THIS WEEK
The University of Mary volleyball team opens the 2022 season with four matches at the Yellowjackets Volleyball Invitational on August 26-27 in Billings, MT. Day one opens with a meeting against Chadron State College (2 pm CST/1 PM MT) before a matchup with tournament host MSU Billings (8 pm CST/7 pm MT). The weekend wraps up on Saturday, Augusr27, with non-conference games against South Dakota Mines (11 am CST/10 MT) and Saint Martin's University (5 pm CST/4 pm MT).
 
FOLLOW LIVE
Visit www.goumary.com/coverage for links to webcasts and live stats for all Marauders sports.
 
THE RECORD
This is the opening weekend for the Marauders… UMary finished the 2021 campaign with an overall record of 6-23 and a 3-17 mark in the Northern Sun to place 13^th in the league standings.
 
GROWTH
The Marauders program showed solid growth in Abby Pollart's first season as UMary head coach. A former Marauders assistant (2018-19), Pollart rejoined the Marauders just prior to the 2021 fall camp after serving as the head coach at Central Community College in Columbus, NE, for two seasons (2019-21). The Marauders six wins was the most for UMary since winning eight in 2017. The three NSIC victories exceeded the total from the previous two seasons and the most since posting four league wins in 2017.
 
11 STRONG
The Marauders return 11 players from last season, including lone senior Nehkyah Ellis, juniors Olivia Dickerson and Emily Torborg and sophomores Kaia Sueker, Chloe Leiser, Emma Toerber, Alexandra Harper, Robi Binagi, Madi Cooper, Kayla Lewinski and Cameron Selvig.
 
NEWBIES
Five newcomers will take the court for the first time this season, including four with collegiate experience. Transfers Reyna Isenbart (Otero Junior College), Emily Baumstarck Northwest Community College) and Ally Gruber (Lake Superior State University) are juniors and McKenna Kirkpatrick (Colby Community College) is a sophomore. Maddy Freed of Lawrence, KS, is the lone freshman.    
 
ELLIS NAMED MARAUDERS NSIC PLAYER TO WATCH
Nehkyah Ellis is the Marauders NSIC Player to Watch in 2022. The senior outside hitter from Central Point, OR, paced UMary in kills/set (2.46) in 2021. Entering her fourth season in the starting rotation, Ellis was second in aces (.32) and digs (3.02) per set. She ranked 19th in digs and 15th in aces among NSIC players last year. In addition to a career-high 22 kills in a win at Minot State Ellis had seven double-doubles, including 16 kill-15 dig performance against Concordia-St. Paul.
 
THE MIDDLE
A pair of returners look to protect the middle of the net for UMary. Sophomore Maddie Cooper (1.63 kills/set) and junior Emily Torborg (1.62 kills/set) provide the Marauders a strong presence in the middle, both attacking and defensively.
 
DIRECTOR
In her third season with the Marauders, Kameron Selvig directs the Marauders offense. After sharing the post the beginning of last season, the sophomore setter took full control at the end of the year. Selvig set a season-high with 46 assists in a win over Bemidji State and delivered four aces in a victory against Minot State.
 
PINPOINT PASSING
Kaia Sueker shined on the back row for UMary in 2021. After running on the Marauders NSIC cross country championship team in 2019, she transitioned to volleyball the next season. In her first full season of volleyball she paced the Marauders in digs and was 10th in the NSIC (3.92/set). She hit double digits in digs 20 times with a season-high 27 in a 4-set match against West Georgia.
 
NEXT UP
The Marauders will spend Labor Day weekend at the Pittsburg State Gorilla Classic Tournament in Pittsburg, KS, playing four matches on Sept. 2-3.  
 
HOME DEBUT
UMary makes its home debut on Sept. 9 when the Marauders host St. Cloud State, followed by a visit from the University of Minnesota Duluth on Sept. 10.
 
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