Shreveport, La. - The Centenary volleyball team will make its home debut Saturday as the Ladies face the St. Thomas Celts in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference match set for 5 p.m. at the Gold Dome.
The Ladies (2-7) have played their first nine matches this season on the road, and went 1-1 on the final day of the Cal Lu Fornia Invitational, hosted by Cal Lutheran. The Celts (1-3) face Sul Ross State and Concordia Texas Friday before Saturday's match against the Ladies.
Centenary went 1-3 over the weekend in a competitive environment at the Gilbert Arena and the Soiland Recreation Center. In the game one loss to Linfield, five Ladies tallied double digit kills (Ami Powers, Kristian Loving, Marissa Sandoval, Mariah Martinez, and Rachel Demerjian) and Elizabrth Epley had 16 kills. In game two against Occidental, the Ladies again had five players collect at least 10 digs as they earned their second victory of the young season.
"We are very pumped up to play in front of a notoriously loud and proud home crowd tomorrow," said Ladies first-year head coach Ashley McDonough. "Several local high school programs will be in attendance alongside friends, family, recruits, and our awesome student body. We hope to make it an exciting and memorable experience for everyone coming out".
Senior Marissa Sandoval set the Centenary record for digs in a career this past weekend as she broke the record in a match versus Whittier with 22 digs, giving her 1,323 digs at the time which eclipsed the previous record of 1,306 set by former teammate Hailey Lawson. She went on to record 52 digs in two matches the following day against Linfield and Occidental. The San Antonio, Texas native also owns the individual match (36) and season records (518) in the dig category set last season as a junior. She now has 1,375 for her career and already boasts 124 through the first nine matches this season.
Tomorrow's match is one of several special "High School Night" promotions this season as local high schools Parkway (Varsity Squad), Captain Shreve, and Northwood players and students will be in attendance, presented by Ironworks Sports Nutrition.
Live video and live stats for Saturday's will be available via gocentenary.com. The Ladies will hit the road again next week as they face LeTourneau on Tuesday, Sept. 17 in a match set for 6 p.m. in Longview, Texas. Go Ladies! #CTheOpportunity
