Nov. 13, 2000

DALLAS - The Southwest Texas Bobcats owned the Southland Conference during the regular season, finishing with a perfect 20-0 record. They set two Conference records with most match wins in a season (20) and most game wins in a season (60), besting the old mark set by Texas-Arlington's 1998 squad (19 match wins and 59 game wins).

Entering the league's championship tournament next weekend, Southwest Texas, which is ranked eighth in the South Central Region, is riding a 23-match winning streak, the second-longest in the country behind Nebraska (24) and tied with Hawaii. The Bobcats' Laura Ivy has the Southland's best hitting percentage at .383.

Last year's regular season champion, Texas-San Antonio, is the No. 2 seed. The Roadrunners came on strong in the second half of the schedule to finish with a 17-3 Southland record. Their losses were to SWT and Texas-Arlington, the No. 3 seed. UTSA, which is on an 11-match win streak, is led by the league leaders in assists (Natasha Biggers - 14.59 apg), blocks (Charlsie Heifrin - 1.45 bpg) and digs (Stacy Schmidt - 4.72 dpg).

UTA (16-4) has won its last five in a row. The Mavericks split the season series with UTSA, dropped two to SWT and one to Lamar for their four losses in Conference. Trisha Walker (4.73 kpg), Amber Pack (4.38 dpg) and Kisha Tucker (12.73 apg) are the Mavs' anchors.

The defending tournament champion is Stephen F. Austin (13-7), which qualified as the No. 4 seed. The league,s top three teams swept the Ladyjacks in the regular season while McNeese State managed to take a win from them as well. SFA's Kristy Rhodes leads the Southland in kills with an average of 5.56 per game while Marissa Dorcheus averages 14.57 assists per game.

The last two seeds were determined during the last weekend of play. The host institution, Lamar, secured the No. 5 spot by sweeping Nicholls State and Southeastern Louisiana. McNeese State also defeated Nicholls, then won a close match over SLU to earn the final berth.

Southland Conference Volleyball Championship, Nov. 16-18, Montagne, Center, Beaumont, Texas Nov. 16 Match #1 - No. 3 Texas-Arlington (16-4) vs. No. 6 McNeese State (11-9), 4:30 p.m. Match #2 - No. 4 Stephen F. Austin (13-7) vs. No. 5 Lamar (12-8), 7 p.m.

Nov. 17 Match #3 - No. 1 Southwest Texas (20-0) vs. Match #2 winner, 4:30 p.m. Match #4 - No. 2 Texas-San Antonio (17-3) vs. Match #1 winner, 7 p.m.

Nov. 18 Championship, 2 p.m. -SLC-