Women's Volleyball | 8/21/2014 10:36:00 AM
ABILENE - Abilene Christian's volleyball team invites family, friends and fans to attend its annual Purple and White Intrasquad Saturday at 10 a.m. at Moody Coliseum.
This year's team, led by first-year head coach and former Wildcat assistant
Jason Bibler, features 15 student-athletes, nine of whom are returning letterwinners from the 2013 squad. The veteran-laden bunch also features a healthy
Rachel Riley, plus senior
Neely Borger and junior two-year starters
Sarah Siemens (setter), Jenni Loerch (outside hitter) and
Madison Hoover (libero).
Sophomore middle blocker
Lexi Mercier, who was a Southland Conference honorable mention after leading the league with 1.44 blocks per set, also is back along with her sophomore classmates
Emily Adkins,
Erica Lambert and
Dorothy Swanson.
ACU's crop of newcomers is comprised of three high school recruits -
Corinne Grandcolas,
Nicole Morales and
Stephanie Schoelman - plus sophomore
Brooke Ray and transfers
Taylor Nix and
Tucker Smith.
Nix - a senior - comes to ACU from UTEP, where she was the Miners' third leading scorer in 2013 with 281.5 points and 263 kills, while Smith - a sophomore - was Hardin-Simmons' starting setter and a second team all-American Southwest Conference honoree for a team that went 23-16.
Ray was an all-state libero for Lovejoy High School, which won the state championship in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
ACU's regular season begins Aug. 29 at Baylor for the Hampton Inn Waco North Baylor Invitational. There, the Wildcats also will face Portland of the West Coast Conference and Southland conference rival Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Aug. 30.
ACU won six matches last fall - its first year as a NCAA DI program - and two vs. the Southland Conference. As a result, the Wildcats were ranked 11th of 13 teams (36 points) in the Southland Conference Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll released Thursday, coming in ahead of Nicholls (28 points) and New Orleans (12).
Two-time defending regular-season and conference tournament champion Central Arkansas was picked to win the league's regular-season championship. The Bears received eight first-place votes and five went to Northwestern State.
