Volleyball Preview: Midwestern State Invite

"It's exciting to get on the court again," said Wang. "We're hopeful to start the season on the right foot, the team has had a tireless effort these last few weeks, and we hope that their efforts pay off for us this weekend. I'm hoping that the team comes out excited to play someone else other than ourselves for the last month and they can learn to grow from seeing other competition."

"I haven't had a chance to play the schools we are going to see this weekend. We've done some scouting but I'm sure each team we face will be different from last year's results."

Weekend Notes:
-The Cameron volleyball team opens the 2014 season at nearby Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. The season begins on Friday, Sept. 5 with a match at 11:30 a.m. against Northwestern Oklahoma before wrapping up the day at 2 p.m. with Colorado State-Pueblo. Cameron will turnaround and wrap up the crossover tournament on Saturday at 2 p.m. where they will face Fort Lewis and close things out with Molloy College at 7 p.m.

-In their season opener, since 1976, the Aggies are 20-13 overall. Cameron opened up the 2013 season with a 3-0 win on the road against Christian Brothers.

-The 2014 roster contains 14 players with six returners who stepped onto the court. Cameron has added five new faces to the squad with two others coming off of a redshirt season.

-Cameron has 12 players who are from the state of Texas, with one from Oklahoma, and one from Uruguay.

-Cameron was picked ninth of our of nine programs in the Lone Star Conference in its preseason poll. In 2011, CU was slated to finish last (11th) but they would end the season in sixth place and reaching the LSC tournament.

-Against this weekend opponents the Aggies are 13-0 overall. Cameron has yet to face Molloy College in program history and this is the first meeting with Fort Lewis (2-0) in 22 seasons.

-The Aggies last played CSU-Pueblo (2-0) in 2012 and swept both meetings with Northwestern Oklahoma (9-0) last season.

-With 217 head coaching victories Qi Wang is the second winningest active coach in the Lone Star Conference. Since 1997, Wang has yet to coach a losing season as an assistant or head coach. The 2002 AVCA National Coach of the Year and two-time NCAA Division II National Tournament finalist is 418-166 overall his college coaching career.

-In 2013, CSU-Pueblo went 10-19 overall, and 7-12 in conference play; the Thunderwolves would place tied for ninth out of 14 and did not qualify for the RMAC postseason tournament. The Thunderwolves have reached the postseason once (2011) in the last seven seasons and three winning campaigns since the 1998 season.

-Fort Lewis finished last season with a 10-18 overall record and a 10-9 league record under first year head coach Kelley Rifilato. The Skyhawks made their first postseason RMAC tournament for the first time since the 2010 season; however they would fall 3-0 to Colorado Mines.

-Molloy College out of New York state is the one match this season to which Cameron has never met before in program history. The Lions went 9-20 overall and 3-13 in the East Coast Conference, and also finished the season on a 10 match losing streak. Since 1999, Molloy has one season with double-figure wins (2007), and they have not had a winning season since 1997.

-Since re-establishing volleyball in 2012, Northwestern Oklahoma is 7-53 overall and 2-26 in the GAC. In their preseason coaches poll the Rangers were picked ninth out of 11 teams who are under the guidance of Gene Krieger who is a two-time national coach of the year in California with a 318-164 overall record.

-Following their short trips to Midwestern State, Cameron will be idle until Sept. 12 where they will open a three match homestand and start Lone Star Conference play against Angelo State and Tarleton State. CU will wrap things up on Sept. 15 with Southeastern Oklahoma.

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