Kats take streak to San Antonio
9/26/2018 4:09:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Match 15
Thursday, Sept. 27 • 7:00 p.m. • San Antonio • McDermott Center
Sam Houston State (10-4, 2-0 SLC) at Incarnate Word (3-10, 1-2 Southland)
Live Stats • Watch Live • @BearkatsVB on Twitter
HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston State volleyball team will ride a wave of momentum into the Alamo City on Thursday when they look to extend their win streak against Incarnate Word.
The Kats have won six matches in a row dating back to a loss to Ole Miss at the GSU Invitational in Atlanta, Ga., but have since been nearly unstoppable. They have only dropped two sets in that span, sweeping four matches, including wins last week over both McNeese and Lamar to open up Southland Conference play.
Seniors Jaclyn Ward and Taylor Cunningham have led the way during that time with Ward averaging 11.20 assists per set and directing the team to a .267 attack percentage. Her favorite target has been Cunningham, and for good reason, as she has hit at a .404 clip and averaged 4.35 kills per set during the current streak.
UIW comes into Thursday having won three of its last five matches since opening up the season 0-8. The Cardinals picked up their first win of league play on Saturday at Southeastern Louisiana before falling to Lamar in Beaumont on Tuesday night.
The match on Thursday can be followed via live stats or by following @BearkatsVB on Twitter. There will also be a live stream available at UIWCardinals.com
KATS vs INCARNATE WORD
This will mark only the seventh meeting in the history of the programs with Sam Houston having claimed four of the first six matches. UIW took the first meeting of the teams in 2013 before the Kats reeled off four in a row that was snapped when Sam Houston fell, 3-1, in San Antonio in the second meeting of the 2017 season.
CUNNINGHAM SWEEPS SLC WEEKLY AWARDS
The Bearkats had high hopes for Taylor Cunningham going into 2018, and through five weeks of the season, she is exceeding expectations, having made the all-tournament team at all four events this year and already claiming weekly honors from the SLC on two occasions. Most recently the senior was named both the SLC Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week, becoming the first SLC player in recorded history to sweep the honor in the same week.
She is taking full advantage of playing all six rotations for the first time in her career and has already posted single-match career highs in kills and digs this season. Cunningham is currently the only player in the Southland to rank in the league's top 10 in kills per set (1st at 3.54), attack percentage (3rd at .324) and blocks per set (6th at 1.09) while just missing out on the top 10 in digs (14th at 3.17).
RECORD WATCHES
In addition to her all-round year, the Huntsville senior is reaching a milestone and will likely hit it on Thursday at Incarnate Word. She enters the match with 996 kills for her career and needs just four more to become the 23rd player in Bearkat history to reach 1,000 for her career. She also needs just 17 more blocks to reach 350 for her career and would be only the seventh player in program history with 1,000 kills and 350 blocks.
Jaclyn Ward is also starting to bump up her numbers as well and is 294 assists away from hitting 2,000 for her career. She needs 647 more this season to move into the all-time top 10 in assists at SHSU.
WALLACE MAKING IMPACT AT LIBERO
Senior Madison Wallace was named the Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Week after she was named the MVP of the Maverick Invitational in the final non-conference weekend of the year. She averaged 6.22 digs per set in three Bearkat sweeps, and has totaled at least 20 digs in four of six matches since moving to libero – all Bearkat wins.
OUTDIGGING THE COMPETITION
With Wallace leading the way, Sam Houston has been one of the top defensive teams in the nation thru five weeks of the 2018 season. As a team the Kats are averaging 17.7 digs per set, a mark which leads the Southland and also ranks 17th among all teams in the country. That high dig rate has also played a key part in Sam Houston holding its opponents to just .141 hitting, another mark that leads the SLC and ranks ninth in the nation. Only three of SHSU's 14 opponents have manage to hit above .200 against the Kats this season.
STRONG START THRU NON-CONFERENCE PLAY
Currently riding a six-match win streak, the Kats picked up wins in eight of their 12 non-conference matches before opening up SLC play last weekend with wins over McNeese and Lamar. The eight wins before the start of Southland Conference play is the most for the program since 1994 when they won 11 matches in non-conference play on their way to a 29-10 season, an SLC regular-season title and a berth in the NIVC.
FRESHMAN IMPACT
Brenda Gray and her staff knew it would be imperative to add another offensive threat this year, and seem to have found just what they were looking for in freshman right side Breanne Chausse. She has quickly found a home on the Bearkat front line and is second on the team with 2.36 kills per set while hitting at a .255 clip. She was named to the all-tournament team at the Sawyer Camillo Classic in Lafayette after she twice reached double figures in kills, including a dozen scores on 32 swings (.312 attack) vs Houston.
