LSC Roundup 11-13

From the Midwestern State Sports Information Office
The NCAA Division II first-round playoff game between No. 7 Midwestern State and No. 18 Abilene Christian has been picked up by NCAA productions. The game will be Web streamed free of charge on NCAAtv - the broadband channel for college sports. NCAA TV

Lincoln still Javs' go-to receiver
The air temperature still was in triple digits, with the humidity making the outdoors even more stifling for August preseason football workouts in South Texas. But it wasn’t choking Ryan Lincoln, who knew what kind of ride he wanted in his junior season as a Texas A&M-Kingsville wide receiver.

“My goal is to fill Jareko Taylor’s spot. He’s that go-to receiver and I want to be that go-to receiver,” Lincoln said. “I’ve been in this offense three years now and I’ve played every position of the offense as far as quarterback, running back and receiver. So I feel like coach can put me anywhere in the offense and step up and do the job.”

A second-team all-Lone Star Conference selection, Lincoln does indeed lead the 9-2 Javelinas in receptions and receiving yards. But the touchdown production hasn’t been Taylor-esque. Last week’s 9-yarder to close the first-half scoring in the 35-32 win over Angelo State was Lincoln’s second, well shy of the 11 Taylor recorded as a senior last season. Redshirt freshman Sherman Batiste has the TD receptions lead with four.

“I’m assuming he probably had goals of more yardage and more touchdowns. But like I’ve said before, those are the type of players we want. But the good thing about that is we’ve got more games to play, so he’s still got a chance to achieve some of those goals,” said A&M-Kingsville coach Bo Atterberry, whose Javelinas shared the LSC championship with Midwestern State and Tarleton State, the latter being Saturday’s opponent in the opening round of the NCAA Division II playoffs.

NSU trying to climb back to prominence
With Saturday’s 47-38 loss to Central Oklahoma, the Northeastern State football team wrapped up its eighth straight losing season. In fact, since the 2001 season when the team went 5-5, NSU has a combined record of 19-64. When Kenny Evans took over as coach in January of 2008, he developed a five-year program that consisted of three main objectives.

The first objective was to change the culture of the football program. Prior to his arrival, the school graduated an average of four to five seniors per recruiting class. Though Evans’ first class will be in just their third season next year, the progress is still apparent as 18 of those 20 are still on the team. The two who are not are still enrolled in classes which means that all 20 of them still have a chance to graduate.

“To me, that’s the No.1 goal is to graduate players,” said Evans.

ACU has most player on LSC South first-team unit
Wide receiver Poku earns all-LSC first team honors
Seven MSU football players make All-LSC first team
COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Rams' Carr named LSC South Co-Coach of the Year
Oklahoma scene: UCO dominates LSC North team
Flemming, Sims top WT's all-South Div. LSC team
Eskridge wins academic honor
====================================================================
LSC Volleyball Championship: ASU, ACU, A&M-C and WTAMU advance

CANYON, Texas – The semifinal contests are set as West Texas A&M cruised to a sweep of Midwestern State in the final quarterfinal match on Thursday at the Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championship in Canyon, Texas.
The top seeds all advanced as No. 3 Angelo State squares off against No. 2 Abilene Christian at 5 p.m. on Friday, while No. 4 Texas A&M-Commerce plays No. 1 WTAMU at 7:30 p.m.

West Texas A&M 3, Midwestern State 0
West Texas A&M wrapped up play on Thursday with a straight sets win over Midwestern State to advance to the semifinals of the Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championship.
The Lady Buffs (32-3) won their 16th-straight match by scores of 25-9, 25-14 and 25-16.
WTAMU hit an impressive .381 in the match with 48 kills including 11 each from Melissa Harper, Lauren Thedford and Laura Prinsen. Katie Rickwartz set-up the offense with 35 assists. Prinsen added a team-high 10 digs for a double-double effort.
MSU (10-25) was led by Miranda Byrd with seven kills, while Kiara Jordan had 12 digs.
The Lady Buffs will face Texas A&M-Commerce on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Texas A&M-Commerce 3, Central Oklahoma 2
Three teams have advanced at the Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championship as Texas A&M-Commerce prevailed over Central Oklahoma in five sets.
The Lions (25-9) have advanced to the semifinals for only the third time in school history after a 25-14, 21-25, 25-14, 24-26, 15-12 win over the Bronchos.
A&M-C setter Perla Faudoa had a career-high 60 assists and junior Naomi Mays had a match-high 24 kills to pace an attack that hit .212 in the win. The win is the Lions' fifth on the season and second against UCO when the contest reaches five sets.
The Lions Amy Addison and junior Terra Ousley each had 12 and 11 kills in the win. Ousley also tied a career-high with seven block assists. Senior Lauren Flynnhad a match-high 30 digs and freshman Ashleigh Barnett added 15.
UCO (16-16) was led by Zuela Adom and Kristen Wilson with 21 and 11 kills, respectively. The Bronchos' Meaghan Wedberg nearly had a triple double with 45 assists, 12 digs and seven kills.
The Lions will play host West Texas A&M in Friday's semifinal at 7:30 p.m.

Abilene Christian 3, Texas A&M-Kingsville 0
The Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championship continued on Thursday as Abilene Christian swept Texas A&M-Kingsville to advance to the semifinals. ACU will play Angelo State at 5 p.m. on Friday.
The Wildcats (28-5) defeated the Javelinas (17-13) by scores of 25-21, 25-16, 25-19 as the two teams played for the second time in a week.
The Wildcats prevailed in the first set as neither team took control in an error filled set. However, in the second and third set ACU played like a team that has won 16 straight matches.
ACU held a .214 to .083 hitting percentage advantage in the match.
Ijeoma Moronu and Shawna Hines led the Wildcats. Moronu recorded 30 assists in the match along with four kills, while Hines recorded four blocks and six kills in the Wildcat win.
Adina Gray led the Javelinas with nine kills. Sha Tramble paced the defense with 14 digs while Virginia Hernandez added 12 digs. Senior Tara Grier guided the team with 19 assists.
The loss ends the season for the Javelinas, who had the most wins in a season since 1998.
The Wildcats will continue their push to the title as they move on to play Angelo State on Friday.

Angelo State 3, Texas Woman’s 2
The Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championship started with a five-set thriller as Angelo State edged Texas Woman’s 3-2 to advance to the semifinals.
ASU avenged a three-set loss to TWU in the regular season with a win over the Pioneers, 25-12, 15-25, 25-18, 21-25, 15-10.
The Rambelles Caroline Cleveland had her best match of the season as she recorded a season-best 22 kills and added six digs, four blocks and three aces to lift ASU to their first LSC Championship win since 2004. Freshman Katie Coleman would add 12 kills while senior Alaina Sivells pitched in 10 kills to round out the 'Belles in double digits.
Katelyn Osborne led the Pioneers with 11 kills and four block assists. Danielle Pegues also reached double digits in kills with 10. Jessica Crow led the game with 39 assists while junior Kendra Coulson added a team-high 20 digs.
TWU closes out its season 16-17.
ASU advances to the LSC semifinals Friday when the 'Belles will play Abilene Christian. That match is scheduled for 5 p.m. at the WTAMU Fieldhouse. With a win in the semis, ASU would secure its second consecutive 20-win season and advance to the LSC finals for the first time since 1993.
====================================================================
No. 8 MSU opens NCAA II postseason against familiar foe - No. 2 West Texas A&M
from the Midwestern State Sports Information Office

Free Streaming Video Courtesy Fort Lewis College
No. 8 Midwestern State takes on No. 3 West Texas A&M in the first round of the NCAA Division II South Central/Midwest Regional Friday morning at Dirks Field on the campus of Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. (Central Time)

MSU soccer dominates LSC awards
Nine WT soccer players honored
====================================================================
Carthage softball pitcher Davis to play for TWU
Carthage pitcher Kaylee Davis, a three-time All-East Texas softball selection by the Longview News-Journal, signed a national letter-of-intent on Thursday with Texas Woman's University. Davis, who has a 56-18 record with 744 strikeouts in 441 innings in three seasons for the Lady Dogs, was a first team All-East Texas pitcher as a sophomore and junior and was the News-Journal's All-East Texas softball newcomer of the year as a freshman.

SIGNING: Wall trio to play in LSC
The Wall High School Lady Hawks traditionally have been powerful in girls basketball and Thursday was evidence as to why. Surrounded by their teammates and families, three members of the Wall girls basketball team signed letters-of-intent at the school’s library to play for rival Lone Star Conference schools next year. Sally Higgins, Karli Kellermeier and Hillari Adam all put pen to paper, securing their basketball futures at different LSC schools.

“We’ve been all playing together since sixth grade, so we have a lot of chemistry together,” Kellermeier said. “It is going to be weird to step on the same court in different jerseys.”

Higgins signed with West Texas A&M in Canyon, Kellermeier signed with the hometown Rambelles at Angelo State, while Adam will take her talents north to Abilene Christian.

Area signings - Nov. 13, 2009
Women's Basketball - Chelsea Solis, San Antonio Wagner signed with Texas A&M-Kingsville
Volleyball - Sarah Cardenas and Beth Soukup both from San Antonio O'Connor signed with Incarnate Word
Volleyball - Stacie Murrah, San Antonio O'Connor signed with Tarleton State
Volleyball - Kaelen Valdez, San Antonio O'Connor signed with Angelo State
Volleyball - Claire Webster, San Antonio Clark signed with Midwestern State

Hulbert’s Taylor signs with UCO
Hulbert senior Paiten Taylor signed a letter of intent with the University of Central Oklahoma on Wednesday making her the second local basketball player, along with Sequoyah’s Lindsey Hammer, to sign with a college this week.

Taylor chose UCO over several other schools, including Division I schools Boise State and Wyoming.

“I’m glad no more colleges can call me at 4 in the morning,” said Taylor. It’s pretty exciting because I get to play with girls that know what’s going on and want to be there.”