SAN ANTONIO -- The University of the Incarnate Word volleyball team hopes to keep the momentum going into its Saturday morning match against McNeese at 10:30 a.m. (CT) in the McDermott Center. UIW has won three of its last four and plans to continue that success through its final three crucial conference matches as the Cardinals push for their first SLC Conference birth on program history.
 
This is the second meeting between the UIW and McNeese. The Cardinals won in Lake Charles, 3-1, a little over two weeks ago (10/16).

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LAST TIME OUT

• The offense hit .313 as a team, the highest team attack percentage of the season and the highest since Nov. 1, 2016 (.315).
• Sophomore outside hitter Julia Monday was lights out, tying her career best with 18 kills -- last done in four sets at SLU, 9/22/18.
• It was the second most kills by an SLC attacker in a three-set match this season.
• She set a career high in attack percentage, hitting .571 (18 kills on 28 attempts and two errors) in the victory.
• Aces played a major role all night as UIW finished with nine, a new season high.
• Freshman outside hitter Bethany Clapp delivered 13 kills, giving her double-digit kills in each of her last four matches. She has  15 matches with double-digit kills on the season.
• Junior right side hitter Cameron Taylor finished with eight kills on .500 hitting, giving her 18 kills in her last two matches (nearly half of her season total - 38).
• Freshman setter Pilar Gonzaba collected 37 assists to increase her season total to 499. 
• Sophomore libero Madelynn Miller led the team with 10 digs, her seventh consecutive match with double-digit digs.
• Freshman outside hitter Chloe Patton led the way at the serving line with a season-high four aces.

LAST TIME vs. McNeese

• Clapp led all players with 20 kills, becoming the first Cardinal freshman to hit 20+ kills in a match since 2015.
• She finished with 10 digs to collect her third double-double of the season.
• The UIW defense posted a season-best 13 blocks, led by senior middle blocker Slaughter. She finished with six.
• Sophomore defensive specialist Alyssa Carlin enjoyed one of her best matches of the season, leading the team with a career-high 15 digs.
• Monday had one of her best all-around efforts of the season, finishing with 15 kills, five digs and three blocks.
• McGarity led the team in attacking percentage, hitting .467 with nine kills. She was her typical self at the net as well, posting three blocks, including two solo stuffs.
• Freshman setter Kendall Kilchrist came off the bench to lead the team with 38 assists tonight. Her fourth 30+ assist match of the season.

 
 
STORYLINES

• The Cardinal freshmen have asserted themselves as one of the top all-around freshman classes in the conference.
• Clapp leads the team with 279 kills, including 186 in SLC matches. Her 3.4 kills per set is the best among freshman in the conference, fourth best overall.
• She posted an .824 hitting percentage in UIW's victory over Alcorn State (9/15), the best attacking percentage for a single match in the conference and the fourth most efficient match in all of Division 1 (minimum of 15 attempts).
• Clapp is now just 28 kills away from setting the Division I program record for kills by a freshman.
• Gonzaba leads the way with 499 assists this season. She already holds the UIW DI record for most assists by a freshman in a single season – previously held by Madison Williams (402) set in the 2014 season.
• Her 42-assist performance in UIW's 3-0 win over SHSU (Sept. 27) stands as the most assists by anyone in the SLC over the course of a 3-set match. Her 54-assist match against Abilene Christian (Sept. 29) is the fifth most assists in a single match in the conference this season.
• On the year, Gonzaba sits second best among freshmen in the conference, and eighth best overall, with 7.34 assists per set.
• McGarity leads the team with 74.0 blocks this year, just 13 away from tying the UIW freshman DI record.
• Monday leads the team in hitting percentage (.239). The 18th best rate in the conference.
• As a team, UIW runs the third most efficient offense in the conference (.199 attack percentage).
• Miller leads the team with 352 digs. She stands fourth in the conference in digs per set, averaging 4.57.
• Slaughter has been making the most of her senior season. She has posted career highs in kills (113), blocks (42.0) and digs (27).
• Taylor has made the most of her opportunity in the starting lineup and is proving to be a formidable weapon on the right side. She has earned 18 kills, 11 digs, five aces and four blocks in her last two starts.

 
 
CONFERENCE OUTLOOK

• UIW sits at No. 10 (5-8) in the conference heading into the weekend, just a half a game behind Northwestern State (5-7) for eighth place.
• Only the top eight teams in the conference qualify for the SLC Tournament in Natchitoches, La. next month (Nov. 15-18).
• UIW has three conference games remaining, all against teams within two games of UIW in the conference (McNeese [1 game ahead], HBU [1 game ahead] and A&M-CC [2 games ahead].

SCOUTING McNEESE

• The Cowgirls currently No. 7 in the conference (8-20, 6-7). They enter the match one game ahead of UIW.
• A Cardinal win would tie the two teams in the conference standings, but UIW will be ranked higher due to head-to-head tiebreaker.
• They are led offensively by Keegan Nelms (252 kills). But in the previous meeting, Katelyn Elliott made the most damage with 12 kills.
• UIW leads the all-time series, 5-3, including a 3-1 victory earlier this season.

 
UP NEXT
The Cardinals begin their final week of the regular season on Tuesday, when they travel to Houston to play Texas Southern, Nov. 6 at 6:00 p.m. The remaining three matches in the season-ending stretch will be a pair of home matches with heavy postseason implications; Thursday at 7:00 p.m. against HBU and Saturday at noon against Texas A&M-CC.

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