Volleyball to open up 2017 in College Station
8/23/2017 7:57:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Matches 1-3 • Texas A&M Invitational
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL • SHSU Match Notes
Friday, Aug. 25 • 11:00 a.m. • College Station, Texas • Reed Arena
Sam Houston State (0-0, 0-0 SLC) vs Texas State (0-0, 0-0 SBC)
Live Stats • @BearkatsVB on Twitter
Friday, Aug. 25 • 6:30 p.m. • College Station, Texas • Reed Arena
Sam Houston State (0-0, 0-0 SLC) at Texas A&M (0-0, 0-0 SEC)
Live Stats • SEC Network+ • @BearkatsVB on Twitter
Saturday, Aug. 26 • 10:00 a.m. • College Station, Texas • Reed Arena
Sam Houston State (0-0, 0-0 SLC) vs VCU (0-0, 0-0 Atlantic 10)
Live Stats • @BearkatsVB on Twitter
HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston State Bearkats will kick off the 2017 season this weekend when they make the short trip to College Station for three matches as part of the Texas A&M Invitational.
All matches will be played at Texas A&M's Reed Arena with the Bearkats' match against the host Aggies on Friday night being aired on SEC Network+. The feature available to SEC Network subscribers digitally on mobile devices, tablets, PCs and connect-TVs on SEC Network+ via the WatchESPN app and SECNetwork.com through authenticated access from AT&T U-verse, Charter, Comcast, Cox, DirecTV, DISH, Google Fiber, SuddenLink, Verizon FiOS and members of the NCTC, NRTC and NTTC.
Fans attending the matches in College Station should also be aware of the clear-bag policy at Texas A&M with details available HERE.
The Bearkats will get in three matches over the weekend, opening up with the first of two matches this season against Texas State at 11 a.m. on Friday before taking on the Aggies at 6:30 p.m. Sam Houston will close out the weekend with a 10 a.m. match against VCU on Saturday morning.
BEARKAT BYTES
- Coming into the 2017 season, Bearkats are returning four starters and eight total letter winners after a run to the finals at the Southland Conference Tournament.
- Sam Houston State has been picked to finish third in the Southland Conference race as league officials unveiled with 3 players selected to the preseaon all-SLC first team.
- During Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum renovations last year, Bearkats moved to the Recreational Sports Center courts for home matches. After dropping its first match vs Texas A&M-Corpus Christi the Kats went on and won the rest of their home matches, went on to win their next six home matches before moving back into Johnson Coliseum for the season finale where they knocked off New Orleans.
- Brooke White and Jordyn Vaughn return to 2017 Bearkat squad after leading the team in kills with both over 400, ranking fifth and sixth respectively in the Southland last year.
- Head coach Brenda Gray starts the season with a total 663 wins and 33 years at Sam Houston. She ranks 13th in all of the active NCAA Division I coaches.
- The Kats, along with defending league champion A&M-Corpus Christi, were the only two schools to place three players on the 12-member preseaosn Southland Conference first team.
- Last season Vaughn and White combined to form one of the most dynamic outside hitting duos in the SLC. White averaged 3.39 kills per set as a junior, ranking fourth in the league and had five double-doubles in her last six matches on the season. She was a major part of the Kats making a run to the championship match, hitting .312 and averaging 4.45 kills per set in the event on her way to being named to the all-tournament team.
ENDING 2016 HOT Few teams were hotter than the Sam Houston State Bearkat volleyball team in the final third of the season, and they carried that momentum into a run to the title match of the Southland Conference Tournament for the first time in 20 years. The Kats found themselves at just 3-4 in league play nearing the midway point of the slate, but caught fire in their remaining nine matches, winning seven times to surge into Conway, Ark., as the No. 3 overall seed in the tournament.
BIG WIN AGAINST RIVAL
Sam Houston recorded a season-high .376 attack percentage advancing to the Southland Conference Tournament championship for the first time in 20 years with a 3-0 semifinals victory against Stephen F. Austin on Saturday afternoon.
BRINGING BACK THE BULK
Gray's squad is returining a total of four starters and eight letterwinners into the 2017-18 season. Those returners include Brooke White, Jordyn Vaughn, Taylor Cunningham and Amanda Gooch, each of whom started every match besides one last year.
VAUGHN, WHITE AND CUNNINGHAM PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE
Senior outside hitters Jordyn Vaughn and Brooke White were each named to the team, along with junior middle blocker Taylor Cunningham. Each were all-conference selections in 2016, thus earning automatic selections to the preseason team with their return in 2017. Vaughn averaged 3.28 kills and 2.41 digs per set on her way to earning all-league honors in 2016 after being selected as a preseason second team choice. White averaged 3.39 kills per set as a junior, ranking fourth in the league and had five double-doubles in her last six matches on the season. Cunningham was a second team all-league choice as a sophomore, but made her way onto the preseason first team for 2017 after ranking in the top 10 in the SLC with a .279 hitting percentage.
NEW FACES
Losing six letterwinners is never an easy job to replace with new faces. But the Kats will open 2017 with six freshmen and Ashleigh Traylor, a transfer from Blinn College new to the roster. They will join eight returners for the Southland Tournament runner-ups. All of the freshman either come from around Huntsville or the greater Houston area.
SERVING ACES
The Bearkats serving has been a major part of last season's success with the ability to score off of the serve. In the Southland Bearkats tied for third in total service aces with 164 throughout 123 sets giving a 1.33 average.
SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
Sam Houston previously won the Southland Conference tournament in 1993 and 1996. The Kats made their 21st appearance in the tournament and finished with a 18-20 all-time record in the event. It was the fourth time the Bearkats have entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed and holds a 6-5 all-time tournament record in that slot. The 2015-16 season the seventh-seeded Bearkats provided the biggest upset of the tournament, sweeping the host, No. 2 Central Arkansas, in the opening round before falling to Houston Baptist in the semifinals.
GETTTING OFFENSIVE
Additionally, Sam finished No. 2 in the Southland in hitting percentage, assists and kills, holding its offense to high marks. It would be the second time in the last three years the Kats ranked in the top three in those categories. In all, Sam Houston offense is primed to produce similar numbers in the 2017-18 season as last years stat leaders return to the floor.
