MONROE, La. – The ULM volleyball team has waited a long 16 days for its 2018 season opener, and its nearly here. On Friday, Aug. 24 first year head coach
Russ Friedland and his Warhawks will travel to Starkville, Miss. for a two-day tournament hosted by Mississippi State.
"The first weekend of competition is always one of the hardest," Friedland said. "You're going into the unknown because there's only so much preparing you can do when you don't have the ability to scout the current roster. Every team is in the same boat, guiding their teams into the first match based purely off of the previous year's stats. Our goal is to focus on our side of the net, take what we've learned during the preseason and implement it on the court against whoever is staring back at us through the net."
The Warhawks return to Starkville for the first time since 2015, when they visited Mississippi State for the Bulldog Invitational, bringing home a 2-2 record.
This season, ULM is scheduled to face California Baptist and Mississippi State on Friday (Aug. 24) and Mississippi Valley State on Saturday (Aug. 25).
This is the first time in program history that ULM will face CBU on the court. California Baptist is a division II team that finished their 2017 campaign 29-1. With wins over five ranked opponents and a trip to the NCAA DII West Regional.
CBU loses its top three leading attackers of 2017, but returns sophomore middle blocker Sydney Marks, who ranked fourth among the Lancers in kills. The Warhawks can also expect to see junior outside hitter Elizabeth Gilley in the starting lineup, as Gilley is the leading returning digger from the previous season.
As for Mississippi State, the host team Bulldogs bring back four starters plus their libero from last year. Senior Khristian Carr ranked third among the Bulldogs in kills (252). MSU's leading blocker, Laura Rose Gray returns as does teammate Morgan Kath. Kath, a senior setter, led the Bulldogs in assists (927) last season.
ULM dropped the last match to Mississippi State in 2015 in a 3-0 sweep, but just the year before, the Warhawks took down the Bulldogs in a similar fashion in Huntsville, Texas at the Sam Houston Invitational.
Saturday's lone match against Mississippi Valley State is set for 2 p.m.
The Warhawks met the Devilettes just last season at the Jacksonville State University Tournament, sweeping MVSU 3-0. Junior
Mikaela Worley, sophomore
Lauren Appleman, and senior
Taylor Wood each layed down five or more kills in the win.
ULM's defense came up big in the sweep, keeping MVSU from ever scoring more than 17 points in the entire match. The offense attack was on point as well, with 42 kills and a .307 attack percentage.
ULM will see its first serve on Friday at 2 p.m. (ET) against California Baptist. Links to live stats and video is available at ULMWarhawks.com. Fans are encouraged to follow along with the action on Twitter at @ULM_VB for live, in-game updates. Complete box score and match recap will be available at ULMWarhawks.com shortly following each match.
