Wildcats open season in Florida

ACU to take on pair of pre-season top-10 teams

TAMPA, Fla. -- ACU head coach Brek Horn wanted to put her 2005 volleyball team to the test early in the season, and it doesn't come much tougher than the schedule the Wildcats will face this weekend at the Tampa Classic.

The Wildcats will take on a pair of NCAA Division II top-10 teams in No. 7 Central Missouri State and No. 9 Tampa before taking on perennial Central Region powerhouse Metro State (Colo.) in the final match of the classic.

Horn would like to see her team get off to a good start to the season, but she won't be able to do that.  The Wildcats' seventh-year head coach is in Abilene recuperating after giving birth to a daughter on Monday.  She is tentatively scheduled to make the trip to Colorado next weekend when ACU plays in the Premier Challenge in Denver.

In her place, ACU assistant coach Sarah Carthel is directing the Wildcats in Florida, and she and the rest of the Wildcats figure to have their hands full with their first two opponents.

Since 1983 Tampa has won or shared 14 Sunshine State Conference titles, and Tampa is picked to win the title again in 2005.  Ranked No. 9 in the American Volleyball Coaches' Association pre-season poll, Tampa is led by junior middle blocker Ericka Womack, who was a second team AVCA all-America selection in 2004.

The Wildcats' trip through the tournament doesn't get any easier Saturday afternoon when they take on Central Missouri State.  The Jennies return four starters from a team that finished 31-7 in 2004 and reached the NCAA Division II South Central Region final before falling to eventual national runner-up Truman State.

Headlining the returners for the Jennies are senior setter Kaci Young (1,631 assists in 2004) and senior middle blocker Becky Haug (418 kills and 118 total blocks in 2004).

Metro State's roster is loaded with underclassmen for head coach Debbie Hendricks (Carthel's former coach at West Texas A&M), who last year took her squad to the NCAA Division II Southwest Regional Tournament in Kearney, Neb. 

The Roadrunners figure to be led by sophomore outside hitter Stephanie Allison, who was the all-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference East Division Freshman of the Year after collecting 319 kills.

ACU finished 28-8 in 2004 and won the school's first Lone Star Conference championship in volleyball and reached the NCAA Division II Southwest Region Tournament for the first time in school history.  The voters in the LSC pre-season poll expect the Wildcats to pick up right where they left off in 2004 as they were made a unanimous choice to win the LSC South Division title in 2005.

The Wildcats return nine letterwinners in 2005, including three NCAA Division II all-Southwest Region players from 2004 in senior middle blocker Amanda Slate (first team), senior setter Lindsey Martin (honorable mention) and senior outside hitter Michelle Bernhardt (honorable mention).

Last year as a junior, Slate became the first Wildcat volleyball player to ever be named LSC South Division MVP, LSC Post-Season Tournament MVP and first team all-region.  Bernhardt, a two-time first team all-LSC South Division selection, was voted the LSC South Division Pre-Season MVP last month, and she'll enter her senior season as the school's all-time leader in kills.

Martin was a first team all-LSC South selection last year and ranked No. 5 in NCAA Division II volleyball in assists per game (13.52).  She is No. 2 on the school's all-time assists list, but should break that record early in the season.

The Wildcats will also return all-LSC South Division selections in senior rightside hitter Ashlee Motola and sophomore outside hitter Abbie Lowry, who was also named to the all-tournament team at the regional tournament.