HobbsDailyReport.com
HICKORY – Catawba Valley Community College’s women’s volleyball team closed last season ranked No. 4 in the country and is starting in the same position in this year’s first rankings.
The Red Hawks — who have home scrimmages on Thursday at the Tarlton Complex — are No. 4 in a poll released Wednesday by the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). That’s the best preseason ranking in volleyball for CVCC in school history.
“We’re really honored to be selected as fourth,” CVCC head volleyball coach Shannon Hudson said in a press release from CVCC. “We’ve got a lot of work to put in. This is a young group this year and a totally different group than we finished with last year when we finished fourth in the nation. I’m excited to get things started and see how they can come together for this season.”
HUDSON
Only three community colleges – Owens (Ohio), Lincoln Land (Ill.) and defending national champion Parkland (Ill.) – are ranked higher than CVCC in the Division II poll voted upon by the NJCAA’s poll committee.
The Red Hawks return five players — sophomores Hailey Tatu, Leslie Leonard, Sabrina Pinard, Mallory Bailey and Ramsey Fulmer — from 2016, when they set a school record for wins (41).
CVCC opens the regular season at home on Aug. 29 with a 6 p.m. match against USC-Lancaster.
The scrimmages on Thursday are against Bob Jones University (3:30 p.m.) and Montreat College (6:30 p.m.). They will help Hudson make some team decisions.
“We’ve got a couple of girls competing for positions,” Hudson said in the press release. “We’re going to be looking at stats really hard to see kind of where they fall, kind of look at how they are coming together as a team and how defensively and offensively they are working together on the court.
“It’s going to be good to finally get them out there, put it all together and have some competition. They are ready to play. They are done with practice. They are ready to see it come together.
“We are too as coaches to see the little things that we’ve been adding and different pieces to see it on the court against some teams tomorrow. It’ll be nice to see how it all comes together.”
For the complete schedule, visit http://gocvcc.com/sports/wvball/2017-18/schedule.
CVCC’S 2017 WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL ROSTER
No./Name/Post./Ht./High school
2, Na Diea Atkins, middle hitter, Fr., Fayetteville Pine Forest
3, Emily Williams, libero, Fr., N. Iredell
4, Abigail Dowell, def. Specialist, Fr., Fred T. Foard
5, Hailey Tatu, outside hitter, Soph., Lake Norman
6, Adair Melton, outside hitter, Fr., Fred T. Foard
7, Mikayla Creswell, middle hitter, Fr., Crest
8, Karsyn Mundy, middle hitter, Fr., Bunker Hill
9, Leslie Leonard, middle hitter, Soph., Draughn
11, Sabrina Pinard, middle hitter, Soph., Lake Norman Charter
12, Katie Rupp, setter, Fr., N. Iredell
13, Autumn Elder, def. specialist, Soph., Patton
14, Mallory Bailey, middle hitter, Soph., Bandys
15, Ramsey Fuller, middle hitter, Soph., Smoky Mountain
16, Emilee Webber, setter, Fr., N. Lincoln
Head coach: Shannon Hudson
Assistant coach: Mark Wimberley