AUSTIN, Texas — St. Edward's volleyball has spent the past two months building toward the postseason. Now, with a Lone Star Conference Tournament berth secured and its longest winning streak of the season still growing, the Hilltoppers enter their final regular-season road trip with their sights set on something bigger.
St. Edward's closes the regular season at Sul Ross State and Western New Mexico, riding six consecutive victories that have lifted the Hilltoppers to 16–9 overall, 11–4 in conference play, and seventh in the NCAA Division II South Central Region National Power Index rankings.
The latest NPI rankings place St. Edward's one spot higher than the previous week with a 56.327 rating. With eight teams advancing to the South Central Regional, the Hilltoppers have worked their way into contention for an NCAA Tournament berth, adding another layer of significance to a road trip that already carries conference tournament seeding implications.
It is a significant position for a program that narrowly missed the LSC Tournament in head coach Jeremy Garcia's first season a year ago. The Hilltoppers improved their conference win total by six matches in 2025, laying the foundation for a second season defined by an increasingly confident, versatile offense and a team that has learned to turn competitive stretches into decisive ones.
That growth has accelerated over the past three weeks.
St. Edward's has won six consecutive matches, including a breakthrough sweep of West Texas A&M that ended a losing streak against the Lady Buffs dating to 2004. The Hilltoppers followed with a four-set victory over Eastern New Mexico on Senior Day, clinching their return to the conference tournament with two matches remaining.
The two victories demonstrated different dimensions of the same identity.
Against West Texas A&M, St. Edward's quickly identified openings in the defense and attacked them with precision, repeatedly winning short rallies and creating separation through efficient sideouts. Three Hilltoppers reached double-digit kills, while senior setter ALTHEA MORRIS finished with 35 assists and 12 digs.
Eastern New Mexico disrupted that rhythm long enough to take the opening set a day later, but St. Edward's responded with one of its most efficient stretches of the season. The Hilltoppers won 14 of 15 sideout opportunities in the second set, then steadily pulled away over the final two frames.
The wins continued a stretch in which St. Edward's has paired offensive production with improved ball control, allowing its hitters to operate with greater freedom and its defense to turn extended rallies into scoring opportunities.
The numbers reflect that balance.
St. Edward's enters the final weekend ranked second in the LSC in kills and assists per set, and third in service aces. The Hilltoppers have built one of the conference's most productive attacks without relying on a single scoring option, spreading opportunities across a front row capable of creating pressure from multiple positions.
Morris has been the engine behind that balance, leading the conference with 10.98 assists per set. Her 911 assists this season have helped establish the Hilltoppers as one of the league's most difficult offenses to anticipate.
Senior outside hitter KELLI FORDING, who recently surpassed 1,000 career kills, ranks fourth in the LSC with 3.71 kills per set and third with 4.16 points per set. MIA CLAY provides another consistent option, ranking eighth with 3.21 kills per set, while KAYLEN LEMBCKE has supplied an efficient third attacking threat capable of taking over individual sets.
Behind them, libero GISELLE OJEDA ranks fourth in the conference with 4.53 digs per set, providing the defensive foundation that allows St. Edward's to transition quickly from absorbing attacks to delivering them.
The Hilltoppers will look to maintain that balance against two opponents presenting distinctly different challenges.
Sul Ross State enters the weekend 1–24 overall and 1–14 in conference play, struggling to find consistent offensive production in its second season of Lone Star Conference competition.
The Lobos rank last in the league in hitting percentage, kills, assists, and service aces per set. Opponents are hitting .249 against Sul Ross State, the highest percentage allowed by an LSC team.
For St. Edward's, the matchup presents an opportunity to sustain the offensive discipline that has fueled its winning streak. The Hilltoppers have increasingly combined aggressive swings with intelligent shot selection, finding gaps in opposing defenses without sacrificing efficiency.
Western New Mexico, meanwhile, offers a different challenge and potentially a more revealing test of the Hilltoppers' postseason readiness.
The Mustangs enter the weekend 14–12 overall and 8–7 in conference play, featuring one of the conference's most imposing defensive fronts. Western New Mexico ranks second in the LSC with 2.29 blocks per set and fourth in opponent hitting percentage, limiting opposing teams to a .167 clip.
Daphne Posthumus anchors that front row, leading the conference with 1.32 blocks per set while ranking ninth in points per set at 3.55. Western New Mexico has also had to adjust offensively following a season-ending injury to Brynlee Barris in late September. Barris remains among the conference's statistical leaders in hitting percentage, but her absence has forced the Mustangs to find production elsewhere in their lineup.
That adjustment makes Western New Mexico's current offensive identity particularly important to the matchup. The Mustangs have continued to lean on their defensive presence at the net, creating opportunities to extend rallies and generate offense through their remaining hitters.
For Morris, it will be an opportunity to demonstrate the value of an offense with multiple scoring threats. Moving the ball across the front row, varying tempo, and forcing Western New Mexico's blockers to make decisions could be essential to creating the openings that have fueled the Hilltoppers' recent success.
The final weekend also carries significant postseason implications.
St. Edward's enters the week alone in fourth place in the LSC standings, one match behind UT Tyler and one ahead of Texas A&M-Kingsville and UT Dallas. The Hilltoppers have already secured a place in the conference tournament, but their final position remains unsettled.
Beyond the conference race, the NCAA Tournament picture adds another dimension. St. Edward's No. 7 regional NPI ranking places the Hilltoppers among the eight highest-rated teams in the South Central Region, but that position is not a guarantee of selection. Automatic qualifiers from the Lone Star Conference and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference will receive berths, leaving the remaining places to be determined by the NCAA selection process.
For a team seeking its first NCAA Tournament appearance under Garcia, every remaining result carries potential significance beyond the conference standings.
The Hilltoppers have already transformed last season's near miss into a postseason return. Their final road trip offers the opportunity to turn that progress into something more, carrying a six-match winning streak, a rising regional ranking, and the confidence of a team playing its best volleyball into the most consequential stretch of the season.
