SAN ANTONIO – UTSA volleyball opens the 2019 season against Stephen F. Austin Friday at the SMU Doubletree Invitational in Dallas.
Schedule:
Friday
10 a.m. - UTSAvs. Stephen F. Austin
12:30 p.m. - Bradley at SMU
5 p.m. – Stephen F. Austin vs. Bradley
7:30 p.m. - UTSAat SMU
Saturday:
11 a.m. - UTSAvs. Bradley
2 p.m. - Stephen F. Austin at SMU
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Stream: (SMU matches only): http://bit.ly/SMUVideo
Live Stats: http://bit.ly/2ZmHbOZ
Tickets: http://bit.ly/30GmMkz
UTSA Notes:
Head coach and San Antonio Sports Hall of Famer, Laura Neugebauer-Groff enters her 18thseason with the Roadrunners with one of the youngest rosters in her illustrious 25-year coaching career. During her tenure at UTSA, her teams recorded at least 18 wins 12 times, including seven-consecutive 20-win seasons from 2010-2016.
The Roadrunners defeated San Francisco 3-1 (22-25, 25-20, 25-22, 25-23) in the 2018 season opener, improving to 16-20 all-time, including 10-7 under Neugebauer-Groff. With last season's opening match victory, UTSA is 4-1 in its last five openers and 7-3 in the last 10.
UTSA returns four starters from last season's squad, including Kirby Smith and Kara Teal, who both garnered 2018 All-Conference USA Second Team honors. Smith, C-USA's 2018 Freshman of the Year, earned a place on the 2019 C-USA Preseason Team.
Youth Movement:
Making up the 15-member Roadrunners roster includes 11 underclassmen, four of whom are true freshmen. Hunter Coppola, Bianca Ejesieme, Jenna Patton and Courtney Walters don the blue and orange for the first time in their career Friday.
Exhibition Recap:
UTSA swept UIW 3-0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-14) in the lone tune up of the preseason. The Roadrunners deployed four freshmen during the final moments of the clinching set, including three on the front row during the deciding rally.
UP Next:
The Roadrunners open their home slate with the UTSA Classic September 6-7 at the Convocation Center. Houston, UTRGV and Maryland round out the four team six-match event with two games Friday and four Saturday.
Scouting Stephen F. Austin
Stephen F. Austin, which qualified for the 2018 NCAA Tournament, returns seven letter winners from last season's Southland Conference Champions, posting a 32-3 record, including a perfect 16-0 in league play. The Ladyjacks are the favorite to claim this season's title, claiming 19 of the 26 first-place votes, accumulating 283 points and besting their nearest opponent by 45 points in the conference preseason poll.
Seniors Danae Daron, Ann Hollas and junior Maddie Miller garnered preseason All-Southland Conference accolades.
Scouting SMU
SMU returns five starters and the libero from last season's team that went 12-16 overall, including a .500 mark of 9-9, finishing fifth in the American Athletic Conference. The Mustangs claimed the fifth position in the conference's preseason poll.
Senior Montana Watts and sophomore Hannah Jacobs earned spots on the preseason all-conference team. Watts registered 609 digs as a sophomore in 2017 and 604 last seasons, becoming the first player in program to surpass the 600-dig mark at least twice in their career. As a freshman, Jacobs tallied 220 kills, third most on the team, playing in 24 of 28 matches.
Scouting Bradley
Bradley returns 10 letter winners from last season's team that finished 24-9 overall, including a third-place finish in the Missouri Valley Conference with a mark of 13-5. Going from 10 wins in 2017 to 24 last seasons was the second largest in the country. The 13 wins increased the conference wins by 10 equaled the best one-year improvement in the history of the conference.
Hannah Thompson, which earned the 2018 MVC Freshman of the Year honor, garnered preseason all-conference honors. She set school records in kills (383) and digs (528) and was the only player in the nation to finish with at least 380 kills and 525 digs in 2018.
Preseason quotes by head coach Laura Neugebauer-Groff
On training camp …
"Training camp was awesome. The inner squad competition was good. Due to different situations that arose we had a chance to get a good look at everyone. Last year we had 19 players, so it was a big difference with competition in every single position. This year, we were thin in the middle because of the two injuries.
On the schedule …
"We like our schedule and it has a chance to be challenging. When assistant coach Paul Koncir and I were building our schedule, we were looking to build our RPI and to set us up for success as we move into league play."
On excitement about the season …
"We have four really good seniors, Emily Ramirez, Kara Teal, Breanna McCulloch and Montse Castro, who is coming back from surgery. I'd love to see all of them go out on a good note. I just love this team, they work so well together and the young kids are resilient and expectations we have for them."
Freshmen acclimating to college …
"We weren't sure what we had until we played our exhibition match. All four freshmen were on the court for the clinching rally, including three on the front line."
