2006 Season Outlook
The University of Southern Indiana volleyball team enters the 2006 season
looking to regain its positioning at the top of the Great Lakes Valley
Conference.
USI and second-year Head Coach Leah Mercer
have plenty of reason to expect to regain that swagger as the Screaming Eagles
return five starters and the libero from a squad that was 19-13, 11-5 in the
GLVC, in 2005.
Mercer is looking for big production out of the senior class — outside hitters
Emily Ryan,
Chelse Doubler, and
Megan Wollin as well as libero
Mandy Probst.
Ryan earned first-team All-GLVC honors and second-team AVCA All-Region honors
after averaging 3.65 kills per game (kpg) in 2005. She ranked third in the
GLVC in conference-only matches with 3.98 kpg.
Doubler also was named to the All-GLVC team as she earned honorable mention
honors after averaging 3.17 kpg and 0.59 blocks per game (bpg). She was fourth
in the league with 0.53 service aces per game (sapg).
Probst, a 2004 second-team All-GLVC selection, continued to her strong
defensive play in 2005 when she finished with 464 digs, just 11 shy of her
single-season school record. She was seventh in the GLVC with 3.97 digs per
game (dpg) and fourth in the league in conference-only matches with 4.57 dpg.
Probst needs 164 digs to become USI’s all-time leader in career digs.
Wollin saw limited action as a junior and is expected to add depth at the
outside hitter position in 2006.
Two-time All-GLVC setter
Stephanie Wilson leads a strong junior class. Wilson averaged 12.03
assists and 2.77 digs per game to go along with 0.58 bpg in 2005. She was
third in the league in assists a year ago and ranks second all-time at USI in
career assists (2,878).
Junior middle blocker Molly Rahman
will be one of Wilson’s go-to players on the inside in after averaging 1.80
kills per game as a sophomore in 2005. Rahman’s presence defensively was huge
for the Eagles last season as she was ninth in the GLVC and second on the team
with 1.00 bpg.
After seeing an expanded role as a sophomore, junior defensive specialist
Cara Keever is expected to give
the Eagles more output this season. Keever averaged 1.96 dpg in 2005, despite
a thumb injury that cost her part of the season.
Mercer’s sophomore class consists of middle blocker
Meg Buschman and defensive
specialist Amber Gogel.
Buschman averaged 2.29 digs and 0.56 blocks per game during her rookie season,
while Gogel was second on the team with 2.99 dpg as a freshman. Both will play
big roles for USI this year.
New to the squad are freshmen outside hitter/defensive specialists
Jaclyn Johnson and
Julia Ridley; freshman
outside hitter Courtney Bealer;
freshman middle blocker/right side hitter
Ashley Henricks; and
freshman setter/right side hitter
Kathi Hindman.
Ridley was an All-State performer as well as a Kentucky State All-Tournament
performer at North Hopkins High School, while Johnson helped Castle High
School to four sectional titles as well as the Southern Indiana Athletic
Conference titles in 2003 and 2004. Johnson was a two-time All-SIAC and
All-Metro performer.
Bealer earned honorable mention All-State honors as a junior and was a
two-time All-Conference and All-Area performer at LaPorte High School. She
helped LHS to sectional championships in 2002 and 2005 and her Dunes 17 Open
club team to a third-place finish in the National Division at the 2005 Junior
Olympic Championships.
Henricks, a graduate of Center Grove High School, also had an impact on her
club team as she helped her Circle City squad to the American Division title
at the 2005 Junior Olympic Championships.
Hindman was named All-Metro North honorable mention by the Indianapolis Star
as well as All-County by the Noblesville Ledger and was Westfield High
School’s top offensive player as a junior.
USI opens the season in Florida and the site of
the 2006 NCAA II Elite Eight as it competes in the University of West Florida
Invitational. The Eagles compete in a cross-over a week later in the Ashland
University Invitational before opening up the GLVC slate against defending
regular-season champion Rockhurst University in the newly renovated Physical
Activities Center.
The Eagles play eight home matches in the PAC this year, including a bout with
defending GLVC Tournament champion Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
Other teams on USI’s home slate include Drury University, Quincy University,
the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Lewis University, the University of
Wisconsin-Parkside, and Kentucky Wesleyan College.
USI’s conference road matches include visits to the University of
Indianapolis, St. Joseph’s College, SIU Edwardsville, Bellarmine University,
Northern Kentucky University, Kentucky Wesleyan, Drury, and Rockhurst.
The Eagles’ non-conference schedule includes road matches against Ashland, the
University of North Alabama, and the University of Alabama-Huntsville. They
also play neutral-site matches against Edinboro University, the University of
West Florida, Northwood University, the University of South Dakota, North
Alabama, Wheeling Jesuit University, Palm Beach Atlantic University, and the
University of West Georgia.
