ORANGEBURG, S.C. – The South Carolina State women's volleyball team opens the 2015 season this weekend in the High Point University Classic sponsored by the Hampton Inn. The Lady Bulldogs take on host HPU at 10:30 a.m., followed by Georgia State at 7 p.m. on Friday and Loyola (Md.) at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Live stats for all matches are available at
http://www.sidearmstats.com/highpoint/wvball/ and a live web stream of the HPU match can be found at
http://www.bigsouthsports.com/live/11445.
South Carolina State head women's volleyball coach
Valerie Jones and her 2015 squad are ready to tackle the upcoming season head on. After a successful spring season and productive summer workouts, the team is ready to work hard to win in 2015.
Jones returns seven players from last season's team that went 3-24 overall and 3-7 in conference play and welcomes one newcomer to the program for 2015. Freshman right side hitter
Brianna Dafney (Conyers, Ga./Heritage HS) is the newest addition to the Lady Bulldog roster and should be an immediate contributor to the team.
Leading the returnees are seniors
Marrissa Lawrence (outside hitter),
Melanie Williams (setter) and
Shandice Sluch (right side hitter). Lawrence played in 88 sets and tallied a team-leading 235 kills in 2014. Williams handled most of the setting duties last season and had a team-best 524 assists. Sluch saw action in 58 sets and recorded 62 kills and 11 aces for the season.
Sophomores
Kiana Stone (middle hitter),
Ashante Finnie (middle hitter/outside hitter),
Kirby Anderson (middle hitter) and
Marcella Chestnut (middle hitter/defensive specialist) also return for the Lady Bulldogs. Stone played and started all 27 matches was second on the team with 46 total blocks.
Finnie was a solid contributor in 2014, but missed a few matches due to injury. Anderson was a big surprise last season, as she led the team with 95 total blocks during her freshman campaign. She also played in every Lady Bulldog set last season. Chestnut was a reserve last year, playing in 38 sets and 15 matches, while tallying34 digs and 15 kills.
Redshirt-sophmore Libero
Tyler Ockleberry also returns this year. In 2014, Ockleberry led the team with 302 digs (3.43 digs/set).
The Lady Bulldogs have a competitive non-conference schedule to start the season that will give them solid experience when they start conference play. This year's schedule features 12 non-conference matchups and eight home matches.
The Lady Bulldogs open the season in High Point, N.C. on Sept. 4-5 the High Point University tournament. They then travel to Asheville, N.C. to play in a tournament at UNC Ashville (Sept. 11-12).
SC State makes a quick pit stop at home in between the High Point and UNCA tournaments to host USC Upstate on September 8. Other non-conference contests include road matches at Mercer (Sept. 19), Charleston Southern (Oct. 10) and Gardner-Webb (Oct. 17), and home matches against Wofford (Oct. 13) and Alabama State (Oct. 20).
The Lady Bulldogs begin conference play by hosting Florida A&M on Sept. 25 and Bethune-Cookman on Sept. 27. They hit the road the following weekend to take on NC Central (Oct. 2) and NC A&T (Oct. 4) before hosting Savannah State on Oct. 9.
SC State closes out the season with road matches at Florida A&M (Oct. 23), Bethune-Cookman (Oct. 25) and Savannah State (Oct. 8) and with a pair of home contests against NC Central (Oct. 30) and NC A&T (Nov. 1).
The 2015 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Volleyball Tournament is hosted by Maryland Eastern Shore in Princess Anne, Md. and will run from November 20-22.
