LSC Roundup 9-23

COIN-TOSS CEREMONY FEATURES WOUNDED WARRIOR
WEATHERFORD, Okla. – Southwestern Oklahoma State University’s football game Saturday against West Texas A&M University was the site of a special ceremony that touched the hearts of all onlookers.

SWOSU partnered with the Wounded Warrior Project to draw recognition to the group’s worthwhile cause by allowing one of its members, Sgt. Michael Owens, to participate in the pre-game coin toss.

Owens, a native of San Antonio, Texas, was joined on the SWOSU sideline by his young daughter, Cheyanne. The two were escorted to midfield by SWOSU senior football captains Steve Day, Johnathan Haggerty, Cory Summers and Jeff Lemon. They met with WTAMU’s captains and game referee Stan Self for the ceremonial toss. For the record, SWOSU won the toss.

The Wounded Warrior Project is an organization whose mission is to honor and empower wounded veterans and make them the most successful, well-adjusted generation of veterans in our nation’s history. Wounded Warrior Project provides services and programs including adaptive sports opportunities and benefits and career counseling to ease the burdens of the wounded and their families, aid in the recovery process and smooth their transition back into civilian life. More information can be obtained at the organization’s website at http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/.

TAMUK Notebook: 'The Kid' Keeps Firing
Senior Billy "The Kid" Garza has shown he is one of the best quarterbacks not only in the Lone Star Conferencebut in the entire nation this year. He will threaten a number of Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas single-season and career marks by the end of the season.

On Saturday, he passed for 314 yards on 24-of-32 passing, which was a career high in completion percentage. He tossed two touchdown passes and did not throw an interception. It was his seventh career 300-yard passing game and second of the season. He owns seven of the 16 300-yard passing games in school history.

As a junior he posted a 133.8 passer rating and broke the school mark for both passing yards and completions in a season. This year he has not had to throw the ball as much, but he has been extremely efficient with a 158.7 passer rating and a 64.9 completion percentage which would set a school record. In addition, he is on pace to break his own school mark for passing yards in a season and is on pace to break Abel Gonzalez’s total offense mark set in 2001.


LSC Volleyball Weekly Release
Conference play continues
Five teams - West Texas A&M, Texas A&M-Commerce, Southeastern Oklahoma, East Central, Midwestern State - got off to a perfect start as Lone Star Conference play began last week. That will change this week as WT plays at A&M-C and MSU hosts both SE and ECU.
Only six of the 13 conference matches last week were decided in three sets, with four going four frames and three needing the fifth set.

LSC Volleyball Players of the Week
OFFENSIVE
Naomi Mays, Texas A&M-Commerce, Jr., OH/MB, Columbus, Texas/Tyler JC
Mays averaged a team-best 4.88 kills per set in the Lions’ three wins, last week, over Southern Arkansas, Texas A&M-Kingsville and Tarleton State. She had a team-high 14 kills in the win over A&M-Kingsville (Sept. 17) and 24 more to equal a season-high in the win over Tarleton State (Sept. 19). In the process, she also hit a .321 clip and was one of three Lions to hit over .300, last week. Her seven digs and three blocks against Tarleton were her second highest total of the season.

Emily Holombek, East Central, Sr., MB, Ovilla, Texas/Red Oak HS (Navarro JC)
Holombek scored 54.5 points for the week as the Lady Tigers went 3-1. She compiled 46 kills with five service aces, one solo block and five block assists in the four matches. She had a .368 hitting percentage for the week. She hit at a .647 pace, with 12 kills, in a 3-1 victory over Arkansas Tech and hit at a .480 percentage, with 16 kills, in a 3-0 win over Southwestern Oklahoma State. Holombek also racked up 10 kills in a 3-0 loss to Oklahoma Baptist and registered eight in a 3-2 triumph over Central Oklahoma.

DEFENSIVE
Lauren Flynn, Texas A&M-Commerce, Sr., L, Deer Park, Texas/Deer Park HS
Flynn continues to play a key role on the Lions’ defense, averaging 6.90 digs per set. As of last week’s NCAA rankings, Flynn ranked third in the nation in digs per set. Her play as a libero has been instrumental in a Lions attack that hit at a .225 clip in last week’s three wins.

Kiara Jordan, Midwestern State, So., L, Gilmer, Texas/Gilmer HS
Jordan averaged 6.44 digs per set while helping Midwestern State split a pair of matches against Dallas Baptist and Cameron last week. The 5-4 sophomore libero from Gilmer had a season-high 28 digs in a five-set back to Dallas Baptist on Tuesday before topping the effort with a 30-dig performance in a conference opening four-set upset of Cameron on Thursday. Jordan’s defensive efforts helped the Mustangs frustrate the opposition into 72 errors and a .110 attack percentage over the two matches.

SETTER
Katie Rickwartz, West Texas A&M, Sr., S, Canyon, Texas/Canyon
Rickwartz had two strong outings in the Lady Buffs’ wins against Abilene and Angelo last week in opening week of Conference action. In the two matches, she combined for 74 total assists and an average of 12.3 assists per set. She also contributed six kills in 10 attempts for a hitting percentage of .600, three service aces, 10 digs, and three block assists. For the season, Rickwartz is averaging 10.5 assists per set with a total of 624 assists. She is currently second in the school record books for career assists with 4,095.

Alex Cassell, Southeastern Oklahoma, Fr., S, Friendswood, Texas/Cedar Brook HS
Cassell triggered a Southeastern offense that went 3-0 on the week, including a 2-0 start to Lone Star Conference play. She averaged 11.82 assists per set on the week and helped the team to a .227 hitting percentage. For the week, 38.7 percent of her sets went down for kills, including an impressive 42.5 percent against Central Oklahoma in leading SE to its first win over the Bronchos ever on the volleyball court. She posted a match best 50 assists against UCO, and nearly matched that with 48 against Arkansas-Fort Smith. On the week she also chipped in two kills, six aces, 15 digs and four blocks.

MSU roundup: Mustangs slip to No. 18 in soccer rankings
The Midwestern State men’s soccer team slipped six spots to No. 18 in the latest National Soccer Coaches’ Association/adidas national poll released Tuesday. The Mustangs dropped six places in the rankings after battling current No. 22 West Texas A&M to a scoreless draw Friday and taking a 5-0 win over Eastern New Mexico Sunday.
Related: Hill leads Mustangs past Oklahoma Baptist , 2-0

Carpenter golfers make it 2-for-2 for ACU
A week after his twin brother won the season-opening Charles Coody West Texas Intercollegiate, Abilene Christian’s Alex Carpenter did the same thing at The Territory Classic in Duncan, Okla., on Tuesday. Alex Carpenter shot a 68 to finish the two-day tournament with a 4-under 140 — a stroke ahead of Dallas Baptist’s Nic Tacher.

Dallas Baptist beat St. Edward’s in a playoff for the team title. Both teams finished with a 578. ACU was third (579).
Related:MSU takes fifth at The Territory Classic

WT women's golf team finishes eighth
The West Texas A&M women's golf team shaved 10 strokes off its first-round total during the second day of play at the Queens Invitational, held at TPC Sawgrass Tuesday. The Lady Buff (335-325) finished with a two-day total of 660, good for eighth on the leaderboard. Hammerli Sriyai was the top Lady Buff, who is tied for 20th with a two-round total of 160. Teammate Sara Coe had a 164.