SLC Tournament opens Friday for Kats
11/15/2018 4:30:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Southland Conference Tournament • Round 1
Friday, Nov. 16 • 4:00 p.m. • Natchitoches, La. • Prather Coliseum
No. 3 Sam Houston State (21-7, 13-3 SLC) vs No. 6 McNeese (10-21, 8-8 Southland)
Tournament Central • Live Stats • Live Video • @BearkatsVB on Twitter
HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston State Bearkats will turn their focus to postseason play this weekend when they head to Natchitoches, La., as the No. 3 overall seed and take on No. 6 McNeese in the opening round of the Southland Conference Tournament on Friday at Prather Coliseum.
First serve for Friday's match is set for 4 p.m. and all matches of the first two days of the SLC Tournament can be viewed on the SLC Digital Network, with live stats available. Bearkat fans can also get updates by following @SouthlandSports and @BearkatsVB on Twitter.
Coach Brenda Gray's squad closed out the regular season on Saturday with a win at ACU, capping a 21-7 regular season that is the best season by the Kats since 2012 and tied for the most wins by the program since the 1996 squad won 25 matches and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
Sam Houston followed up its win over the Wildcats with a big day on Wednesday as Taylor Cunningham was named the SLC Player of the Year and Madison Wallace was tabbed the league's top libero. Senior Jaclyn Ward and freshman Breanne Chausse were each named honorable mention all-SLC as well.
The Kats enter the tournament as the No. 3 seed for the fifth time since joining the league, most recently doing so in 2016 when they took down No. 6 HBU and No. 2 Stephen F. Austin in consecutive matches to advance to the title match for the first time since 1996.
This year they will open up with the Cowgirls who the Kats took down, 3-1, in the conference opener on September 20 in Huntsville. Should be Kats advance they would take on the winner of No. 2 Central Arkansas or No. 7 Northwestern State, the tournament host.
The Kats are 7-1 all-time in the tournament all-time against their half of the bracket, including 3-0 against the Cowgirls; however, they have not met McNeese in the league tournament since the 1994 season.
Head coach Brenda Gray also enters the tournament with 698 career victories to her credit, and a berth in the tournament finals would give her 700 in her 35-year career. Currently, there are only 32 other Division I coaches who have reached 700 career victories for a career, only 10 of whom are active head coaches.
