PORTALES, N.M. - Eastern New Mexico volleyball will take on Lone Star Conference newcomers St. Mary's and St. Edward's over the weekend in Austin, Texas and San Antonio, Texas. 

Game times are set for 5 p.m. mountain standard time on Friday night against St. Mary's in San Antonio, Texas and at noon mountain standard time in Austin, Texas against St. Edward's. The Hounds will look to pick up their first LSC win of the season after dropping both games last weekend in Greyhound Arena to Lubbock Christian and Angelo State. 

SCOUTING THE RATTLERS
St. Mary's enters this weekend's games with a record of 6-3 and sports a win over Lone Star Conference foe Texas A&M-Kingsville in non-conference action earlier this season. The Rattlers opened up LSC play last weekend on the road with two losses against Dallas Baptist and Tarleton State. 

 The Rattlers will showcase a balanced offensive attack as three different players in KK Payne, Jasmine Sims and Alissa Tolbert have all posted 85 or more kills throughout the season. The offense will run through senior Bree Perry, who ranks third in the LSC with an average of 9.38 assists per set. 

St. Mary's ranks at the bottom of the conference with an average of just 1.41 blocks per game and doesn't have any players represented in the top 20 of the highest point scorers for the league so far this season. The Rattlers currently sit at 0-2 in league play behind Tarleton State, Dallas Baptist and St. Edward's in their division. 

SCOUTING THE HILLTOPPERS
St. Edward's will enter this weekend with a record of 6-4 and are coming off of a huge 3-0 road win at Dallas Baptist last Saturday. The Hilltoppers began the weekend with a loss at Tarleton State and faced two LSC foes in non-conference action to begin the season with a loss to Texas A&M-Commerce and a win over UT Tyler.

The Hilltoppers rank fifth in the LSC with a team hitting percentage of .226 and will be led by junior Katarina Mendez, who ranks eighth in the LSC with a hitting percentage of .333. Mendez is second on the team in kills behind senior Alexa McAndrew, who has totaled 80 for the season. 

St. Edward's finished with a record of 18-12 last season and made it all the way to the Heartland Conference Postseason Tournament finals before falling to UAFS. The Hilltoppers are currently tied for second in their division behind Tarleton State and St. Mary's after the conclusion of two conference games. 

HISTORY WITH THE RATTLERS
Eastern New Mexico and St. Mary's have met 14 times historically, splitting in the overall series seven games apiece. The Greyhounds have never won on St. Mary's home floor, 
losing by a 3-0 final in all three attempts. 

The Hounds lost 3-0 to the Rattlers last season and have dropped three out of the last four meetings between the two teams.  

HISTORY WITH THE HILLTOPPERS
St. Edward's leads the all-time series with Eastern New Mexico 8-to-3 and has never lost to Eastern New Mexico on it's home court in three matches. The two teams last met a season ago with St. Edward's taking the win 3-1. 

BLOCK PARTY
Junior Julie Tucker recorded a season-high 10 total blocks in Eastern New Mexico's home opener against Lubbock Christian last Thursday night. Tucker leads the Hounds with 25 total blocks for the season. 

The Jarrell, Texas native ranks 19th in the Lone Star Conference with an average of .74 blocks per set. 

THE ARRIVAL OF VINSON
Sophomore M'Lee Vinson stepped into the libero role for the Greyhounds last weekend against Angelo State and Lubbock Christian and led the team in digs during both matches with totals of 17 and 14. 

The 17 digs against Lubbock Christian on Thursday night are the second most recorded in a four-set match by a Greyhound this season, while the 14 digs in the three-set match against Angelo State are the most recorded in a match lasting three sets for the Hounds. 

A LOOK AT THE SCHEDULE
The Greyhounds will compete in three straight road games beginning this weekend at St. Mary's and St. Edward's before heading over to Canyon, Texas on Oct. 1st to take on arch-rival West Texas A&M.

Eastern New Mexico will then return for their next home series on Oct. 4-5 during which time they will take on Texas Woman's and Midwestern State.