FIRST SERVE
West Texas A&M Volleyball returns to The Box for the 2021 season opener on Friday as they host the BritKare Lady Buff Classic at The Box. The two-day round-robin tournament features seven NCAA Division II programs with WT, Southwestern Oklahoma State, UT Permian Basin, UAFS, St. Edward's, Fort Lewis and Adams State.
The Lady Buffs open the Classic with matchups against Adams State, Fort Lewis, UAFS and Southwestern Oklahoma State.
ADAMS STATE
Adams State enters the Lady Buff Classic looking to rebound after a tough 2-12 season. The Grizzlies are led by 17
th-year head coach Lindy Mortensen. ASU returns one of their key contributors, Shannon Mulkey, a six-foot middle hitter who was named All-RMAC Honorable Mention in the 2020-21 season. Through 11 matches, she totaled 101 kills and a .212 hitting percentage.
FORT LEWIS
Fort Lewis is coming off a 4-9 conference-only season led by second-year head coach Geidre Tarnauskaite. The Skyhawks return two All-RMAC Honorable Mention selections with middle blocker Rylee Johnson and libero Kamryn Lopez. Johnson compiled 90 of the Skyhawks 527 kills with a team-high 19 aces while Lopez led with 167 digs (3.63 per set).
SOUTHWEST OKLAHOMA STATE
Tenth-year head coach Josh Collins and the Bulldogs were selected to finish fourth in the Great American Conference Preseason Coaches Poll after a 7-6 finish last season. Allison Hoang, the school's record holder for service aces, returns to the court for SWOSU along with ALL-GAC Honorable Mention selections Lacy Mott, Chezney Nielsen and 2019 GAC Freshman of the Year Maicee Morgan.
UAFS
UAFS completed the spring season 11-3, winning the North Division in the Lone Star Conference and advanced to the conference semifinals. The Lady Lions and head coach Jane Sargent welcome back four All-LSC honorees with right-side hitter Courtney Crownover, middle blocker Hannah Holland, libero Lexy Lewis, and outside hitter Reagan Macha.
WELCOME TO THE BOX
West Texas A&M is fortunate to have one of the best home environments in all of NCAA Volleyball. The WTAMU Fieldhouse is more affectionately known as "The Box," is home to 19 Lone Star Conference Championships, 13 Regional Titles and three NCAA Division II National Championships.
The Box boasts one of the best home winning records in the NCAA on any level of competition. The Lady Buffs are 495-82 at The Box since the 1980 season for an incredible winning percentage of 85.8%.
BRITKARE COURT
WT Athletics is proudly announced a new state-of-the-art court for the historic home of Lady Buff Volleyball to highlight the 2021 season thanks to a generous gift from Britkare Home Medical. BritKare Court at The Box features a top-line Taraflex court surface that is widely used in Division I arenas, professional volleyball and was most recently featured at the just completed Tokyo Olympics.
LONE STAR CONFERENCE PRESEASON POLL
The defending LSC Champion Angelo State picked up 31 of the possible 44 first-place votes for a total 771 points to sit atop of the preseason poll followed by UT Tyler (two first-place votes, 739), Texas A&M-Kingsville (three first-place votes, 686), WT (649) and UAFS (627) to round out the top five.
Texas A&M-Commerce was tabbed sixth with 562 points followed by St. Edward's (458), Midwestern State (423), Texas Woman's (416), UT Permian Basin (two first-place votes, 409), Texas A&M International (386), Oklahoma Christian (301), DBU (one first-place vote, 277), Lubbock Christian (263), St. Mary's (185), Western New Mexico (134), Cameron (121), and Eastern New Mexico (117).
WT HEAD COACH KENDRA POTTS
Kendra Potts enters her third season at the helm of Lady Buff Volleyball with an overall 32-11 record. Potts led her alma mater to the South Central Regional Quarterfinals during her first season in 2019 to become just the fourth head coach in program history to guide WT to the NCAA Tournament during their first season.
Potts spent four seasons as an assistant in Canyon from 2005-2008 where the Lady Buffs went 131-27 during that span with a pair of appearances in the NCAA Division II National Semifinals. WT went an incredible 43-2 in league action during her four seasons on the sideline with three undefeated Lone Star Conference Championships and three LSC Tournament titles.
The Amarillo High product registered a standout collegiate career for the Lady Buffs, becoming a three time All-American and the LSC's all-time assists leader with 6,087. The 2014 WTAMU Hall of Champions inductee was named to the Lone Star Conference 75th Anniversary Team. During her four year career in Maroon & White, the Lady Buffs went 129-16 overall including 39-1 in league action with four NCAA Tournament Appearances and a pair of Regional Championships (2000, 2003).
OPENING THE SEASON
The Lady Buffs open the season at the Lady Buff Classic for the first time since it's absence in the 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic, ending a 26-year opening weekend streak. WT is 24-2 when opening the season at the event during the last quarter century.
STAPLE IN THE BACK ROW
Three-time reigning Lone Star Conference Libero of the Year
Chandler Vogel returns for her senior season with 2,126 career digs as the Hereford High School product sits fourth on the list as she is on pace to challenge Lauren Beville's (2009-12) all-time career mark of 2,423. Vogel has seen time in 407 sets for the Lady Buffs over the last four seasons in Canyon as she has started 112 matches in the back row over that span.
THE LONE STAR CONFERENCE
The 2021 volleyball season will have with 18 teams set to compete. The LSC is utilizing a single round-robin scheduling model, in which every team plays a single game versus each conference opponent.
The LSC champion will be determined by regular season games, while the postseason tournament winner is designated as LSC tournament champion and earns the conference's automatic qualification. The top 12 teams will qualify for the postseason tournament with the opening round on campus Tuesday, Nov. 16, and the final eight teams at the No. 1 seed on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, November 18-19-20.
LSC DIGITAL NETWORK
Fans will be able to purchase a $10 daily pass that will give them access to all football, volleyball and basketball contests on the network that day as well as access to previously aired games from the current season for 24 hours. Fans can also purchase a $50 volleyball season pass that will give them access to all Lone Star Conference volleyball matches. In addition to live and archived streaming options, viewers will have the option to purchase and download games from the 2020-21 season for $10 each.
Fans can watch games and purchase passes online at www.lonestarconferencenetwork.com on computer and mobile devices. Viewers can also tune in to games on the LSC Digital Network via OTT apps available on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV and Roku by searching for "LSC Digital Network".
UP NEXT
The Lady Buffs continue non-conference preseason play at the Rosella Meier UNK Fall Classic hosted by Nebraska-Kearney on Sept. 10-11.
