August 10, 2003

FALL CAMP BEGINS FOR NSU VOLLEYBALL SQUAD

ABERDEEN, SD - Just days ago, Northern State University's Barnett Center remained relatively still, free from bustling sneakers, yelling voices and balls flying all around. On Sunday evening, the home to Northern State volleyball was back in business as 22 Wolves reported for the beginning of fall workouts.

"This year, the players are expecting a lot," commented senior setter Tara Sauter on her team's upcoming season. "Even though we lost some key players from last year's team, we have some great potential from our players coming in and will have high expectations this season."

"We're excited to start practice," said head coach Lisa Schriver. "The players that have been here this summer have had a really good summer as far as their workouts and it's always really exciting when you get those first couple of practices underneath your belt and see the improvement from your older players and get your freshmen in the mix of things."

The Wolves will return 15 players from last season's 18-14 squad that finished second in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference with a 14-4 league mark and will add seven new players to the mix in 2003.

"I think that we should be a really strong defensive team," said Schriver. "We're going to develop the offense maybe a little bit slower than we have in the past because of who we graduated but we're excited to get going and I think the girls are ready to get a ball in their hands and start playing a little bit."

The team will now conduct practices from now until their first match of the season on August 29 against Nebraska-Kearney in the North Dakota State Tournament in Fargo, N.D.