HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana volleyball team opens fall practice Thursday in preparation for its upcoming 2020 season.
 
Second-year head coach Jeremy White, one of VolleyballMag.com's Under 40 Coaching Hotshots, is eager to get back on the court.
 
"Our kids are excited about finally getting back in the gym and we coaches are excited to have them back," White said. "The girls have been working hard this summer knowing that the loss of the spring is not an excuse for us not being prepared."
 
In his first season at the Division I level, White took a team picked to finish dead last in the Southland Conference preseason poll and brought it back to the conference tournament for the first time in three seasons.
 
Southeastern (14-17, 8-8 Southland) wrapped up the 2019 regular season with the nation's third-largest improvement in wins, going from a pair of victories in 2018 to 14 this past season. He also led the Lady Lions to their most overall wins since the 2004 season and most conference wins since 2014.
 
The Lady Lions return nine letter winners off last season's squad, including three starters and a libero. A pair of redshirts join nine newcomers, including a pair of transfers, in the mix for playing time this coming season.
 
"We brought in a great class for 2020 and I think combining them with this group of returners that has already led a major turnaround gives us a great chance to build on what we did in 2019," White said. "I can tell you that every position is going to be competitive as we work through the preseason. It's going to be exciting to see it."
 
Returners Sam Gomez and Karlee Wilkerson formed a key part of a Lady Lions squad that ranked third in the conference last season with an average of 2.01 blocks per set and fifth with a .210 attack percentage, a 70-point improvement over the previous season and the program's highest attack percentage in more than a decade.
 
Gomez, a senior from Mandeville, Louisiana, ranked second on the squad with both a .268 attack percentage and 86.0 total blocks (0.76 per set) along with finishing third in kills (258 total, 2.28 per set) and points (325.0 total, 2.88 per set).
 
Wilkerson, a junior from Springfield, Louisiana, ranked third in attack percentage (.189) and blocks (78 total, 0.71 per set) along with fourth in both total kills (210, 1.91 per set) and points (255.0 total, 2.32 per set).
 
Other returners also seeing significant time on the court last season for the Lady Lions were freshman outside hitter Jolie Hidalgo (171.0 total points), junior outside hitter Ryan Maddera (149.5 total points) and freshman defensive specialist/libero Lizzy Low (300 total digs, 2.94 digs per set).
 
One of the players White will have to find a replacement for is All-Southland and All-Louisiana middle blocker Jodi Edo. The native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana enjoyed a standout senior season in 2019. Edo led the Southland with 38 solo blocks, the most by a conference player in nearly a decade and a total that ranks 10th in school single-season history. She also ranked third in the Southland with a .330 attack percentage, tying a program single-season record.
 
Southeastern is tentatively scheduled to open the season Sept. 10 with a Southland Conference match at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (19-12, 11-5 Southland in 2019).
 
DIGGIN' IT CLUB / S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the Southeastern volleyball program are encouraged to join the Diggin' It Club. Lion volleyball alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners.
 
All membership fees and donations to both the Diggin' It Club and S Club (volleyball) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern volleyball program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Lady Lions Volleyball, follow @LionUpVB or @JWhiteSLU on Twitter, @Southeastern_vb on Instagram, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.