FIRST SERVE –
ULM volleyball to Texas to take on Sam Houston, Lamar and North Dakota at the Lamar Invitational this week. The Warhawks will play a double header on Friday, Sept. 18, taking on Sam Houston at 10 a.m. and Lamar at  7 p.m. ULM will finish the weekend against North Dakota on Saturday, Sept. 19 at 10 a.m. 

FOLLOW THE WARHAWKS – 
Live streaming on ESPN+ will be available for Friday's match against Lamar (7 p.m.). Links to the live stream can be found at ulmwarhawks.com, and a link to live stats can be found on ulmwarhawks.com as well. Navigate to the volleyball schedule and select the desired match.

SCOUTING THE BEARKATS – 
Sam Houston enters the weekend coming off of a 1-2 showing at the Tarleton State Invitational. The Bearkats defeated Texas A&M Corpus Christi 3-0, but fell 0-3 to Tarleton and Denver. The Bearkats are led by sophomore Chloe Monson with 142 kills, and junior libero Shaelin White with 158 digs. Sam Houston has five players with double-digit block totals, headlined by senior Rachelle Reed (47).

SCOUTING THE CARDINALS –
Lamar enters its invitational coming off of a 2-1 weekend at the Southern Miss Invitational. The Cardinals fell 1-3 to Southern Miss and defeated Southern and Jackson State 3-0 each. Lamar will play a midweek at Prairie View A&M before the weekend, and will take on North Dakota before the Warhawks on Friday. Maja Malinowska leads the Cardinal attack with 90 kills on the season, while Gabby Baker has 128 digs. 

SCOUTING THE FIGHTING HAWKS –
North Dakota heads to Texas after going 2-1 at The Joust hosted by Cal Baptist. The team earned 3-2 wins against Cal Baptist and Sacred Heart, but fell 1-3 to Idaho. Ellee McIntosh has a team-high 81 kills, and Regan McIntosh has 279 assists. North Dakota will face host Lamar and Sam Houston before taking on ULM in the final match of the Invitational. 

EARN YOUR STRIPES –
The weekend finale 3-1 win over Mississippi Valley State saw the first-year class lift ULM to victory. Grace Troxell played both sides of the ball, making nine kills and 17 digs, while Zharia Alleyne hit .556 (6-1-9) for a season-high six kills. Alleyne and Tatum Clay contributed a team-high five blocks each, and Taylor Reid made her Warhawk debut. Reid and Kennedy Scott each notched their first career kills, with Scott adding a block as well. Myla Matavao made a career-high seven kills, five digs and two blocks during the match as well. 

Clay leads the team with 37 total blocks, and ranks second with 10 aces. Troxell has the third-most kills on the team (62) and Clay has the fifth-most (45). 

CLEAR THE HALL –
Aniya Hall recorded back-to-back double-doubles against McNeese and Northwestern State, making 10 kills and 14 digs against the Cowgirls, and 16 kills with a career-high 17 kills against the Demons. She added two aces in each match as well. She contributed a team-high 33 kills across ULM's matches this week, bringing her to 3.37 kills per set, which ranks eighth in the conference. Hall accounted for 38.5 of the Warhawks' points, anther team-high for the weekend. She sits at seventh in the Sun Belt with 3.94 points per set, having played in the second-least number of sets than anyone else in the rankings (27). She hit a weekend high .294 (7-2-17) against Mississippi Valley State adding five digs and a block.

Hall picked up the 2026 season right where she left off in her freshman campaign. She's started the season with four consecutive matches with kill totals in the double digits. She hit a season-high 16 in the first match of the Lion Invitational against Southern Illinois, and in the win over Texas Southern, she led the Warhawk offense with 11 kills, hitting .313. She added three total blocks and nine digs, as well as two service aces. 

In the Warhawks' opening weekend finale, Hall made 14 kills and nine digs against East Texas A&M. She carried her consistency into the midweek match against Northwestern State, hitting 13 kills to bring her season totals to 54 kills, five service aces, 30 digs and seven blocks. 

CONFIDENT CUNNINGHAM –
Transfer fourth-year right side/outside hitter Abby Cunningham continues to establish herself at the net for the Warhawks. She has notched double-digit kills in six of her nine appearances.  

She set a career-high 22 kills in ULM's match against East Texas A&M, a number that led all players on the court. She set career-highs in points, with 23 for Warhawks, and in attacks with 49. She hit .306 against the Lions. Cunningham added four digs and two total blocks on the defensive side of the ball during the match. In ULM's season-opener against Southern Illinois, Cunningham contributed seven kills and an assist for 8.5 points of the Warhawk offense. She added three digs and three total blocks against the Salukis. Cunningham started in each match be appeared in, and played in all the sets of each match. She averaged 3.22 kills per set with 29 total kills on the weekend.

STEPPING UP TO THE PLATE –
Second-year Eden Pietrzak has taken her turn at the libero position, stepping into the role during ULM's match against GCU, and starting all five matches there since. Since taking over, she's notched double-digit kills in each match, with a career-high 19 against Northwestern State. Pietrzak leads the team in aces with 11, and made a career-high four against McNeese (9/10).