San Marcos, CA – First year Head Coach Holly Watts and the Mustang volleyball team travel to San Marcos, CA this week to open the 2019 season at the CSU – San Marcos Tournament.
 
The Mustangs are one of two teams representing the Lone Star Conference in the tournament, the other being cross-state rival Eastern New Mexico. Tournament play begins Thursday, with Western going back-to-back against Saint Martin's at 4 p.m., before finishing the day against host, CSU – San Marcos at 6 p.m. Friday features a single match against Azusa Pacific at 11 a.m., before closing the tournament Saturday morning against Bentley at 9 a.m.
 
Of the six team tournament, Eastern New Mexico is the only team Western won't see this weekend.
 
Links to live stats and video stream can be found on the csucougars.com
 
Pre-Season Picks
The Mustangs were picked to finish 15^th in the Lone Star Conference Preseason Poll. With the addition of six former Heartland Conference members, and UT – Tyler, the total number of teams competing this season rises to 18.
Tarleton received 39 of the 45 first place votes for 805 total points, 47 votes more than Texas A&M – Commerce who was picked second, followed by Angelo State and West Texas A&M to round out the top-four.
The teams are spilt between three divisions, each with six teams. Each team will play a home and away match against each of the other teams within their division, and a single game versus eight other conference teams.
Twelve teams will qualify for the conference tournament, with a divisional champion determined by regular season games, and a postseason champion deemed the overall LSC Champion earned the conference's automatic qualification.
 
Familiar Faces
The Mustangs return all of their starters from last season, including LSC All-Conference Second Team outside hitter Bria Augustine (Bell Flower, CA/Mayfair High School), and All-Conference Honorable Mention libero Gabi Lau (Kailua, HI/University Laboratory School).
Augustine returns for only her sophomore season, after leading the team in kills with 344 kills for a 3.62 average, second in the conference. Lau returns for her senior season, tallying 538 digs as a junior (4.80 p/set) and tied for second on the team in service aces with 15.
 
New Year New Coach
First year Head Coach Holly Watts will make her debut this weekend with the 2019 Mustangs. After spending six seasons at the Division I level at University of Texas – El Paso, the Devine, Texas native brings over 24 years of coaching experience with her, as well as experience as a former volleyball student-athlete.
 
 
About the Competition
Western will meet with four of the teams in the six team tournament over a span of three days. Friday features back-to-back matches for the Mustangs, starting with the Saints of Saint Martin's. Out of the GNAC conference, the Saints finished 4-22 overall, 2-18 in conference in 2018. Picked to finish 11^th in this year's preseason poll, they return senior Ililani Kamaka who led the team in kills and digs last season. Alyssa Bartlett also returns for her sophomore season after racking up 732 assists in 2018 as a true freshman. There are 11 new faces on the Saint's roster this season, 10 of which are freshman.
 
Game two of the tournament will see the Mustangs go up against the host team, CSU – San Marcos. The Cougars finished an even 13-13 last season, 9-8 in conference play. Receiving votes in the AVCA Division II Coaches Top 25 Poll, the Cougars return 10 including three-time All-CCAA honoree outside hitter Maddy Newcombe. CSUSM was picked to tie for third in the CCAA Preseason Poll.
 
Friday the Mustangs have a single morning match against Azusa Pacific. The Cougars were voted as the favorite in the PacWest Preseason Poll, with returning senior middle blocker, Julianne Miller, as the preseason player of the year. The reigning PacWest Champions and NCAA tournament participant went 24-7 last season.
 
Western closes out the tournament against Northeast-10 conference member Bentley. The Falcons finished 2018 11-17 overall, 7-7 in conference play. With five seniors and three juniors, Bentley was picked to finish eighth in their respective preseason poll.