Aug. 9, 2006

DALLAS, Texas - The SMU volleyball team enters this season with more experience and depth than previous years. The squad transitioned into a new conference with new competition and they soared past the 10 year milestone of the programs development in 1996. For head coach Lisa Seifert and her coaching staff, being a competitive team, playing solid defense and building a winning tradition is something they have implemented into the program.

"The goal will always be for the program to win the conference championship and play in the NCAA tournament," Seifert said.

Last season, the Mustangs faced critical player injuries, constantly forcing the team to redesign their strategies. After going on a five-match win streak towards the end of the season, the Mustangs suffered a season-ending injury to outside hitter Caitlin Rainbird. After revamping the offense and getting their momentum going strong into the Conference tournament, the squad hit another road-bump as they faced another injury with then-senior Kelly Larkan.

"The season would have been a lot better had we not had those injuries, but you can never project that kind of thing in athletics," Seifert said.

With a couple of key veterans seeing limited time in the spring due to injuries, some of the younger players were able to gain valuable game experience.

"The spring was good in a sense that the youth of our program were able to get necessary playing time. Some of those kids were not able to get the playing time in the fall. So they were able to collect that in the spring. We saw some really good growth spurts with certain individuals."

Getting through the initial growing pains of adjusting to a new program, the experience gained is going to prove to be a valuable asset to the 2006 squad. This season, the team is not as young as the previous year, which is something that the coaching staff is looking forward to.

"Our setters both have some experience under their belts. Madison Hill will be a junior and Stefanie Kons is going into her sophomore campaign, both feeling better about the fact that they have experience running the offense. They understand it better now, so that experience is going to help us," Seifert notes.

"Along with that, we've got two outside hitters that are going into their junior years (Rainbird and Rachel Giubilato) and I think both of them have grown a lot since last fall. So I'm excited about that, having two junior outside hitters," she continues.

This season the Mustangs will return many starters. At outside hitter, Rainbird and Giubilato, the setter position will have two players that saw equal time last season, Hill and Kons, and middle blocker Natalie Peters, plus the ibero, Jennette Evanco. With the addition of a stand-out freshmen class to the squad the Mustangs will have solid mix of veterans and newcomers.

"Coming into the fall with the addition of the 2006 freshman class, we are excited. Mainly because we are going into the fall with a full roster of healthy players. The freshman are going to help us get better as a team, even if they are on that second side because they are going to push the starters. We haven't had a complete roster, one through 14, that can play at a high level against each other, every single day in practice. That is what ultimately makes your starters better."

Outside Hitters

The Mustangs are returning an outstanding duo of junior outside hitters in Rainbird and Giubilato. "Rachel (Giubilato) and Caitlin (Rainbird) could be the best tandem outside hitters in the conference. If both of them are playing well, we are going to be tough to beat," Seifert said.

Rainbird posted an average 3.02 kills per game placing her in the top eight of all-time career leaders at SMU in kills. She totaled 299 digs last season which landed her sixth in all-time career leaders of digs per game before suffering a season ending knee injury. Rainbird is also in the top 10 of SMU career points per game and serve percentage. She matched her season-high of 20 kills during games against Tulsa and Rice and in the same match against Tulsa, posted a season-high of 24 digs.

"We expect great things from Caitlin. She is 6-1 and could be one of the strongest athletes that I have ever coached. She has really developed into the leader that we expected her to be. She will be a solid finisher."

Giubilato posted 20 double-doubles for the season as she averaged a team high 3.70 kills per game and finished second in digs per game with 3.94. She is fourth in the all-time kills per game category at SMU and sixth in points per game. She notched her season high of 21 kills against Tulsa and her season-high with 29 digs against Cornell.

"The nice thing about Rachel is she is multidimensional. Rachel is offensive and defensive minded and she's very easily one of the best ball control players that we have. She does a great job. She understands the game, provides leadership and is a good kid. I look for huge things from her."

Candice Davis, a freshman from League City, Texas will come into this position adding depth for the Mustangs.

"Candice is probably the most decorated of the four freshmen, in terms of her accolades. She is a versatile player. She can play the defensive specialist position and she can also play the libero position. We plan on training her on the outside hitter and as a libero. She is very athletic, bright, competitive and hard working."

Libero/Defensive Specialist

Senior Jennette Evanco returns to the starting line-up at the libero position. Last season she led the team averaging 4.89 per game. She enters the season on the SMU career leader in digs percentage. She posted a season high of 28 digs against two difference conference foes last season.

"Jennette is the first and only libero in the program and she is going to be a senior. Last year statistically in the conference she was in the top three in digs. I expect her to be one of the top three liberos in the league. I keep telling her she is a first team all-conference player and that is what we are shooting for with her. Another thing that Jennette brings to the team is her leadership ability. She is definitely the voice of the team and she sparks the intensity of the team."

Sophomore Jenny Reyes started off with a solid freshman campaign as she played in 52 games last season fillingas a defensive specialist. She had a season-high of five aces against UAB.

"Jenny was a great surprise. She came to camp last summer and was outstanding. She played a lot and in the Spring did a good job. She played outside hitter for us all Spring because Rachel had a shoulder injury. She held her own and was almost error-free I think in four tournaments. She is 5-6 player who is very athletic and very smart and we look for her to step in and help."

Freshman Dominique Ouellette from West Palm Beach, Fla., will be another competitive player on the roster providing depth and versatility for the Mustangs.

"Dominique is a solid defensive specialist. We expect her to compete for a defensive position."

Middle Blocker

At middle blocker, the Mustangs return All-Conference honoree Natalie Peters. Peters posted a strong freshman campaign as she ended the season 34th in the country with 1.41 blocks per game and the only player in Conference USA ranked in this category. With 151 total blocks and 34 solo blocks for the season, her single season performance landed her at the top of the list for season total blocks, solo blocks, assisted blocks and blocks per game. She averaged 3.07 kills per game.

"We knew Natalie was going to be good but she had an outstanding freshman campaign and I only expect her to raise that bar. She is very competitive and she wants to be better."

Junior Kara Cornelius hit .235 on the year and continues to improve and develop her game. She is seventh in career blocks per game. She averaged 1.30 points per game and 1.04 kills per game for the Mustangs last season.

"What Kara has done to develop her game is become more of an offensive threat. Kara's strength has always been her defense in terms of her blocking ability, and she still does that very well."

Two more freshman additions to the roster, Adrienne Zielasko, a native of Mission Viejo, Calif., and Kendra Kahanek, from Houston, Texas, will be valuable additions for the Mustangs.

"Adrienne is a trained middle blocker will play some in the middle, but we also are going to train her on the right. She has been playing in a club that is in the top three in the country. So she has a lot of great experience, she is very competitive and smart."

"Kendra is a 6-3, prototypical middle blocker. She is long, has a big wing span and she is fast. She has a great arm swing, she is hardworking, coachable and intelligent."

Setters

Running the offense from the setters position will be junior Madison Hill and sophomore Stefanie Kons, both earning valuable experience last season. The two split time running the offense as each averaged almost 10 assists per game and almost two digs per game.

Hill posted a season-high of 67 assists in a five game match against Tulsa. Averaging 10.61 assists per game, Hill is on the top 10 list for average digs per season.

"Madison has worked her tail off. I expect big things from her. She had a good Spring and played probably the best match that I ever saw her play was against Oklahoma in the Spring. Madison should do good things for us."

In one season, Kons' found her way to the top 10 list for assists per game in a season. In a four game series against UTEP, she notched a season-high 55 assists.

"Stefanie's main adjustment has passed, in the sense that she went through her freshman year learning the offense and learning the expectations of the coaching staff. I saw a lot of improvement from her in the spring, so she and Madison are really going to battle for that position."

Schedule

The 2006 season will see three developing steps for the Mustangs. In the first season the Mustangs will face a non-conference schedule that will allow them to look at line-ups and develop valuable experience for conference play.

"That is the time to figure out your line-ups and your strengths before going into conference. That is the first season for us," Seifert explains. "We just hope that it gears us up for the conference schedule and based on the opponents, I think it will do that."

The non-conference schedule for the Mustangs will be good combinations that will allow the team to face tough challenges. SMU will be hosting seven non-conference home matches including two invitationals at the beginning of the season bringing in solid programs such as, Auburn and Toldeo.

"The non-conference schedule is a nice mix. The Loyola Marymount tournament is going to challenge us and going up to Indiana is going to challenge us because it is a Big Ten opponent. You are always looking to score points against power conferences."

The second part of the season is conference. Now that the Mustangs have had the first season of growing pains and bumps in Conference USA, they know the ropes. C-USA has had three teams make Sweet 16 appearances in 1996, 1998 and 2004. They have sent at least three teams to the NCAA Championship five of the last eight years and there have been five teams posting 20-win seasons for six of the last nine seasons.

The Mustangs will host eight conference matches at home including the last two matches against Houston and Rice before heading to the Conference tournament.

"The conference will be interesting," Seifert notes. "I think the title is up for grabs."

The ultimate goal and final part of the season, is the post-season play "and that is what you are really playing for," Seifert says.

All-in-all, the 2006 season projects a time for everything to come together for the Mustangs. With the transitions of conferences last season and the adjustment of a strong freshman class and solid group of veterans, the Mustangs are prepared for a solid, strong season.

"Looking at the core group of scorers and couple that with our schedule, I think we have a really good chance to compete at the national level. We should be competing for our conference championship, we should be ranked in the region based on our win-loss record and that should get us a look from the NCAA. That is what we are excited about."