WICHITA FALLS, Texas – Midwestern State has a four-match winning streak as it prepares to hosts UT Dallas and UT Tyler this week at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. The Comets face the Mustangs on Friday night at 6 p.m., and the Patriots visit on Saturday afternoon with the match starting at 2 p.m.

Midwestern State, which is 5-2 in the Lone Star Conference, improved its overall record to 10-8 with a 3-1 (19-25, 25-22, 25-18, 25-20) win over Southern Nazarene at D.L. Ligon Coliseum on Tuesday night.

Midwestern State has the sixth-best hitting percentage in the conference at .217 and is second in the league with 13.4 kills per set. The Mustangs are second in the conference with 12.4 assists per set.

Jaiden Wright led the Mustangs with 16 kills and hit .406 against the Crimson Storm. Wright has hit .278 or better in each of her last eight matches. Wright is third in the conference with a .350 hitting percentage.

Isabella Dickens has 13 kills in each of her last two matches, and she leads the Mustangs with 3.1 kills per set, which is 11^th in the LSC. Dickens is ninth in the conference with a .322 hitting percentage. The Iowa Park, Texas, native leads the Mustangs with 233 total points and 3.5 points per set, which is 11^th in the conference.

Macy Scheer is fourth in the league with 8.5 assists per set and had a conference season-high 69 assists in a five-set win over West Texas A&M earlier this season. The junior transfer from Concordia-Irvine has 568 total assists this season, and she leads the Mustangs with 20 service aces.

Jenna Redding is seventh in the conference with four digs per set. Redding had 24 digs in the win over Southern Nazarene. The Wichita Falls product had a season-high 25 in a 3-1 win at Sul Ross State earlier this season. She has 266 total digs this season for the Mustangs.

UT DALLAS (8-7, 4-2)

Midwestern State won its two previous encounters with the Comets, including a 3-2 (25-23, 21-25, 25-19, 18-25, 15-6) victory at UTD Activity Center last season. The first meeting was in 2005, when MSU prevailed 3-0 in Plainview, Texas.

UT Dallas won two of its last three matches and is 3-1 on the road, winning their last two away matches at Oklahoma Christian and Cameron.

The Comets are coming off a 3-2 (22-25, 21-25, 27-25, 25-21, 15-12) win over UT Permian Basin as Jane Burkhardt had 28 kills and hit .235. Burkhardt also had two of the seven service aces for UTD. Scarlette Young had a match-high 29 assists as the Comets hit .222.  Avery Gray finished with 31 digs in the victory.

UT Dallas leads the conference and is sixth in the nation with 39 attacks per set, but the Comets are 10^th in the league with a hitting percentage of .184, averaging 12.9 kills per set, which is seventh in the conference.
Burkhardt leads the LSC and is third in the nation with 12.1 attacks per set, and she is second in the league with 4.2 kills and 4.6 points per set.

Scarlette Young leads NCAA Division II with five triple doubles this season. The junior transfer from Arkansas-Fort Smith is averaging eight attacks per set and is averaging 2.6 kills per set for the Comets. She had 14 kills, 29 assists and 20 digs in the win over UTPB. She also had triple-doubles against Central Oklahoma (L 2-3), Southern Nazarene (L 2-3), Cameron (W 3-0) and St. Mary's (W 3-1).

Laura See leads the Comets and is sixth in the LSC with a .355 hitting percentage. The senior middle blocker hit .250 and had seven kills against UTPB. She had 11 kills and hit a season-high .526 in a 3-1 win over Southern Arkansas on Sept. 4.

Gray is ninth in the nation and leads the conference with 5.4 digs per set. The two-time LSC Freshman of the Week has recorded 20 or more digs in 10 of 15 matches this season.

UT TYLER (13-3, 4-2)

UT Tyler won its last five meetings with the Mustangs and leads the all-time series, 5-2, including a 3-2 (19-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-15, 15-13) victory last season. The Patriots have won four of five visits to D.L. Ligon Coliseum, including a straight-set triumph two years ago.

UT Tyler, which is 4-2 on the road this season, had a three-match winning streak snapped with a 3-1 (25-18, 25-18, 23-25, 25-19) loss to No. 7-ranked Angelo State on Saturday. The Patriots visit Lubbock Christian of Friday night before facing the Mustangs.

Melanie Merrill is averaging 2.4 kills per set while hitting .252 for the Patriots, who are fourth in the LSC with a hitting percentage of .237. Maya Jones is averaging 2.4 kills per set while hitting .264. Sydney Atkinson is averaging two kills per set. Kailey Manes leads UT Tyler with a hitting percentage of .379 and has 100 kills in 54 sets this season. Autumn Perry has 114 kills, averaging 2.92 kills per set and is hitting .220.

The Patriots are fifth in the conference with 12.1 assists per set. Riley Clinton is averaging 5.3 assists per set and has 297 total assists this season.

UT Tyler is second in the conference with 2.3 blocks per set, which is 19^th in the nation. Western New Mexico leads the league with 2.5 blocks per set. Makhai Lewis is second in the LSC with 1.2 blocks per set, and fourth in the league with 62 total blocks. Manes has 48 total blocks and is averaging 0.89 blocks per set.

Opponents are only hitting .130 against UT Tyler, which is the best among LSC schools and 17^th in NCAA Division II.

Anna Arceneaux leads the team with 255 digs, and she is averaging 4.55 digs per set for the Patriots, who are ninth in the league with 15.2 digs per set.
 

UP NEXT

The Mustangs continue their six-match homestand on Oct. 16 when Texas A&M-Kingsville visits D.L. Ligon Coliseum at 6 p.m.