USD Volleyball 2009

limited action and will look to earn more court time in trying to help USD win its fourth consecutive WCC championship and reaching the NCAA Tournament for a ninth consecutive season. Turning to the setter position, the Toreros will look to junior Kelsi Myers to orchestrate the San Diego of– fense. Myers has seen a lot of valuable playing time on the court in her first two seasons. Last season, Myers re– corded 77 assists, had four service aces and 15 digs. But as a freshman, she put up great numbers while split– ting time at the setter position record ing 547 assists in helping direct the Toreros offense to a .247 team attack percentage. Backing up Myers will be freshman Erica Taylor from Upland, Calif. Taylor comes to USD from Upland High School where she helped lead her team win back-to– back league championships and earned first-team All– League honors as a junior and senior. She set the sin– gle-season assist record with 772 as a senior, is ranked second all-time in career assists with 1,759, moved into the all-time lead in career aces with 120, is ranked No.4 all-time in career digs with 293, and set the single-sea– son record with aces and assists. Backing up Webster at libero will be freshman Ash– ton Senner from Los Gatos, Calif. Senner is a three– time first-team AII-CCS selection, was named the 2008 League Senior of the Year after recording 527 digs (5.9 dps) and 97 aces in her final season. 11th-year head coach Jennifer Petrie has put togeth– er another rigurous schedule for the Toreros to play in including home matches against cross-town rival San Diego State and a nationally televised match against WCC rival Pepperdine on Oct. 28. USD will also square off against perennial powers Texas and Long Beach State to begin the 2009 campaign in a tournament in Long Beach and will have a home-and-home with wee rival Santa Clara as well. "Our 2009 preseason schedule is filled with tough opponents that will prepare us for our WCC champion– ship run," stated Petrie. "Texas, Long Beach State, and UC Santa Barbara,just to name a few, will challenge us early on in the season .Of course, with five out of eight WCC teams earning NCAA bids last season, the true test will come in league play. We are anxious to start competing again ."

Reagan High School team but also a valuable member of the Austin Junior Volleyball club team, where she helped lead the team to the 2008 National Champi– onship. While at Ronald Regan High School, she re– corded 602 kills and 442 digs en route to being named All-American, named to the All -State Team, and being named the Express Payer of the Year as a senior. She was also named as a Fab-50 incoming freshman ac– cording to Sports Imports. Ba ird is also another highly touted recruit for the Torero coaching staff as she too comes into USD as a Fab-50 incoming freshman according to Sports Im– ports after putting together an impressive club and high school career. Baird, a native of Greenwood Vil – lage, Colo., played club volleyball for the Front Range Volleyball 18-1 Black team, where she helped lead her team to 14 top-5 finishes in national club tournaments, was a USA High Performance A2 Team member, and played in Global Challenge Tournament in Europe, where she helped her team qualify for the Junior Olym– pics by taking a Gold medal in the Big South Qualifier in 2008. While at Cherry Creek High School, she was a three-time first-team All -Centennial League selection and as a senior she helped led her team to a perfect 31-0 record and a SA state championship while break– ing the schools 12-year old career kills record, and how sits atop the record books with 963 career kills. Junior Colleen Carlson also could see time at the middle hitter position this season after a strong sopho– more campaign. Carlson, who sat out most of last sea– son with an injury, came back to play strong in WCC ac– tion and played a big role in helping USD win its third consecutive WCC crown . Last season, she recorded 68 kills and hit for a .250 clip, wh ile also recording 41 blocks. A freshman that could see time on the court in the middle will be Shelby Staab from Bakersfield,Calif. Sta– ab, who was a standout on the Garces Memorial High School team, is a three-time All-Southeast Yosemite League selection and ended her career as the schools all-time leader in career kills (1,060) and career blocks (365). In her senior season, she recorded 173 kills,while hitting at a .533 clip and was named the US Marine Corps Female Athlete of the Year. Also battling for time on the court will be sopho– more Sarah Schatzman, who is returning for her sec– ond season as a Torero. Last season, Schatzman saw

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