Charleston, S.C. - The Bulldog Volleyball team opens the 2010 season in a series of weekend matches against Ball State, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and Indiana State in the SIU-Edwardsville Tournament on Aug. 27-28. The Citadel opens the season ranked sixth in the South Division of the Southern Conference Preseason Poll.
"We're wrapping up a tough two and a half weeks of preseason," said head coach Carolyn Geiger. "It's a small time frame for competition, but we are all excited for the season to start. The energy is great going into our first weekend of competition. We have three tough competitors this weekend, starting with Ball State."
The tournament will serve as a homecoming for The Citadel's Shannon Frain and Emily Dalton. Frain, a senior middle blocker, will have first opportunity to play in front of friends and family in her collegiate career. Dalton, who hails from Cary, Ill., is one of seven sophomores on the Bulldogs squad.
"This will be a great homecoming for both Shannon and Emily," added Geiger. "I know their families will be eager to see them play and see our team compete. I am glad we have the opportunity to play in their home state."
On Friday, Aug. 27, the Bulldogs look to improve on their 6-6 all-time record in season openers when they square off against Ball State at 5:00 p.m. The Citadel will return to the court to face host SIU-Edwardsville at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, followed by a match against Indiana State at 5:00 p.m. to conclude the tournament.
Fans have the opportunity to watch The Citadel by visiting http://www.siue.edu/tv/. The host Cougars will also have online radio at http://www.siuecougars.com/multimedia/radio.html and live stats by clicking (http://www.siue.edu/ATHLETIC/volleyball/xlive.htm).
2010 SEASON OUTLOOK: After graduating her first recruiting class from four seasons ago, head coach Carolyn Geiger enters her fifth-year at the helm of The Citadel Volleyball program. Following a pair of second place showings during the spring season, the senior laden class that includes Amanda Beal, Shannon Frain, Tatum Jestila, Jessica Maas and Blaine McAllister will provide experience for the upcoming season.
The 2010 edition of The Citadel Volleyball team returns 13 members of a squad that closed out last season with four victories in their final nine matches, including three consecutive wins over UNC Greensboro, Savannah State and Western Carolina. Head Coach Carolyn Geiger's squad became the first team in program history to win back-to-back Southern Conference contests during that stretch.
"Looking back at last season, I would say we accomplished some nice things," Geiger said. "We played a strong match against UNC Greensboro and won at home during parents weekend. That started a three match winning streak for us. We went to Western Carolina and won our second conference match in a row. We took a set from the leaders of both of the North and South Divisions, Samford and Furman. This was an improvement over last year's performance against both those teams."
PREVIEWING THE OPPOSITION
BALL STATE: When the Ball State women's volleyball team takes the court Aug. 27 versus The Citadel, a new era will begin for one of the most storied programs in the Mid-American Conference.
Led by first-year head coach Steve Shondell, the Cardinals will look to remove themselves from four consecutive losing seasons and recapture the glory of the 1990's and early 2000's when the program advanced to the NCAA Tournament seven times and earned seven league championship titles.
Shondell has a vast knowledge about what it takes to develop a winning program, coming from Burris Laboratory School in Muncie, Ind., where he built a volleyball dynasty. In 34 seasons as the head coach of the Owls, Shondell's teams were a combined 1,183-95 (.926), winning 21 state championship titles and four high school national championships.
Looking to help the Cardinals develop on the court will be a core group of returning players who all have multiple years of playing experience. Leading the charge is junior middle blocker Kelsey Brandl, who became the latest Ball State player to earn First Team All-MAC accolades last season. She is joined by junior setter Brittany McGinnis who has started the past two seasons for the Cardinals and junior middle blocker Jennifer Boyd who was a 2008 Second Team All-MAC honoree.
The Cardinals four-member senior class boasts the team's main libero for the past three seasons in Alyssa Rio, as well as Charde' Phillips, who when healthy, has been a dominant force in the middle for Cardinals. Outside attacker Hannah Sullivan has also turned in some strong performances, while defensive specialist Karin Caudill helps solidify the backcourt and can be a threat from the service line.
Rounding out the Cardinals returners are defensive specialists junior Kaylee Schembra and sophomore Lauren Schlaker. Schembra has been a strong defensive presence for BSU the past two years, also turning in some time as the team's libero.
Also returning to the Ball State roster is redshirt junior Alexis Shonkwiler, who played for the Cardinals in 2007 before leaving the team for the past two seasons. New to the roster are freshmen Kylee Baker, Claire Farkas, Catie Fredrich, Whitney Heeres, Mindy Marx and Jacqui Seidel.
SIU-EDWARDSVILLE: With a majority of players returning from a squad that finished with a 2-27 record in 2009, things are looking up for the Cougars.
The Cougars have only four seniors on the roster for 2010, but return a wealth of experience to the court.
Karie Downing returns for her senior season at SIUE after collecting the team's second-highest number of kills a year ago. Sophomore Kelsey Mosher, who won a starting spot late last season after moving to the outside, will look to reinstate her name on the lineup card early in 2010.
Downing and Mosher will provide the team with some consistency in the lineup and pick up the play missing through the graduation of Brittni Birkey, who started all but one match for SIUE last season providing 172 kills, which ranked fourth on the team.
Coach Gober is excited about the addition of freshman Julia Whitfield into the mix at the outside. Senior Noelle Franke has appeared in 44 matches for the Cougars in the past two seasons and will add to the depth of the outside hitter position. Also returning to SIUE is sophomore Danielle Cushley. Incoming freshman Kelsey Johnson rounds out the group of talented outside hitters and will push for playing time in her first season at SIUE.
Junior Jessica Hemann returns after tallying 177 kills last season which ranked third on the squad. Joining Hemann in the middle will be sophomore Brianne Graunke , who saw action in 24 matches while receiving the start in nine. Pushing Hemann and Graunke in the middle will be incoming freshman Kelsey Augustine.
Recently named team captain, senior Sydney Winslow returns to her starting spot on the right side for the fourth-straight season. SIUE's kill leader for the last two years, Winslow will be asked to lead the Cougars' offense entering the season as the most experienced player with 75 career starts. Needing only 142 kills to reach 1,000 for her career, Winslow looks to join the exclusive club this season. Pushing Sydney for playing time will be freshman Lexi Cibulka, a left-handed hitter who potentially can play on the outside.
Sammi Minton returns for her sophomore season with the Cougars after starting 17 matches as the setter last year where she recorded a team-leading 533 assists.
Anchoring the defense again in 2010 will be senior Diane Schmidlin, who has recorded 428 digs while appearing in 74 matches over her career in Edwardsville. Joining Schmidlin as a defensive specialist is sophomore Brooke Smith (Godfrey), who started as an outside hitter when she arrived on the SIUE campus a year ago but moved to a spot in the back row late in the 2009 season. The duo of Schmidlin and Smith will be asked to replace the loss of Tiffany Turner, who appeared in 23 matches last season. In addition, both players will battle for playing time at the libero position when the season gets underway.
INDIANA STATE: The Indiana State volleyball team has finished ninth in the Missouri Valley Conference the past two seasons and that is where they were picked to finish again this year in a poll of Valley coaches.
Only one senior is on the 2010 team as outside hitter Ana Maira Charun begins her second season as a Sycamore after transferring from Indian Hills Community College a year ago. She will be joined by three juniors who have seen a lot of game experience including middle blocker Stacy Qualizza, setter Shelbi Fouty, and libero Kiya James.
Three of the five sophomores saw considerable game time last season including outside hitter Morgan Dall and middle blockers Shea Doran and Auriel Armstrong. The other two sophomores are outside hitters Christie Fullenkamp and Aralena Haynes who are expected to be contributors this season.
The Sycamores will have four new faces on the 2010 team including outside hitter Monique Morris, middle blocker Alysse Hogan, defensive specialist Lindsey Leonard, and setter Loni Mackinson.
For more information on Bulldog Volleyball, go to the official website of The Citadel Athletics, www.CitadelSports.com.
