FORT SMITH, Ark. – UAFS will finish its regular-season schedule on Thursday when the Lady Lions volleyball team plays the Lubbock Christian Lady Chaps at the Rip Griffin Center in Lubbock, Texas.
First serve will be at 7 p.m. It will be the second match of the regular-season series between UAFS and Lubbock Christian, which won the first match in three sets at the Stubblefield Center on Oct. 11.
Only the top four teams from the regular season advance to the conference tournament, which will be hosted by the regular-season champion. It will be a pivotal match for UAFS, which will look to keep its hope of clinching the No. 2 seed in next week’s conference tournament alive.
UAFS (17-11, 7-4) is currently in third place and trails second-place St. Mary’s (13-13, 7-3 by one match. If UAFS and St. Mary’s finished tied for second, St. Mary’s owns the head-to-head tiebreaker thanks to its regular-season sweep of UAFS. St. Mary’s will finish the regular season against Dallas Baptist on Thursday and St. Edward’s on Saturday.
Lubbock Christian (20-7, 9-1) leads the conference by two matches over St. Mary’s and three matches over UAFS. After its Thursday match against UAFS, Lubbock Christian will play Newman on Saturday in its regular-season finale.
St. Edward’s (15-11, 5-5) is currently in fourth place and is one match behind UAFS and one match ahead of fifth-place Dallas Baptist (11-16, 4-6).
UAFS began its final regular-season road trip with a sweep of Newman on Thursday night at Fugate Gymnasium in Wichita, Kan. The Lady Lions swept the regular-season series against the Jets.
The Lady Lions are hitting at a 0.195 clip. Junior outside hitter Anna Demmer leads the team in kills (330) and kills per set (3.30), and senior middle hitter Debra Rogers leads the team in hitting percentage (0.357).
Freshman setter Taylor Stoops leads the team in assists (761) and assists per set (8.18), and redshirt sophomore right-side hitter Erin Black leads the team in aces (29) and aces per set (0.30).
UAFS is holding opponents to a 0.149 hitting percentage. Rogers leads the team in blocks (95) and blocks per set (0.95), and redshirt freshman libero Pilar Onstad leads the team in digs (468) and digs per set (4.78).
Lubbock Christian won its fourth match in a row on Tuesday night, winning a five-set, nonconference match against West Texas A&M.
The Lady Chaps are hitting at a 0.198 clip. Senior outside hitter Lauren Zoller leads the team in kills (306) and kills per set (3.29), and senior libero Kelsi French leads the team in hitting percentage (0.333). Freshman setter Bradi Marshall leads the team in assists (938) and assists per set (11.04). Sophomore defensive specialist Maddie DeGuire leads the team in aces (39) and aces per set (0.42).
Lubbock Christian is holding opponents to a 0.163 hitting percentage. Sophomore middle hitter Jaidan Kennedy leads the team in blocks (85) and blocks per set (0.90), and French leads the team in digs (526) and digs per set (5.91).
