Volleyball Opens Season in Virginia

The Washington State University volleyball team begins the 2015 season this weekend at the Radford Highlander Invitational at the Dedmon Center (capacity 3,200) in Radford, Virginia...Friday, Aug. 28 WSU takes on Radford at 10 a.m. PT, and a Live Webcast is available at wsucougars.com on the volleyball schedule page...WSU meets Elon at 4 p.m. PT that same day...Saturday, Aug. 29, WSU plays East Tennessee State at 6 a.m. PT.

•  WSU volleyball has won its season-opening match in 22 of the past 24 years.

•  Elon assistant coach, Jennifer Fry, was an assistant coach at WSU in 2010...her father, Tyrone Gray, was a wide receiver and defensive back on the Washington State football teams in the late 1970s, and a sprinter on the track team. 

•  Freshmen rule the rosters: WSU has 8, Radford 9, Elon 5, and ETSU 6.

Cougar volleyball fans can listen to all the road contests during the 2015 season LIVE in the Palouse on KQQQ-AM radio (1150 AM)…veteran area broadcaster Steve Grubbs is the voice of Cougar volleyball for the 10th consecutive season...road match audio is also available online at wsucougars.com.

Jen Stinson Greeny is in her fifth season as WSU's head coach (53-76 at WSU, 4 years; 165-100 in career, 8 years) - complete Greeny bio on page 4...assistant coaches Burdette Greeny (fifth year) and Shannon Hunt (third year)...all coaches are former WSU student-athletes...volunteer coach James Dorr (first year)...Katie Hinrichs is coordinator of operations (fifth year).

Lone senior Kate Sommer (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) anchors the Cougars 2015 squad...the libero has accumulated 1,475 digs in three years which is second-best in WSU all-time records and only 298 digs from claiming the school record...junior OH Kyra Holt (Hercules, Calif.) is on the verge of reaching the 1,000 kills mark...Holt, the 2013 AVCA Pacific North Region Freshman of the Year as well as an All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention and Pac-12 All-Freshman First Team selection, starts the 2015 season with 871 career kills, just 129 kills from 1,000.

Eight freshmen join the Cougars this season...this class was ranked PrepVolleyball.com's 21st-best in the nation...the WSU freshmen are:

Olivia Coale, a 5-6 defensive specialist from Vancouver, Wash.

Haley DeSales, 6-0 outside hitter from Burbank, Calif.

Ella Lajos, 6-3 middle blocker from San Jose, Calif.

Claire Martin,  6-4 middle blocker from Tacoma, Tacoma News Tribune's 2014-15 Female Prep Athlete of the Year.

Taylor Mims, 6-3 middle blocker from Billings, Mont., Montana's 2014 Gatorade Player of the Year

Jocelyn Urias, 6-3 middle blocker from Tijuana, on Mexican National Team

Katelyn Vander Tuig, 5-10 setter from Tulare, Calif.

McKenna Woodford, 6-4 outside hitter from Chandler, Ariz., an Under Armour High School All-American, and listed at No. 62 on PrepVolleyball.com's top 100 players in the country.