FIRST SERVE –
ULM volleyball heads west to Arizona to face GCU, Temple and San Francisco in the GCU Invitational this weekend. The Warhawks will face host GCU on Friday, Sept. 4 at 9 p.m., Temple on Saturday, Sept. 5 at 5 p.m. and round out the weekend against San Francisco on Sunday, Sept. 6 at 1 p.m. The matches against Temple and San Francisco will be the first time the Warhawks face either team in program history. 

FOLLOW THE WARHAWKS – 
Live streaming on MW+ will be available for Friday's match. The second two matches will be available to stream via purchase. 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 LOPES – 
GCU enters the weekend 1-2, coming off a 3-0 sweep over Sun Belt opponent Arkansas State. The Lopes were led by OH Starr Williams who recorded 20 kills on .421 hitting, which ranks second in program D1-history in a three-set match for GCU. The Lopes outhit the Red Wolves .356-.212, and made four less errors. The Lopes opened the season in College Station at the Texas A&M Invitational. GCU dropped its opening match 1-3 to the reigning national champions in Texas A&M, then fell 0-3 to Cal Poly. Williams leads the team with 41 total kills, and setter Bella Nunez has 48 assists. MB Aubrey Bellus has a team-high 10 blocks, while libero Bella Anderson has 28 digs.  

Friday's meeting between the Warhawks and Lopes will be just the 2nd in program history. The two teams met in Arizona in 2013, when Grand Canyon took the match in a 3-0 sweep. 

SCOUTING THE OWLS –
The Owls enter the weekend coming off a 3-0 sweep over Rider in the Cherry and White Invitational. Temple started the season with another 3-0 sweep over Manhattan, but dropped its second 1-3 against Fordham. 

Khenedi Guest leads the Owls with 31 kills after opening weekend, hitting .364. She also has eight service aces. Ella Sinai has four solo blocks, and Claudia Rivera has made 32 digs. 

SCOUTING THE DONS –
San Francisco heads to Arizona coming off a 3-0 win over CSU Bakersville to bring its record even at 2-2. The Dons competed in the Wildcat Invitational to begin the season, going 1-2. They dropped their first match 1-3 to Weber State, defeated Belmont 3-2, and ended the week with a 0-3 loss to San Jose State. 

OH Petra Fritz has tallied 57 kills, and S Jordan Smart has made 72 assists. Fritz has 33 digs, and MB Maeve Bailey leads the defense with 13 total blocks. 

LAST TIME OUT –
The Warhawks earned a 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-19) victory over Northwestern State in the home opener, the first victory in the first sporting event held in the newly named b1Bank Fant Coliseum. Aniya Hall had 13 kills on the match, making it her fourth straight game in double digits. She added an assist, four digs and a block. Abby Cunningham made 10 kills, as well as contributed two blocks on the defensive side. Tatum Clay locked down the net with four blocks, while Grace Troxell hit .353 on eight kills.  

CLEAR THE HALL –
Second-year outside hitter Aniya 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. A pillar in ULM's lineup, she has started in each match, and played in each set so far this season. Hall ranks fifth in the Sun Belt in kills per set with 3.60, and in points per set with 4.27. 

CONFIDENT CUNNINGHAM –
Fourth-year right side/outside hitter Abby Cunningham continues to establish herself at the net. She enters the second weekend of the season coming off a 10-kill midweek performance against Northwestern State. She added a solo block during the match that set the Warhawks ahead of the Demons, so they would go on to take the set.

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.

RELIABLE RANEY – 
Fifth-year libero Briana Raney holds down the defensive effort each match, totaling 71 digs, 15 assists and four service aces across the first four games of the year. She is averaging 4.73 digs per set for third best in the Sun Belt, and earned a .963 reception percentage on 82 receptions. Raney has started each match at the libero spot, playing in all sets of the season thus far. 

LOOKING AHEAD – 
The Warhawks return home to host McNeese on Thursday (Sept. 10). First serve is set for 4 p.m. at b1Bank Fant Coliseum.