2023 Season Preview: Ladies Volleyball
“We are ready to hit the ground running. We are eagerly anticipating an exciting 2023 season,”
Ashley McDonough enters her fifth season as head coach of the Ladies and is excited about the challenges ahead.
"We are ready to hit the ground running. We are eagerly anticipating an exciting 2023 season," said McDonough.
Centenary's deep roster features eight returnees, nine freshmen, and one senior in her first season on the team.
"Our tight-knit returners, freshly inspired by a unique international cross-training experience with Coach Rick Swan and the St. Kitts and Nevis beach volleyball National team this past summer, are ready and well-prepared for a new season."
"We're thrilled to welcome nine freshmen, each brimming with enthusiasm and ambition, ready to make an immediate mark on our program. This season marks our first return to Colorado College since 2018, which is a cross-country journey we're excited to undertake. Additionally, we're thrilled to host our inaugural Country Cajun Classic tournament on opening weekend, welcoming Millsaps, Belhaven, McMurry, Rhodes, Howard Payne, and Texas A&M-Texarkana."
The Ladies are set to open their regular season on Friday, Sept. 1 at home as they host the previously mentioned Country Cajun Classic over two days on Labor Day weekend. Centenary will face Millsaps College and Howard Payne University on day one and Texas A&M University-Texarkana and Belhaven University on day two.
Centenary is scheduled to play 30 regular-season matches as the Ladies will play 13 matches at home and 17 road/neutral contests and are scheduled to play 16 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference matches.
Centenary will play three matches in the Hendrix College Warrior Invitational in Conway, Ark. Sept. 16-17, face Louisiana Christian University on the road on Sept. 19, Wiley College at home and on the road, and plays host to Williams Baptist University on Oct. 14. The Ladies' final home match of the regular season is set for Oct. 24 against LeTourneau University.
The Ladies will host its annual SCAC Crossover on Oct. 20-21, play a pair of league Crossover's on the road as well as on conference Inter-Pod hosted by the University of Dallas on Sept. 23. Centenary will recognize and honor its senior class during the Oct. 20-21 weekend.
McDonough, who is just 10 wins away from becoming the all-time winningest coach in program history, is also just seven wins away from 100 career wins covering her time at Centenary and previous stops at Knox College in Illinois.
Centenary's returnees include junior RS Jaylin St. Martin (New Orleans, La.), junior OH/DS Kiara Liedy (Sugar Land, Texas), sophomore S Meadow Smith (Mansfield, Texas), senior MB/OH Robin Lemelle (Liberty, Texas), and junior MB Elizabeth Canady (League City, Texas), junior DS Allana Scott-Daniels (Spring, Texas), sophomore DS/L Daly Nagot (Benton, La.), and senior OH Madison Schonberg (Harbor City, Calif.). Senior OH/RS April Jones (Longview, Texas) has joined the Ladies this season.
St. Martin is coming off another solid season as she played in 31 matches (111 sets) in 2022 as a sophomore and finished ninth in the conference in kills (273) which ranked second on the team. She averaged 2.47 kills/set and tallied 10+ kills in a match 12 times and ranked seventh on the team in digs with 142 and tallied 21 aces (fifth on team) and nine assists.
Smith made an immediate impact as a rookie last season as she played in 31 matches and 108 sets. She ranked second on the team in assists with 489 which ranks #10 all-time in the division III era (2011-prssent) in a single season. Smith averaged 4.53 assists per set, was second on the team in service aces with 31, and finished third on the team in digs (213) and averaged 1.97 digs/set. She had 10 or more digs in a match 10 times and her season-high was 12 accomplished four times. Smith topped 20+ assists in a match nine times with a season-high of 37 against Texas Lutheran on Oct. 2.
Canady played in 30 matches and 89 sets as she finished third on the team in kills with 166 and averaged 1.87 kills/set. She had 33 digs, two assists, and two aces, totaled 185.5 points, three solo blocks, and 29 assisted blocks for a total of 32. She had 10+ kills in a match six times and season-high was 19 versus Texas Lutheran on Oct. 2.
Lemelle played in 29 matches and 82 sets and ranked sixth on the team in digs with 168 (averaged 2.05 digs/set). She had 41 kills, nine aces, and eight assists and had double-digit digs in a match seven times. Liedy played in 32 matches (102 sets) as she ranked second on the team in digs with 233 (averaged 2.28 digs per set). She had 26 aces (fourth on team) and four kills. Liedy had double-digit digs in a match nine times and a season-high of 27 on Sept. 17 versus Williams-Baptist University.
Scott-Daniels played in five matches and seven sets and totaled five digs. Nagot missed the majority of her rookie season with an injury but made her debut in October and played 10 matches and 17 sets as she totaled 19 digs, two aces, and an assist. She had a season-best nine digs on Oct. 21 versus Schreiner. Schonberg battled injuries but saw action in seven matches and eight sets as she totaled 10 kills and six digs
The Ladies' crop of rookies are RS/S Victoria Larson (Royse City, Texas), S/DS Hannah Dimmel (Navasota, Texas), UT Yadneli Molina (Vinton, La.), S Hailey Hill (La Grange, Texas), OH/DS Mackenzie Haley (Orange, Texas), MB/OH Reign McArthur, RS Maia Kraft (Galveston, Texas), MB Bailee Henderson (Monroe, La.), and UT Kahlan Johnson (Haughton, La.).
The 2023 SCAC Volleyball Championship is scheduled for Nov. 10-11 in Georgetown, Texas and hosted by Southwestern University.
See the complete Ladies' schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/wvball/2023-24/schedule
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