CHADRON – Interim head coach
Chris Wells is excited for his team to kick off their first season under him this weekend in a tournament in Billings, Montana.
"The girls look ready," Wells said Tuesday before practice. "They have been working hard and have done all the things required to be ready to go out and prove to people they are contenders and a team to be reckoned with."
The team is returning seven letter winners and have added five transfer students and three more true freshmen who all will contribute to the team.
The Eagles will play twice on Friday and Saturday. They begin their season against Minot State University at 2 p.m. Friday and will play host Montana State University at Billings at 7 p.m. The Eagles play the University of Mary Saturday morning at 9 a.m., and finish off the tournament with an exhibition match against Black Hills State University who joined the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference two years ago, in a non-conference match.
The Eagles are at least three players deep at every position because of their 22 women roster, so Wells says that there will be a lot of position competition in this tournament. The roster boasts three setters, four middles, five outside hitters as well as five liberos.
The Eagles have two seniors who have played all four years,
Erika Roybal of
Wheatridge, Colorado, and
Alyssa Bauer of Rapid City, South Dakota. Roybal led the Eagles in kills last year with 242 and also contributed 276 digs. Bauer was the Eagles' main defensive player with a team high 425 digs last season. Both girls are joined by transfer seniors
Hanna Flaming,
Brittany Oddo,
Nikki Schmidt and
Ana Kasljevic.
The Eagles are looking to make their mark on this tournament. They open up the season against Minot State University who went 12-18 last season. When the Eagles take on the host school Montana State University- Billings, who went 7-20 last year, Wells will be coaching against his own daughter, an incoming freshman setter/libero. The final match of the tournament for the Eagles will be against conference and cross state rivals Black Hill State University.
Chadron State volleyball has another tournament the following weekend in St. Petersburg, Fla. Chadron State College will see the University of Mary again in that tournament before opening up conference play on Sept. 18 against Adams State.
