COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Southeastern Louisiana volleyball team opens the 2015 regular season Friday at 6 p.m. (CDT) against host South Carolina in the Gamecock Invitational presented by Hyatt Place.
Southeastern also faces North Carolina State, Saturday at 9 a.m. (CDT), and North Carolina Central, Saturday at 3 p.m. (CDT), in the two-day tournament. It will be the first time in school history the Lady Lions face any of the three schools.
Live stats are available for all three matches and the South Carolina match will be streamed live by the SEC Network+. Streaming audio is available for the North Carolina Central match, courtesy the Lady Eagles. Links are available on both the front page and volleyball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.
Southeastern returns nine players off a squad that finished last season with an 11-18 overall record (8-8 Southland Conference) and advanced to the Southland Conference Tournament.
Senior setter
Mikayla Shippy returns needing just 361 assists to move into fourth place on the school's all-time records list. Junior middle blocker
Rachael Bunn finished seventh in the Southland last season with an average of 1.00 blocks per set.
Leading hitters
Tiffany Thomas (215 kills) and
Parrie Hartley (200 kills) return, as does sophomore
Sarah Friedman whose average of 2.45 kills per set was tops on the squad. Senior
Brooke Balser (2.79 digs per set) is Southeastern's leading returner along the back row.
South Carolina, which finished 17-14 a season ago, is led by returners KoKo Atoa-Williams (2.51 k/set, 2.34 d/set) and Darian Dozier (1.17 b/set). The Gamecocks return four starters off last year's squad, but must replace their libero and both setters.
N.C. State, 16-14 last season, begins 2015 with a young squad. Eleven of the 15 Wolfpack athletes are underclassmen. Middle blocker Kaitlyn Kearney (2.64 k/set), setter Maggie Speaks (9.40 a/set) and defensive specialist Rachel Eppley (2.76 d/set) are the top returners.
North Carolina Central, coming off a 4-25 season, returns six letterwinners. All-Conference performer Kelsey Murphy (2.99 k/set, 1.96 d/set) finished 39th nationally last season with an average of 0.39 service aces per set. Paige Phillips (5.53 assists) and Marilyn Sherbondy (2.83 d/set) are the Lady Eagles other top returners.
Following the tournament, Southeastern travels to Southern Miss (Sept. 1) before returning to the University Center to host Eastern Washington (Sept. 6) and Troy (Sept. 7) in a pair of Labor Day weekend matches.
