Women's Volleyball | 9/1/2016 10:41:00 AM

ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Aug. 30) – A new season has donned for the Central Washington University volleyball team.  The Wildcats head to Romeoville, Illinois for the Flyer Festival hosted by Lewis University.
 
The Wildcats will take on Michigan Tech and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside on Friday, Sept. 2, before facing Augustana (South Dakota) and Lewis on Saturday.  First serve is scheduled for 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. CDT respectively on Friday, while matches begin at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. CDT on Saturday. 
 
The Michigan Tech Huskies were picked sixth in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference preseason poll, following a 19-12 season in 2015. 
 
The Huskies posted an 8-2 record in neutral venues, sweeping both the Wildcat Open and Upper Iowa Invite.  They amassed a 1-2 record in the Midwest Region Crossover, losing to Lewis (2-3) and UW-Parkside (0-3).
 
The loss of Jacqueline Aird and Stephanie Dietrich puts the Huskies in an interesting position for their season opener.  Senior Aubrey Ficek returns as the Huskies' lead outside hitter.  Last season the Lockport, Ill. native amassed 307 kills, averaging 3.01 kills per set.  Senior setter Rachel Pohlod also looks to make a bright start.  She finished 2015 with 1,145 assists, third in the GLIAC. 
 
UW-Parkside also finished the 2015 campaign at 19-12.  The Rangers posted a 7-4 record at neutral site contests.  Parkside finished fourth in Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division preseason voting.
 
Senior outside hitter Rebecca Roembke returns for the Rangers after posting a GLVC conference high 3.76 kills per set.  Roembke notched 444 kills and a hitting percentage of .254.  Lauren Hickson also returns as the Rangers' season setter.  Hickson posted a GLVC second-best 1,218 assists, averaging 10.32 per set. 
 
Kicking off Saturday, the Wildcats take on the Augustana University (S.D.) Vikings.  The Vikings posted an 18-11 record in 2015, with a 3-0 record in neutral venues.  Augustana was selected to finish sixth in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. 
 
During the 2015 season the Vikings ran a 6-2 offense, utilizing both Anna Sykora and Alex Banker at the setter role.  Sykora finished 2015 with 474 assists, while Banker led the Vikes with 584.  Both setters posted over 15 service aces.
 
The top three kill leaders return to Augustana in 2016.  Dani Magdzas led the Vikings in kills with 253, Brittany Cech finished second with 243, while Lauren Waite added 225. 
 
The final opponent for the Wildcats in the Flyer Festival is the host institution, Lewis University.  The Flyers posted a 31-5 record in 2015, including a 10-1 record on neutral ground.  Lewis was selected as the top team in the GLVC East Division in the preseason poll.
 
The Flyers lost outside hitter Alexis Davito, but they will turn to sophomore Elizabeth Hyland for offensive production.  The Plainfield, Ill.  native recorded 370 kills, second on the team only to Davito (371). 
 
Lewis ran a 6-2 offensive unit last season with setters McKenna Pierson and Abby Becker.  Pierson graduated, however, leaving Becker as the main setter.  Becker recorded 673 assists in 130 sets.
 
The Wildcats look to get off to a strong start in 2016, after compiling a 20-8 record in 2015.  Central reached the NCAA Division II West Regional, where they were eliminated by Cal State San Bernardino.
 
Central lost three-time All-American setter Catie Fry, outside hitter Linden Firethorne, and Kaitlin Quirk to graduation following 2015.  The Wildcats will look to returners Kiah Jones, Sabrina Wheelhouse, Madison Weg, Jordan Deming, and Erin Little to set the tone up front. 
 
Jones finished second on the Wildcats in kills in 2015, racking up 265.  Wheelhouse finished with 182 kills, but had an explosive year at the net.  She notched 138 blocks, including 121 block assists, averaging 1.35 blocks per set. 
 
The Wildcats turn to young setters Gaby Aihara and Nikole Cook, but head coach Mario Andaya is confident in their ability. 
 
"We are showing good progress offensively with the new setters, and in some ways progressing faster than I anticipated," Andaya said.  "It will be a learning year for them, but the returning players will help them grow up pretty fast."
 
The Wildcats' first 11 matches are on the road, but the squad is eager to take to the gym.
 
"There is always a lot of eagerness going into the first week of play and expectations are usually fueling that," Andaya added.  "Our eagerness stems from transferring the competitive atmosphere we've had in our gym to another opponent besides ourselves."
 
Andaya hopes the focus for his team can be on replicating what they've done in the gym during the preseason.
 
"We don't know anything about the schools we are playing other than last year's stats and such, but that gives us the opportunity to concentrate on us, which is where our focus needs to be right now," Andaya noted.  "If we focus on doing what we've been doing in our gym the past two weeks, it should be a fun weekend to kick the season off."