LAWTON – The Cameron volleyball team begins the second half of their 2021 spring season on Wednesday and Thursday as they take on rival Midwestern State in Wichita Falls, Texas.

The Aggies opened the 12-match season with a 2-4 record, splitting two-match series with Oklahoma Christian and MSU before falling in a pair of matches against UAFS last week.

In the first two meetings in the Aggie Gym, the Mustangs began the week with a 3-1 win with dominating sets in three and four. After a couple of winter weather delays, the two teams met back again in Lawton two days later, this time with Cameron coming away with a 3-2 win over their Red River rival.

Cameron ranks second in the Lone Star Conference in blocking, averaging 2.33 per set with 53.5 total through six matches. They average 10.3 kills per game with a .121 attack percentage.

Junior Alanni Carter leads the way and is ninth in the conference in points, averaging 3.50 per set with a team-high 65 kills and eight service aces. Arianna Navarrete (2.48 k/s) and Walia Franklin (2.33 k/s) have also had strong starts for the Black and Gold.

Desiree Marmolejo is 10th in the LSC with 5.57 assists per set, while freshman Katie Roberson averages 3.61 assists with the second rotation. Navarrete (3.13 d/s) and Carter (2.65 d/s) along with libero's Presley Shearin (4.07 d/s) and Sam Friedl (4.44 d/s) lead the way for CU in receiving.

The Cameron block party is led by Caitlyn Henderson with 1.42 kills per set and JaLisa Hollingshed with her team-high 22.0 total blocks. CU has five players with over 14.0 total blocks on the season.

Midwestern State has already started their second turn through the North Division and own a 5-3 conference record. They also competed in the Angelo State Invitational this past weekend, beating Western New Mexico before falling 3-1 to both Texas A&M International and Angelo State in a trio of non-conference battles.

The Mustangs excel at the service line, where they lead the LSC with 2.15 aces per set with 103 through 11 matches. Three players rank in the top-10 of the LSC in aces with Jaycie Fuller coming in at fourth with 0.48 per set.  

On the attack, MSU hits .142 with 11.7 kills per set, but they rank towards the bottom of the league on the block with just 1.4 rejections per set. Lissette Lefforge and Raven Presely both have over 70 kills this season, and MSU's two setters, Autumn Roach and Kaitlyn Masseth, average right around 5.00 assists per set each.

The two matches will be played in D.L. Ligon Colliseum with Wednesday's match beginning at 7:30 p.m. and Thursday's starting at 6 p.m. Fans are allowed at MSU home matches, while all LSC volleyball matches are streamed on the LSC Digital Network if you cannot physically attend.