- The Lady Chaps and Pittsburg State have met two prior times, with LCU winning on Sept. 17, 1999 in Dallas, Texas (at a tournament hosted by Dallas Baptist University) and in Lubbock on Sept. 13, 2019. LCU won each of the matches 3-0. Sage Chain (three blocks) and Hailey Cournoyer are the only current Lady Chaps that participated in the match.

- PSU is picked to finish sixth in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA). They went 15-13 last season and they finished sixth in the MIAA with a 9-11 conference mark. PSU opens their season with a 3 p.m. (Central) contest against Point Loma. 

- The Gorillas are coached by Jen Gomez, who is gearing up for her seventh season at PSU. She formerly coached at CSU Pueblo (LCU did face Gomez during her five-season span at CSUP) and Oklahoma City University (2006-2010) while LCU and OCU were both Sooner Athletic Conference foes.

- The Gorillas return nine players from their 2021 squad, including four players who started 12 or more matches a year ago.

- They have three All-MIAA selections from last season returning, including Second Team recipients Meg Auten and Marissa Bates. Auten led the Gorillas in kills with 284 during the 2021 campaign, and
defensive specialist/libero Bates returns after posting a team-leading 436 digs and ranking 10^th in the MIAA in digs per set (4.3).
 
LADY CHAP NOTES
- LCU opened their season Thursday night with a 3-0 loss in straight sets to tournament host Alaska Anchorage, who improved to 4-0 on the season and extended their streak to 12 consecutive set wins to open the season.

- Friday opened LCU's 44th season in program history and the loss dropped LCU to 28-16 all-time in season openers. It was their fifth loss of their last 15 openers (second consecutive season-opening loss). LCU was opening on the road (with a true road game) for the first time since 2017 and the 3-0 loss was their first season-opening straight-set loss since being swept by No.10 Rockhurst in 2018. LCU went 10-2 in road games last season and open this season 0-1 in road contests.

- Lily Bickley (started) and Payton Murray each made their LCU debut Thursday. Murray had five kills on seven opportunities for a .714 attack percentage and did it all in the final set.  

-Kiana Fallaha led LCU with eight kills Friday and the mark was a career high, topping her prior career-high mark of seven kills against Wayland Baptist on Oct. 25, 2021.

- LCU allowed 10 serving aces by UAA Friday, which is the most by an LCU opponent since West Texas A&M produced 10 on Sept. 21, 2019. The Seawolves also produced 53 kills in three sets (19 in the third set) and posted a .427 attack percentage, which is the highest mark by an LCU opponent since opponent game-by-game records were kept on file since 2008 (only the second time in the span an opponent has surpassed a .400 mark, joining a mark of .402 by Angelo State on Feb. 9, 2021).

- Kendall Mahaney was LCU's only player Friday in double figures in digs, as she finished with 10 to extend her streak of consecutive matches of double-figure dig production to 16 matches (carrying over from last season). Her career-high is 26.