Murray State University Athletics
Pre-season OVC co-favorite Racers Anxious To Open 2003 Season
8/28/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Murray State Racer volleyball team is cautiously confident in its pre-season workouts, tending to the business at hand in preparing for the coming campaign.
The Racers ? who won 11 of its last 15 matches last season ? were picked as the co-favorite in this year's Ohio Valley Conference pre-season poll, gaining four first-place votes, more than any of the 11 teams in the league. Murray State finished 12-12 last season and in fourth place in the OVC at 10-6.
Head coach David Schwepker believes that this team is the best that he has coached entering his sixth season at MSU. The Racers return four players, including three starters, and have seven newcomers on its 2003 roster. Despite the amount of new players, Schwepker is pleased with the effort the team is giving in pre-season workouts.
“For the most part, right now, we are not very far off from where we want to be at this point,” he said. “In most of the categories we're looking at, we are close to the numbers we had set as goals for the pre-season. Those goals will change as the season progresses, but right now, the numbers look good for what we are trying to accomplish.”
Returning this season are the Chinese contingent of Abbi Gui, Nikki Wong and Paige Sun, all sophomores this season, as well as junior libero/setter Casandra Ersel.
Gui, a middle blocker from Shanghai, was an AVCA/Sports Imports Division I Player of the Week last year, plastering 5.12 kills per game and rejecting 1.12 blocks per game. She also averaged 3.50 digs per game in her 10 matches, having joined the team late in the season.
Wong, a setter from Shijiazhuang, was the 2002 OVC Freshman of the Year and an All-OVC Second Team honoree, ranking fifth in the OVC with 10.89 assists per game and 10th in the OVC with an attack percentage of .243. She claimed Murray State's first four triple-doubles last season, the third-most in Division I last year.
Sun, an OVC All-Freshman Team and All-OVC Second Team awardee from Beijing, led the OVC with 4.39 kills per game (Gui did not have enough matches to qualify for league ranking). She was second in the OVC with 0.42 aces and averaged 3.41 digs per game.
Gui and Wong were All-OVC Pre-Season First Team selections, while Sun was an All-OVC Pre-Season Second Team honoree.
Ersel, a junior from Watertown, Wis., brings experience to the libero position as well as at setter, with 1.32 digs per game and 0.96 assists per game last season.
OUTSIDE HITTER
Sun returns to her role at outside hitter, and is joined by five highly qualified newcomers.
Kimberly Bunnage, a junior-college transfer from Albion, Ill., helped Lake Land College to a ninth-place finish in the NJCAA Division I tournament with a record of 44-8. She had 330 kills and 247 digs last season and broke the school record for kills in a season with 567 in 2001.
Holly Jansen, one of four freshmen at the position, helped Leopold (Mo.) High School to a combined 102-20-6 (.820) record in her four seasons there. The Wildcats were 34-2-2 last year en route to the Missouri state championship. Jansen earned all-state, all-region, all-conference and all-district honors with 333 kills and 184 blocks, being named the Southeast Missourian Player of the Year.
Allie Hunt of Battle Creek, Mich., helped Lakeview High School win the All-City Tournament last season en route to the Southern Michigan Athletic East Conference title. She was an all-state honorable mention with 496 kills, 461 digs and an attack percentage of .357 last season.
Julie Lashley of St. Louis, Mo., helped Bishop DuBourg High School to second-place finishes in district and conference last season. A right-side hitter, Lashley was named to the All-Metro Team and was an all-conference and all-district first-team honoree.
Lilli Zhan is another import from China. Listed as a right-side hitter/setter, Zhan, a native of Quzhou, was the starting right-side hitter on her high school team, which beat the national teams from Russia the United States and Poland in a tournament in Kazakhstan.
MIDDLE BLOCKER
Gui returns to middle blocker and is joined by two talented newcomers.
Danielle Sutterer, a junior-college transfer from Perryville, Mo., helped Shawnee College to a combined 66-27 record in her two seasons there. She set the school record for single-season blocks with 2.04 per game and averaged 3.38 kills per game with a .358 attack percentage. Sutterer may also see some time at right-side hitter.
Katie Kemezys, a freshman from Fairview Heights, Ill., helped Belleville East High School to a 24-13 mark last season with 240 kills and 94 blocks. She was an all-state special mention last season, and was named All-metro Second Team as well as all-area and all-conference first team.
SETTER
Wong returns to the quarterback role of setter for the Racers. Ersel and Zhan are listed as back-ups at that position.
“Everybody is getting accustomed to playing with each other; there's really good chemistry,” Schwepker said. “We're really shaping up. There are no major injuries, and that's what we wanted this pre-season.”
Murray State is the only team in the OVC not opening play on Labor Day weekend, giving the Racers an extra week to work out before opening the season at the Michigan/Pepsi Classic on Sept. 5 against host Michigan. MSU will also play against Louisville and Texas A&M, with all three opponents earning votes in the AVCA/USA Today pre-season poll, with Louisville ranked 22nd.
“The Michigan tournament will test us, but we need to see this level of competition,” Schwepker said. “Our goal is to win the OVC Tournament and go to the NCAA Tournament, and to do that, we need to see and experience that level of play.”
Despite being picked as the pre-season co-favorite, Schwepker sees the OVC season as a battle, with 11 teams squaring off for the top six seeds, which qualify for the OVC Championship.
“I think it will be really tough this year,” he said. “Everyone will struggle to get those top six spots; it will be a dogfight. But, once you get into the tournament, it's a whole new ballgame.”
Murray State opens its home schedule on Sept. 16 against defending OVC champion Tennessee-Martin.
