Weekend Sports Preview: Volleyball, soccer enter business end of season

The A&M-Commerce Lions will be looking for some home support this weekend as they return to the Field House for Lone Star Conference volleyball action Thursday and Saturday.

The Lions (6-11 overall, 2-8 LSC) will host some of the top players from the conference over the next few days, facing Midwestern State (12-7, 4-6) tonight at 7 p.m. and Cameron at 2 p.m. Saturday.

MSU won the first meeting between the two teams in four sets back on Sept. 8, in the conference-opener for both teams. The Lady Mustangs boast two of the league's top players in Caitlin Wallace and Kiara Jordan. Wallace leads the LSC in hitting with a .328 percentage, while Jordan leads the conference in digs with 6.17 per set.

Cameron (10-8, 4-6) also topped the Lions in the first meeting Sept. 10. Freshman Breanna Snyder turned in a career-best 22 kills for the Lions, but Cameron won 3-2, as all five sets were decided by five or less. Cameron freshman Kelle Carver leads the LSC in kills with 3.97 per set and is second in the conference in scoring. Adrienne Lawson is third in kills (3.56).

For the Lions, Rachel Robertson leads the LSC in scoring at 4.38 points per set and is third in hitting percentage (.302) and fourth in the LSC in kills and blocks. Jordan Neal ranks fourth in assists (9.81)

While the volleyball team looks for some home cooking, the Lions soccer team hits the road for the last time in conference play, facing West Texas A&M at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Eastern New Mexico at noon Sunday.

The Lions (6-5-2 overall, 4-3-2 LSC) are currently tied for second in the conference with 14 points, but should get tested on the road against a coupe of teams that played the Lions close earlier in the season. Leslie Briggs leads the Lady Buffs and is third in the LSC with 18 points and fourth in goals with seven.

The Lions topped West Texas A&M (6-5-1, 3-4-1) back on Sept. 16, as Brionna Minde scored twice and had the game-winner on her 20th birthday to give A&M-Commerce a 3-2 win. Eastern New Mexico (4-5-3, 2-3-3) forced a 1-1 draw with the Lions on Sept. 18, as Randi Hafele made eight saves, with five coming in the final 20 minutes of overtime to help the Lions salvage a point.

Minde is currently second in the LSC with 19 points and tied for second with eight goals. Hafele ranks second among LSC goalkeepers with 69 saves.

The A&M-Commerce cross country teams will have the weekend off as they prepare for the Lone Star Conference Championships on Oct. 22 in San Angelo.