SHERMAN, Texas – McMurry University head volleyball coach
Cammie Petree – beginning her 21st season at the McM helm – and her team will lift the curtain on the 2016 season this coming weekend at the Austin College Classic. On Friday, the War Hawks (19-11 in 2015) will face Pacific University (Ore.) at 2 p.m. and the host Kangaroos at 8 p.m., followed by bouts on Saturday against Centenary College (9 a.m.) and Schreiner University (5 p.m.).
In all, Petree's crew will enter the season with six returning letterwinners, two of whom were starters last year. Heading the cast of returning players is two-time National Christian College Athletic Association all-region middle blocker
Katy Headrick, a senior. Headrick was second on the team in both blocks and service aces as a junior.
The second returning starter is sophomore libero
Odalis Rodriguez. Rodriguez started as McM's setter in 2015, but moved to libero midyear and flourished. As a freshman, she topped the team in service aces.
Both Rodriguez and Headrick were named to the American Southwest Conference's "watch list" for 2016.
Senior
Madison Fatheree also returns.
Petree will also welcome eight freshmen to this year's roster. Additionally, two transfers – sophomore
Madison Reed (Lubbock Christian University) and
Baylie Barnes (Texas Woman's University) – will also join the squad for 2016.
The War Hawks will have a full slate of ASC games this year. McM – in its third year of reclassification to NCAA Division III – can now win the regular season championship, as well as earn weekly and post-season honors. McM is coming off of its fourth-consecutive appearance in the NCCAA Central Region tournament in 2015.
"We are going to have a new look on the court this year after having graduated five seniors," Petree said. "But I am very excited about our team! We have solid senior leadership, a talented core of returners, and a dynamic incoming class. Our preseason schedule is going to be tough so they will be put to the test early, but I am expecting great things from this group not only on the court, but in the classroom and the community."
