Rutgers Volleyball Set to Begin 2011 Season
Aug 25 | Women's Volleyball
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (August 25, 2011) - Rutgers University volleyball is set to open its 35th season of play on Friday at the Sam Houston State Invitational. The Scarlet Knights will take on Texas A&M Corpus Christi (3 p.m. ET) and Sam Houston State (8 p.m. ET) on Friday before opposing Louisiana Tech (12:30 p.m. ET) and Texas-Pan American (5 p.m. ET) on Saturday.
All matches will be streamed on GoBearkats.com for a charge of $8.95 for the tournament. Sam Houston State will also provide Live Stats on the same website.
The Scarlet Knights head to Huntsville, Texas with little familiarity with the opponents, having never faced three of the teams in the tournament. However, Rutgers owns a 2-0 record against Sam Houston State, having defeated them, 3-1, at the Delaware Invitational last season.
"We had a great match against Sam Houston State last year, beating them in four sets but all were very close," said head coach CJ Werneke. "It should be another close one this year. We are very excited to be playing in this tournament this weekend."
This trip marks the first time that Rutgers volleyball has traveled to Texas since competing in the University of Houston Invitational in 1984.
This weekend is also a homecoming for two Scarlet Knights - senior Kallie Pence and sophomore Tiffany Regmund. Both are from College Station, Texas which is approximately 50 miles from the site of the action at Johnson Coliseum.
The Scarlet Knights return nine players from a season ago, including middle blockers Hannah Curtis (Wasilla, Alaska) and Alex Jones (Chesapeake, Va.) who combined for 431 kills and 126 total blocks in 2010. Junior setter Stephanie Zielinski (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) (996 assists, 272 digs) also is expected to have another big year directing the offense.
The team also welcomes four newcomers to the roster - Sofi Cucuz (Crown Point, Ind.), Taylor Nelson (Great Falls, Va.), Alyssa Monka (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) and Alex Nyman (Lake Balboa, Calif.).
For more information on the Rutgers volleyball team, please log on to ScarletKnights.com to find up-to-date news, stats and information. Also follow the program on Twitter at Twitter.com/RUvball and Facebook at Facebook.com/RutgersVolleyball.
