COMMERCE – After an opening round win, the A&M-Commerce Lions move on to the quarterfinals of the Lone Star Conference Tournament against a division winner in the Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas.
 
WHO: A&M-Commerce at A&M-Kingsville
WHERE: Kingsville | Steinke Center
WHEN: 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 24
RECORDS: A&M-Commerce is 7-6 overall after winning the opening round match over Oklahoma Christian 3-1. A&M-Kingsville is 12-0 and ranked eighth in the nation.
TELEVISION/LIVE VIDEO: LSC Digital Network
LIVE STATS: http://statbroadcast.com/events/statmonitr.php?gid=tame
 
What's at stake:
The winner of the match advances to the LSC Tournament semifinals next Tuesday. Seedings and location will be announced after Wednesday's quarterfinals.
 
On the Lions:
A&M-Commerce is led by 11th-year head coach Craig Case, who is the winningest coach in program history. His record at A&M-Commerce stands at 191-133.
 
The Lions rank 11th in the conference in hitting percentage at .160, fifth in assists at 11.86 per set, fourth in kills at 13.04 per set, ninth in blocks at 1.90 per set, and second in digs at 19.92 per set.
 
Taryn Cast ranks 14th in the conference in hitting percentage at .249 and Celeste Vela is sixth in the conference in assists at 6.46 per set. Riley Davidson's 5.06 digs per set ranks fourth in the league and Lyric Hebert is 13th in the conference at 3.98.
  
On the opponent…
TAMUK ranks second in the conference in hitting percentage at .236, and the Hogs' 13.41 assists per set and 14.16 kills per set leads the league. They've been strong at the net with 2.4 blocks per set to lead the league, and the 19.59 digs per set ranks third in the league.
 
Kailey Estrad and Ayanna Jackson are both in the top 10 in the conference in hitting percentage at .328 and .265. Setter Emily Witt leads the league in assists at 10.58, the only setter over 10 per set in the LSC.
 
Jackson's 1.14 blocks per set are second in the league. Her 3.14 kills per set are seventh in the conference. Nicole Murff has 5.39 digs per set to rank third in the league.
 
On the series history…
The Lions and Javelinas are meeting up for the 62nd time, with the Lions holding a 48-13 lead. The Lions won the first 31 meetings in the series. A&M-Commerce has won the last five meetings between the schools, dating back to 2017, and are 12-8 in the Steinke Center.