LUBBOCK, Texas (September 7, 2023) – The The 2023 edition of the Chap Classic, hosted by Lubbock Christian University, takes place Friday and Saturday inside Rip Griffin Center, and LCU's 1:30 p.m. scheduled match Friday, against Southern Arkansas, serves as their home opener. LCU will play three matches in the event, including matches Friday against Arkansas Tech (5:30 p.m.) and Saturday against Minot State (1 p.m.).
 

CHAP CLASSIC
OPPONENT	LOCATION	DAY	TIME (CT)	WATCH	STATS
Southern Ark.	Rip Griffin Center	Fri, Sept. 8	1:30 p.m.	Video	Stats
Ark. Tech	Rip Griffin Center	Fri, Sept. 8	5:30 p.m.	Video	Stats
Minot State	Rip Griffin Center	Sat, Sept. 9	1 p.m.	Video	Stats

LOOKING AT SOUTHERN ARKANSAS
- The Muleriders are making their first-ever trip to the Hub City for the fourth all-time meeting between the two programs. Southern Arkansas holds a 2-1 all-time series lead, winning the first two prior meetings on Sept. 24, 1994 at the Southern Arkansas Invitational Volleyball Tournament in Magnolia, Ark (SAU won the two meetings with scores of 2-1). Former Lubbock Christian University head coach Jennifer Lawrence played in the 1994 meetings in Arkansas.  LCU's lone win in the series was tallied during the 1985 River City Classic (hosted by Incarnate Word), with LCU claiming a 2-0 win on Sept. 13, 1985.

- SAU was preseason picked 10th in the Great American Conference (GAC). They went 6-21 overall last season, going 4-12 in conference. Last season served as the first season with Alli O'Banion serving as their head coach.

- The Muleriders return setter Morgan Schuster, who ranked sixth in the GAC last season (680 assists) and entered the season with a program record 2,804 assists and is 130 assists away from becoming the first Mulerider ever to reach 3,000 career assists.

- SAU leads the GAC in aces per set, with a pace of 2.14 per set, which ranks 64^th nationally. They opened the season with 11 aces against Cameron in their 2023 season opener.

- Southern Arkansas opened their season in Joplin, Mo. at a tournament hosted by Southern Missouri State. SAU went 2-2, claiming wins over Cameron (3-1) and Newman (3-0).
 
LOOKING AT ARKANSAS TECH
- The Golden Suns and Lady Chaps have one prior meeting and it resulted in a big 3-1 LCU win on Sept. 19, 2014 in Russelville, Ark. A career-high 10 blocks by Amy Edwards (Stephenson), along with double-digit kills from Channing Castleberry (Stewart), Ariel Froeschl (Gargula) and Abby White (Dunnam) steered Lubbock Christian to the non-conference four-set victory at Tucker Coliseum. Erin Fisher (Moore) provided 46 assists and LCU had 13.0 team blocks.

- ATU was preseason picked sixth in the GAC. They went 8-22 overall last season, posting a 6-10 record in conference to finish in eighth (claimed the final spot in the GAC Tournament.  

- Like LCU, ATU's roster contains nine newcomers. Of the newcomers for the Golden Suns, eight are true freshman. Madi Hartman has seen the most time on the floor, of ATU's freshman, as she has appeared in all 14 sets and has 17 digs.

- Maddi Siedenburg ranks third in the GAC after the opening weekend of play, as she averages 0.64 aces per set.

- The Suns opened their season in Springfield, Ill. At the Capital City Classic, where they went 0-4. They faced one Lone Star Conference program at the event, falling 3-1 in their season opener to Texas A&M International.
 
LOOKING AT MINOT STATE
- The Beavers, from Minot, N.D., and Lady Chaps had no prior history until meeting Saturday in Billings, Mont., where LCU claimed a 3-0 win. LCU had only faced one North Dakota based program all-time prior to this tournament, and the win put LCU 2-1 against programs from the Flickertail State. Lilly Bickley (12) and Kiana Fallaha (10) combined for 22 kills in the previous meeting Saturday.  

- MSU was preseason picked 15th in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). They went 1-26 overall last season, posting a 1-19 in conference. Minot heads into Lubbock aiming to end a 16-match losing streak in neutral site play, as their last neutral site win came against Midwestern State on Sept. 1, 2018 in Kearney, Neb. When MSU meets LCU, the Beavers will have a 29-match losing streak they will look to snap, which is the third longest active streak in NCAA Div. II (Virginia Wise has the longest streak, with 47 consecutive road losses).    

- Maggie Machado is listed as a NCIS Player to Watch this season for the Beavers. The outside hitter played last season at New Mexico Junior College, where she was teammates with LCU's Lacie Schooley. Schooley was Machado's primary setter and was a contributor to Machado averaging 2.97 kills per set and the two helped the Thunderbirds make the program's debut into the NJCAA National Rankings. Machado led MSU in their opening weekend with 37 kills and with a pace of 2.47 per game.

- Milena Cernjanski is also a NMJC transfer. She posted 685 digs in two seasons and is NMJC's single-match record holder in digs with 38 (Oct. 8, 2022). She has 25 digs in four matches with the Beavers.

- Minot State heads to Lubbock 0-4, as they joined Lubbock in Billings, at the Yellowjacket Invitational. In Billings, they received 13 serving aces from Kendal Braun, who ranks ninth nationally in the category.
 
LADY CHAP NOTES
- It was a successful trip to Billings, Mont. last week for the Lady Chaparrals, who went 4-0 and are off to their best start since a 5-0 start to the 2014 season. LCU garnered neutral site wins over Black Hills State, Mary (N.D.), Minot, and closed their Montana stay with a win over Yellowjacket Invitational host Montana State Billings. They rallied from a 2-1 set-deficit and overcame a 5-1 and 8-5 deficit in the fifth set to win the match 3-2.  

- Kayton Genenbacher claimed All-Tournament Team honors at the Yellowjacket Invitational in Billings, Mont., (claiming All-Tournament Team honors at a season-opening event for a second consecutive season) and also claimed Lone Star Conference Setter of the Week accolades. The junior from Lubbock, Texas, who claimed All-Tournament Team honors last season at the Seawolves Invitational in Anchorage, Alaska, helped LCU to a 4-0 record in Montana with 168 assists (11.2 per set), 49 digs (3.27 per set) and 10 aces (0.67 per set). Her 168 assists led to 88.9% of the team's assists. The setter produced a pair of double-doubles, with 43 assists and 14 digs against Black Hills State and 63 assists and 20 digs against MSU Billings (now with 13 in her LCU career). The 63 assists tied for the third-most in a match by a Lady Chaps member since 2008. She completed the task for a second time (63 against Colo. Colorado Springs on Sept.3, 3022), and both marks are the highest since Bradi Marshall distributed 64 against West Texas A&M on Oct. 30, 2018. Genenbacher's 168 assists (12^th nationally) and 10 aces (38^th nationally) have her leading the Lone Star Conference in the categories through the opening weekend. She ranks ninth nationally with 11.2 assists per set.
 
The honor marks the first time an LCU setter has been recognized with a Setter of the Week honor by the LSC. The last time an LCU setter was recognized with Setter of the Week honors by a conference was Nov.6, 2018, as Bradi Marshall was recognized by the Heartland Conference. Genenbacher, claiming her first-ever weekly honor, receives the fifth LSC weekly honor issued to an LCU student-athlete overall and the first this season. Sage Chain was the previous Lady Chap recognized, as she claimed Offensive Player of the Week accolades on Nov. 9, 2021.

- Kiana Fallaha was named the MVP of the Yellowjacket Invitational event after closing the event with a career-high 25-kill performance over MSU Billings. LCU was trailing 2-1 in the match, but Fallaha put the team on her shoulders and produced eight kills in the fourth set (forcing a decisive fifth set) and produced four kills to help LCU overcome a 5-1 and 8-5 deficit in the fifth set to lead LCU to a 3-2 road win to cap play at the event. Fallaha's kill totals was LCU's highest since Ashley Vanfleet produced 26 against West Texas A&M on Oct. 30, 2018. She also had 72 total attacks in the match, which is the highest in LCU's NCAA-era and the most on file since match-by-match records were produced since the 2008 season. The junior from San Antonio, Texas also had 11 digs in the match for her second double-double of the season and of her career. Her first came against Black Hills State (LCU's season-opening 3-1 win), as she matched her prior career-high with 18 kills and also posted a career-high 12 digs. Fallaha also had a 10-kill performance in a straight-set win over Minot State. Her totals on the week included 62 kills (4.13 per set), 36 digs (2.4 per set), three blocks, three aces and 67.5 points (4.5 per set) for the outside hitter. She ranks sixth nationally with a pace of 12.6 attacks per set and 24^th in kills per set (4.1).  Her total kills (62) is 26^th nationally heading into the weekend's play.

- Never appearing as a libero at any point of her career, prior to this season Chloe Menard has started each match at libero this season and has posted 76 digs in four matches for a pace of 5.07 per set, which is fifth in the conference and 44^th nationally. The senior posted a career-high 30 digs against MSU Billings, which was the highest total by a Lady Chaps member since Jalee Sims posted 30 at UT Permian Basin on Feb. 2, 2021. As a team, LCU ranks 10^th nationally with an average of 19.2 digs per set.

- Against MSU Billings, LCU lost the second set, which ended a sequence of 10 straight set wins, which are the most since they won 12 consecutive sets from Sept. 11-24, 2021. LCU is averaging 17.5 points per set through 15 sets played. Last season, LCU averaged 15.2 points per set.

- Friday marks LCU's home debut. The Lady Chaps, who closed out the home schedule last season with a 3-1 win over Western New Mexico, went 8-4 at home last season (16-5 at home under head coach Keith Giboney). The Lady Chaps are 11-3 in home openers since 2008. They have won five consecutive home openers.