2021 CENTENARY LADIES VOLLEYBALL SEASON PREVIEW
The wait is just about over. What was supposed to happen early last fall will now happen this spring, and the Centenary Ladies volleyball team is ready.
The Ladies will begin their 2021 season on Sunday with a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader versus the St. Thomas Celts in Houston, Texas with matches set for Noon and 4 p.m. at the Jerabeck Activity and Athletic Center.
Live stats and live video will be available for Sunday's matches at the links below:
Stats: https://ustcelts.com/sports/wvball/2020-21/boxscores/20210228_0dma.xml
Video: https://livestream.com/coopersports3/events/8333017
As if the several months of waiting was not enough, last week's winter storm cancelled what was supposed to be the Ladies' first two matches of the season at home against Austin College. St. Thomas opened its season two weeks ago with a pair of home wins over Texas Lutheran. Centenary is scheduled to play 14 matches, all against SCAC opponents, this season.
Centenary returns a strong core of talent this season and is led by second-year head coach Ashley McDonough. The Ladies finished third in the nation in division III (first after the regular season) last season in team digs with 2,642 and return five players who recorded at least 120 digs each last season. Centenary, which finished seventh in the SCAC last season with a 7-11 record, was predicted to finish eighth in the conference in the preseason poll this season.
"We are excited to get the 2021 season going," said McDonough. "We have doubled our team size from last season adding several freshmen who will be impact players right out of the gates."
"Our Ladies already had an exceptionally strong defense so we are aiming to build on it while adding some much needed strength to our offense. Caroline Richmond (Maequez, Texas), Alania Bartie (Iowa, La.), and Regan Griffin (Arlington, Texas) provide another level of depth we didn't have last year."
"Another major change is that we have enough athletes to scrimmage in practice and get more game-like reps. In 2019, we were lucky to have eight or nine healthy kids going up against 20+ woman teams. Long four-match weekends wore us down quickly last season so even our healthy kids required a lot of maintenance from our training staff."
Junior Outside Hitter Alyssa Davis (Van Alstyne, Texas) recorded 244 digs last season and was fourth on the team with 260 kills. She played in 24 matches and 88 sets and had 849 total attacks which was third-best on the team. She also led the team with 2.95 kills per set.
Junior Rachel Demerjian (Glendora, Calif.) had a superb sophomore season as she played in 35 matches and 130 sets and led the team with 1,087 assists, which is the most in a single season in the division III era (2011-present). Her 8.36 assists per set led the team and she registered 394 digs, second on the team, and 3.03 digs per set, also second on the team. The California native set the school record for assists in a match in the division III era with 66 on Oct. 19, 2019 versus Schreiner. She now holds the top four records in the assists category in the D3 era. Her 2,102 career assists put her second all-time in school history in the division III era, just 207 shy of the school record.
Sophomore defensive specialist Mariah Martinez (San Antonio, Texas) played in 26 matches and 76 sets and collected 128 digs and 1.68 digs per set. Senior Outside Hitter Ami Powers (Katy, Texas) played in 34 matches and 121 sets. She led the team in total attacks (1,103) and kills (297) and ranked second on the team in kills per set (2.45), digs (404), and digs per set (3.34). The Texas native posted 27 kills versus St. Thomas on Sept. 14, 2019, the most in a match in school history in the division III era (2011-present).
Senior Brittany Risner (Montgomery, Texas) played in 16 matches and 38 sets last season and finished second on the team with 2.47 assists per set. She ranked second on the team with 94 assists and recorded 38 digs, nine kills, and 79 total attacks.
Junior Elizabeth Epley (Nashville, Tenn.) played in 35 matches and 131 sets last season and ranked third on the team with 262 kills. She finished fourth on the team in kills per set (2.00) and total attacks with 792. She had 96 digs and a .213 attack percentage and registered a season-best 44 total attacks and season-high 16 kills in consecutive matches on Sept. 7,2019 versus Linfield and Occidental. Sophomore Liz Lowe (San Antonio, Texas) is another solid returner who made an immediate impact in her rookie season with the Ladies in 2019 as she played in 34 matches and 125 sets. She registered 600 total attacks, which ranked fifth on the team, posted 187 kills and 1.50 kills per set and also had 33 digs.
The Ladies will remain on the road for the next two weekends after Sunday's matches, as the Maroon and White will face Texas Lutheran (March 6) and Trinity (March 13). Centenary's home opener will be March 20 vs. Schreiner and then the Ladies will face Dallas at home on March 27. The Ladies' final two road matches of the season will be at Southwestern on April 3 and will close the season at home versus Colorado College with single matches on April 9 at 5 p.m. and April 10 at 1 p.m.
The Ladies' first 12 matches this season will be doubleheaders at Noon and 4 p.m. for the next six Saturday's with the exception of the final two matches against Colorado College which are a Friday-Saturday.
All home matches will be held at the Gold Dome and will be live streamed and live stats will be available. A link to the complete Ladies' schedule can be found here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/wvball/2020-21/schedule
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