Cowgirls In San Angelo To Open 2024 Season

Las Vegas, New Mexico - If it's the first weekend of volleyball season then New Mexico Highlands must be headed to Texas. The Cowgirls have opened the season in the Lone Star State in seven of the last ten seasons and they are headed to San Angelo for the 2024 Kathleen Brasfield Invitational.

New Coach: Friday marks the first match at the helm of the New Mexico Highlands volleyball program for Meg Grose. She was named the new head coach in December of last year after spending the 2023 season as the Head Coach at Lawrence University. She spent time as the assistant coach at New Mexico Highlands from 2020 to 22023.

Last Season: The Cowgirls were 3-25 overall and 1-13 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference last year.

RMAC Poll: The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference released the 2024 Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll last month and New Mexico Highlands received 23 points in the voting by the conference's 15 coaches.

2024 Roster: The New Mexico Highlands roster features a mix of returning players and key newcomers for the 2024 season. Jaylee Gonzales led last year's team with 214 kills. Jada Lawson, Angelina Burton, and Aziza Morris were all among team leaders offensively. Defensively, Abby Carlsen and Sophia Hendricks-Montes were the team leaders in digs.

The Cowgirls added seven new players to the roster this season.

New Mexico Highlands played an exhibition match in Albuquerque against the University of New Mexico two weeks ago in preparation for the season.

"Since UNM our focus has been fine tuning our systems and building our trust on the court within our systems," commented Meg Grose, NMHU Coach. "We have a young team so making sure our systems are fine tuned has been a big focus."

Roster Breakdown:

By Class             By Home State
Freshman 5        New Mexico 12
Sophomore 9     Texas 2
Junior 3              Wisconsin 2
Senior 2              Arizona 1
                           California 1
                           Colorado 1

Weekend Schedule:

Friday
Angelo State 11:00 am
Emmanuel 3:00 pm

Saturday
UT Permian Basin 7:00 am
Central Oklahoma 11:00 am

*Times are Mountain Time

Scouting The Opposition: The weekend kicks off with a match against the host Angelo State Rambelles on Friday morning. Angelo State was listed among the teams receiving votes in the AVCA's 2024 Preseason poll. A year ago Angelo State finished the season at 24-8 and qualified for the NCAA Division II Tournament. Chuck Wadington is in his 17th season at Angelo State where he has amassed 378 victories. Friday's match is the ninth all-time meeting between NMHU and ASU with the Rambelles holding a 7-1 lead in the previous meetings.

Emmanuel University is located in Franklin Springs, Georgia, and is a member of the Conference Carolinas. The Lions posted a 22-11 record in 2023 and qualified for the NCAA Division II Tournament. James Friddle has been the head coach at Emmanuel since 2018. Friday's match will be the first all-time meeting between the Cowgirls and the Lions.

The Cowgirls are up and at 'em early Saturday to play UT-Permian Basin at 7:00 am (MT). The Falcons were 17-10 overall and 8-8 in the Lone Star Conference in 2023. CJ Allard will be making his debut as the head coach of the Falcons this weekend. The lone meeting between the Falcons and the Cowgirls came in 2010 with UTPB beating NMHU 3-1 in Canyon, Texas.

In the weekend's final match for NMHU, the Cowgirls face the University of Central Oklahoma at 11:00 am. The Bronchos were ranked 23rd in the AVCA's 2024 Preseason poll coming off a 26-5 season last year. Like Angelo State and Emmanuel, Central Oklahoma qualified for the NCAA Division II postseason in 2023. Edgar Miraku has been the Head Coach of the Bronchos since 2012 and has a career record of 269-90. Central Oklahoma holds a 3-1 lead in the series history with the Cowgirls.

"I think this preseason tournament we are facing some really challenging teams but it is an exciting opportunity for us to go and compete with really good teams right off the bat," said Coach Meg Grose. "Getting the opportunity to play ranked teams will get us prepared for RMAC play and that is the goal of these tournaments."

Follow The Cowgirls: All Four matches will be livestreamed and are available for purchase via the Lone Star Network. Links to the individual broadcasts and LiveStats can be found at the ASU Tournament Homepage.

Up Next: The Cowgirls head back to Texas next weekend to compete in the Iceman Invitational at UT-Permian Basin on Friday and Saturday in Odessa where they will face Sul Ross State, Southeastern Oklahoma State, and the host Falcons.

Season Tickets: The home portion of the schedule begins on September 20th when Adams State visits Las Vegas. Season tickets are still available for purchase at NMHUAthletics.com/Tickets.