DALLAS – Midwestern State begins a four-match road trip with a duel at Dallas Baptist on Friday night. The Mustangs just wrapped up a 5-1 homestand and have won eight of their last nine matches. First serve at Burg Center is scheduled for 6 p.m. The second leg of the road trip is Saturday afternoon, when MSU faces Texas Woman's at Kitty Magee Arena in a 2 p.m. match.

Midwestern State (14-9, 9-3) is coming off back-to-back sweeps of Texas A&M International and Eastern New Mexico to close out its homestand.

Against the Greyhounds on Tuesday night, Midwestern State hit .310 for the match and won 73 percent of the sideout points, including all 11 in the first set, when the Mustangs hit .458 and won by 15 points. MSU won the match 3-0 (25-10, 25-15, 25-21). Isabella Dickens finished the match with 12 kills and hit .579 with 19 attacks.  Jaiden Wright hit .545 on 11 swings and was in on two of the three blocks for the Mustangs. Nyle Mathis had 11 kills and hit .320, leading the team with 25 attacks.

Midwestern State has a four-match road winning streak after starting the season with three consecutive losses on the road. The Mustangs have only dropped two sets in their last four road matches at Western New Mexico, Sul Ross State, Oklahoma Christian and Cameron. 

Midwestern State is second in the Lone Star Conference in both assists and kills per set. The Mustangs are averaging 12.4 assists and 13.2 kills per set. Macy Scheer is third in the league with nine assists per set. Dickens leads the Mustangs and is ninth in the conference with three kills per set.

The Mustangs are sixth in the LSC with a hitting percentage of .215, led by Dickens and Jaiden Wright. Dickens is fifth in the conference with a hitting percentage of .332, and Wright is hitting .328, which is sixth in the LSC.

The Stangs are sixth in the conference with 15.6 digs per set. Redding is seventh in the league with four digs per set. The Mustangs are 17th in the conference with 1.3 blocks per set, and Wright leads the team with 58 total blocks and 0.67 blocks per set. Opponents are hitting .227 against MSU.

Scheer leads the Mustangs with 28 service aces, and MSU is averaging 1.5 aces per set, which is 12th in the league.   

Dallas Baptist (16-4, 9-2)

Midwestern State leads the all-time series with Dallas Baptist, 39-24, and the Mustangs earned a 3-1 (25-19, 26-24, 23-25, 25-21) victory over the Patriots last year at D.L. Ligon Coliseum, ending a four-match losing streak in the series. The Mustangs have been swept in their last four trips to DBU, and MSU is 13-14 all-time when visiting the Patriots. The last time Midwestern State won a set at Burg Center was in 2017, when the Stangs prevailed 3-2 (25-17, 17-25, 25-16, 25-27, 17-15).

Dallas Baptist has won five of its last six matches after winning two of three road matches at UT Permian Basin, Angelo State and Texas A&M-Kingsville.  After sweeping UTPB 3-0 (26-24, 25-17, 25-23), the No. 5-ranked Rambelles swept the Patriots 3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-18). DBU rebounded Monday night with a 3-1 (25-22, 24-26, 25-18, 25-14) victory at TAMUK.

The Patriots have an eight-match winning streak on their home floor and are 10-1 at Burg Center this season. DBU has only dropped two sets during its home winning streak. No. 6-ranked Nebraska-Kearney is the only school to score a victory at DBU this season, sweeping the Patriots in the Dallas Classic on Aug. 28.

Dallas Baptist has the third-highest hitting percentage in the conference at .244, led by Reagan Fifer, who is hitting .295 and Avery Keck is hitting .284 for the Patriots, who are second in the league with 13.3 kills per set. Karly Wells leads the team and is third in the LSC with 3.6 kills per set.

Zoe Gun leads DBU with 5.8 assists per set, and Paityn Winters averages 4.7 assists per set for the Patriots. Wells is fourth in the conference with 9.9 attacks per set. 

Opponents are hitting .178 against DBU, and the Patriots are 13th in the league with 14.3 digs per set. Olivia Clayton is 11th in the conference with 3.7 digs per set.

Aizlyn Dewberry leads DBU and is third in the conference with 1.2 blocks per set, and the Patriots are averaging more than two blocks per set, which is fifth-best in the LSC.

Dallas Baptist leads the league with more than two aces per set, and Gun is the conference leader with 34 total aces and 0.5 aces per set. Kalin Hubbard is ninth in the conference with 0.4 aces per set.

Texas Woman's (7-14, 4-7)

Texas Woman's leads Midwestern State in the all-time series, 38-18, but needed five sets to defeat the Mustangs at D.L. Ligon Coliseum last season 3-2 (22-25, 25-21, 26-28, 25-19, 15-9).  Midwestern State won its last trip to TWU two years ago, 3-1 (25-23, 25-23, 23-25, 25-20), improving its record as the visitor in the series to 6-22.

The Pioneers hosts Lubbock Christian on Friday night before facing the Mustangs on Saturday. TWU is 5-3 at home this season after defeating St. Mary's in its most recent match at Kitty Magee Arena, 3-1 (25-17, 25-23, 24-26, 25-23).  TWU is returning home from a 1-2 road trip after dropping a five-setter at Texas A&M International (25-22, 19-25, 25-23, 18-25, 11-15) on Tuesday night. 

Texas Woman's leads the conference with 38.9 attacks per set but is 15th in the conference with a .165 hitting percentage and ninth in the league with 12.2 kills per set. 

Mary Grace King leads the Pioneers with 227 total kills and 2.95 kills per set. Trinity Blackwood is averaging 2.45 kills per set and is second on the team with 181 total kills. Among the most active players, Gracie Erichsen leads TWU with a .242 hitting percentage. 

Lorena Gomez leads TWU with 5.9 assists per set, and Cat Millsap is averaging 4.5 assists for the Pioneers, who are ninth in the LSC with 11.2 assists per set.

Texas Woman's is third in the league with 17.3 digs per set, led by Alyssa Rojo, who 358 total digs in 78 sets and averaging more than five digs per set, which is second in the league.  The Pioneers are also third in the LSC with 2.2 blocks per set.  Montserrat Soto-Talavera is sixth in the conference with nearly a block per set. Trinity Blackwood averages 0.9 blocks per set and is 10th in the league.  Opponents are hitting .184 against TWU this season. 

Up Next

Midwestern State is back on the road next weekend to play at Angelo State and UT Permian Basin. The Mustangs meet the Rambelles at Junell Center on Friday night at 6 p.m.