SMU’s Caitlin Adair (right) attempts to tap the ball over the net past West Carolina’s Liz McLauchlin (left) during Friday evening’s matchup at Moody. (John Schreiber)
The Mustangs will continue their preseason tournaments this weekend at the Texas Tech Invite in Lubbock.
SMU won its own invitational last weekend defeating Western Carolina, McNeese State and Eastern Illinois. The Mustangs took the tournament title, winning all three games in two days. The Mustangs will face the same format this weekend.
The Texas Tech Invitational will include Lamar, Villanova and, of course, the Red Raiders.
The Mustangs played Lamar over the spring, but were without key players Candice Davis and Rachel Giubilato. Nevertheless, the Mustangs defeated the Cardinals.
“Knowing that we played [Lamar] in the spring and beat them without two of our primary producing players I think we have some confidence with that,” head coach Lisa Seifert said. “What we have to be aware of is that it is confidence, not cockiness.”
Lamar will come into the match with a 3-1 record after the win at the Mizuno Invitational in Houston hosted by Rice.
The second game of the tournament will be against Villanova. The Wildcats have played just one game so far this season, but defeated George Mason three sets to none to gain their only win of the year.
In just the sixth game of the season, the Mustangs will face a major conference team on the road.
“Based on what I saw from the roster and from the freshmen, there is no fear on this team,” Seifert said.
The tournament is set up similarly to the way that SMU scheduled its invitational, using last season’s statistics to unofficially rank the teams that were playing. With the home team setting up their final game to be against its toughest opponent, Texas Tech is attempting to make the last game against one of the two unbeaten teams. And with the Mustangs set to play Texas Tech in the final game, it appears the Red Raiders know where their toughest competition will come from.
“It’s almost more fun to have the build up, and if you come in 2-0 like we did last week, you get really, really pumped for that, so that’s what I hope happens,” Seifert said.
She also noted that the Mustangs can look ahead to that game, or they might not enter the final match 2-0.
And as big as a win over the Red Raiders would be, Seifert stressed the importance of using these games to continue preparing for the conference season.
Junior Stefanie Kons was named the MVP of the Mustangs’ first tournament of the year. (John Schreiber)
