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Nov. 15, 2007

Catch all the Southland Conference tournament action at: www.southland.org

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - After posting a 2-18 conference record and missing the post season as freshman, Lamar University seniors Molli Abel and Courtney Mitchell knew what it was like to be at the bottom of the barrel. Now, with four years of experience under their belts, the two middle blockers know what it's like the be the cream of the crop, as lead the top seeded Lady Cardinals, who went 15-1 in conference, into a 1:30 p.m. showdown with No. 8 seed Sam Houston in the Southland Conference tournament on Friday at the Convocation Center at the University of Texas San Antonio.

"Being so low in the conference and knowing how bad it feels to lose game after game after game makes you really appreciate the wins and the good time that much more," Abel said. "Going from probably the worst team in the league to the best team in the league is a great feeling. It's been an awesome ride over the last four years."

Mitchell echoed Abel's comments, saying the thought of being conference champions was unfathomable three years ago.

"Coming from where we were our freshman year, I thought being Southland Conference champs was an unattainable goal," Mitchell said. "Now that we're here, in our senior year, there are no words that can describe what a great feeling it is. It's very exciting."

Going into the tournament as the No. 1 seed is not good enough for the Lady Cardinals though. Both seniors agreed that now is the time to prove their season was more than just a winning streak fueled by luck. It happened because the Lady Cardinals have a really good team.

"It's our time to show the people that are still doubting us and don't believe we are the best team in the league," Abel said. "It wasn't a fluke. We want to go beat everyone again and really show them how good we are."

The Lady Cardinals did prove their dominance during the season, in the form of a 14-match winning streak and winning 20 of their final 21 matches. The win streak started with a 3-1 victory over the University of Denver in their final match of the TCU tournament in Fort Worth, Texas. The Lady Cardinals had dropped their previous two matches and six of their last seven and were sitting three games below .500 at 4-7 on the year. They rebounded from a tough 3-2 loss to New Orleans in their morning match and rolled past Denver, and they never looked back.

Their only hiccup since that time came against McNeese State on October 23, a 3-2 loss in Lake Charles, La. With their 14-match win streak snapped, the Lady Cards bounced back immediately, winning a pair of matches on the road against Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin.

With the road wins, the Lady Cards had regained their swagger, and closed out the season with four straight sweeps on their home floor. Now they look to continue their strong play in the conference tournament.

"We're kind of on a continuous high right now," Mitchell said. "Ever since we lost to McNeese in Lake Charles, we came back up and have continued to cruise upward. Expectations are high, but we aren't going crazy. We're ready to play."

The Lady Cardinals enter the tournament with a 24-8 record on the year, led by first team all-conference selections Kaci Brewer and Abel who are averaging 3.20 and 3.21 kills per game respectively. Abel, who was named SLC player of the year, led the league in hitting percentage at .379 and is the team leader in blocks with 1.12 rejections per game. Brewer, in addition to her offensive production, has been strong defensively with 2.70 digs per game.

Setter Adrianne Meengs, who was named first team all-conference and setter of the year, has proven to be a versatile threat for the Lady Cards, posting five triple-doubles on the year and earning three SLC offensive player of the week awards. She is averaging 11.12 assist, 2.21 kills and 2.17 digs per game and has 26 service aces on the year.

Southland Conference honorable mention selection Andrea Hamilton and Destiny Mason have provided the bulk of the defensive play for LU this season, averaging 4.97 and 3.23 digs per game respectively. Mason has also been a weapon offensively, knocking down 2.30 kills per game. Lauren Holdorff has been a strong defensive presence at the net for the Lady Cards, averaging 1.03 blocks per game.

The Bearkats enter the tournament as the No. 8 seed after posting an 11-18 season record and a 5-11 record in SLC play. They are led by Cynthia Yarotsky's 3.99 kills and 4.69 digs per game, while Brittanie Wallace averages 2.79 kills per game. Setter Megan McNamara has led the SHSU offense with 9.73 assists per game.

The winner of the Lamar-Sam Houston match will play the winner of the Texas State-McNeese State match on Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Convocation Center.