HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team officially kicks off the Geno Frugoli era on Friday when the Lady Lions open play in the Mississippi State Maroon Classic in Starkville, Miss.
Southeastern, which also opens its 38th season of intercollegiate volleyball, opens play against Ohio Valley Conference member UT Martin (6-24 in 2010) in a 4 p.m. contest before resuming play on Saturday. The Lady Lions wrap up their first weekend of the season when they face Southern Illinois (14-14) in a 10 a.m. match before battling host MSU (11-20) at 7 p.m.
Live statistics and live video of all of Southeastern's matches, courtesy of Mississippi State, is available at www.LionSports.net.
Frugoli, who spent four seasons as head coach at UMKC, looks to guide a young team that opens the season with 16 of its first 19 matches on the road while improving on a 10-23 mark in 2010.
Seniors
Arianne Cruckshank,
Paige Dollison and
Chelsea Barr are the top returning veterans on the team that features three juniors, six sophomores and a pair of freshmen.
Junior
Courtney Donald is Southeastern's top returning hitter after averaging 2.09 kills per set while hitting a team-high .247 at the net.
Cherish Krohn (1.80 kills per set),
Taylor Buckner (1.64 kills per set) and
Stephanie Mueller (1.57 kills per set) are Southeastern's other top hitters with Barr (2.72 digs per set) and Cruckshank (2.21 digs per set) the top defenders.
Sophomore
Lindsey Young (7.74 assists per set) and Cruckshank (7.69 assists per set) finished 11th and 12th respectively in the Southland Conference in assists in 2010. Cruckshank enters her final season in a Southeastern uniform ranked sixth overall in school history in assists (1,413) and needs 88 to pass Jill Edwards for fifth.
Southeastern will face MSU for the first time since the 2006 season when the Bulldogs claimed a three-set victory in the Louisiana-Lafayette/Capital One Classic. The Lady Lions face UTM and SIU for the first time.
The Lady Lions will open their home schedule on Aug. 30 against Jackson State and will host intra-state rivals Louisiana-Monroe (Sept. 13) and Louisiana-Lafayette (Sept. 20) in non-conference play.
