MONROE, La. – ULM head coach Patrick Hiltz announced Wednesday the signings of Grace Convey and Gabby Love to the 2017 ULM beach volleyball team.
A Brisbane, Australia native, Convey makes her way overseas by way of Citipointe Christian College where she competed in netball and volleyball. The 5-10 righty was named Volleyballer of the Year in 2014 and 2015, team captain in 2015 and a four-time all-district performer from 2012-15.
Convey represented her home country at the U17 Beach Volleyball World Championships in 2014 and captained the Australian squad at the U17 Junior Volleyball Asian Championships during her senior year of high school. She will continue to represent Australia in May at the U19 Asian Beach Volleyball Championships in hopes to help qualify her team for the U19 World Championships.
Convey plans to major in biology.
Love was a four-year volleyball letterwinner at Fossil Ridge High School (Keller, Texas) near her hometown of Fort Worth. With the Eagles, Love was named to the District 5-6A Second Team as a senior after notching 398 kills and 407 digs. She spent this past fall playing indoor volleyball at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.
Standing 5-10, Love also boasts an appealing track record on the sand as she earned four first-place finishes at 692, Iowa, Sand Volleyball Junior Beach Tour 18's and USA McKinney and a second-place NVL showing. She is also a righty.
Love intends on majoring in criminal justice.
Quotable
Hiltz on Convey: "It would not surprise me to see Grace land at one of our top pair positions during her freshman season. Her experience playing at the international level will not only serve her well here in the states but her passion for the game combined with that experience will be wonderful to have on our courts. International beach volleyball at the juniors level is still slightly higher than the US right now. The US is going to catch up quickly but younger players have had more opportunities internationally than their US counterparts over the past several years. Grace not only has the experience needed but she has been successful in her endeavors out in Australia. Her and her partner have won or finished in the top 5 of several prestigious tournaments. Some of which, they were knocked out in close matches against former AVCA Sand All American players from the US. Grace's enthusiasm for the game of beach volleyball echos her enthusiasm for life and people. She is not only a great beach volleyball player but she is a wonderful person with the attitude and personality we are looking for as we move forward in our quest to compete for a national championship."
Hiltz on Love: "Gabby is someone we had our eye on during her senior year of high school. We are delighted that she has chosen to commit to beach volleyball and are even happier that she chose to represent ULM in the beach volleyball world! Gabby will technically operate as what we like to call a "tweener". This simply means that she's not overly tall but she's not short either. Many successful programs across the country are utilizing "tweeners" as partners and letting the players switch off between playing as the blocker and as the defender. It takes a special player with a highly refined skill set to play both and be successful. We believe that Gabby has those skill sets coming in and will continue to improve. The ceiling is high and the future is bright for Gabby and we can't wait to have her join us and don a Warhawk jersey!"
Hiltz on recruiting class: "The addition of these two fantastic young women is essentially the culmination of our vision for beach volleyball over the past several years. We will now have more "beach only" players on our beach roster than indoor players crossing over. Upon arrival here at ULM the goal was to establish a beach roster that consisted primarily of beach only players. With the players we have joining us in the Fall we have accomplished that goal. I think over the next few years we are going to see more and more high school volleyball players giving up the indoor game to focus solely on beach. That will, in turn, make the beach game more competitive at the college level which is what the NCAA ultimately wants to see; a competitive sport that stands alone as its own unique opportunity for student athletes to participate in and find success both on and off the court."
For updates on the beach volleyball squad, be sure to follow the team on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
