July 21, 2006

ABILENE, Texas - Hardin-Simmons' volleyball coach Hugh Hernesman has announced his five-player recruiting class for the 2006 season.

The Cowgirls won the ASC West last season for the first time and fell to Austin College in the ASC Championship. AC left the conference after the 2005-06 school year and the Cowgirls will be the favorite for the ASC crown.

HSU begins practice August 19th and opens the season Sept. 1 in the Wayland Baptist Classic.

Below is an overview on the incoming class.

Amanda Curry (5'8", Setter, Leander High School, Athletes in Motion Volleyball Club)

Curry has been named Honorable Mention All-County (Williamson), 2nd Team All-District (15-5A) and was also named to LoneStarVolleyball.com's 2005 All-Texas Team (Honorable Mention).

Hernesman Says

One of the main reasons Amanda caught our eye was that we feel as though she is a very smart, cerebral setter and a good decision-maker. The club teams she's been on for the last two years have not had the type of offense firepower that many of the top clubs in the state have had. Despite this, her teams have always been very competitive and sometimes leave you wondering how they beat a team that you figured was significantly stronger. Most often when this happens it is due to having setters that run an intelligent offense by setting the hot hitter or creating match-ups for their hitters. Amanda does this very well and I look forward to seeing her perform within our system.

Samantha Lucien (5'8", Setter/Defensive Specialist, Flower Mound High School, Skyline Juniors Volleyball Club)

Samantha was named to LoneStarVolleyball.com's 2005 All-Texas Team (Honorable Mention).

Hernesman Says

Sam comes to us with an impressive reputation as a hard worker and great teammate, which is really what our program is all about, so I'm confident she'll fit right in. We recruited Sam with the intention of using her as a setter as well as a defensive specialist. She's had a tremendous club season this spring and has established herself as someone that would be very capable of running our offense and also brings a certain "energy" to the court. In fact, she ended up getting most of the playing time as the only setter in a 5-1 offense for her team, beating out their other setter who has accepted a DI full ride. That is impressive to me and to watch her develop over the course of the club season has been a real treat. We anticipate that progress will continue here at HSU.

Amanda Mace (5'9", Outside Hitter, Sachse High School, Dallas Summit Volleyball Club)

Amanda was named to the 2005 All-Area and District 11-5A MVP.

Hernesman Says

I think that we've done a good job of accumulating some depth to our outside hitter position with the addition of Amanda. She's got great length and a very fluid armswing in addition to a very effective serve. She needs to add some strength, which is not uncommon at all for kids coming into our program. Once Amanda gets into our strength program, she is going to become a very good player for us. She is very comfortable in the role of being the main outside hitter, as she led her high school team in kills and aces. I believe that once we get her into our program and she starts utilizing our training methods, she will become a complete player.

Kaela Parnell (5'11", Middle Blocker/Outside Hitter, Hebron High School, Skyline Juniors Volleyball Club)

Kaela was 1st-Team All-District (9-4A) in 2005, made the 2005 All-Tournament Team at the State Championships, and was also named to LoneStarVolleyball.com's 2005 All-Texas Team (Honorable Mention).

Hernesman Says

We are really excited about getting Kaela into our program. She brings a level of athleticism to our program that not many have seen in the history of the program. Not only was Kaela a standout volleyball athlete at Hebron High, which won the state 4-A title in 2004 and finished 2nd in 2005, but she also was a key member of their basketball team and a standout high jumper for their track and field team- clearing 5'0". She's currently touching 9'9" and has added some polish to her game in the last year or so. To watch Kaela grow as a player and an athlete since we first saw her over a year ago has us very eager to get her in our gym. With her athletic ability comes versatility as well, which will be yet another asset for what we're looking to accomplish.

Vanessa Vanlandingham (6'0", Middle Blocker, Kopperl High School)

Vanessa was 1st Team All-District (25-A) and was also named to LoneStarVolleyball.com's 2005 All-Texas Team (Honorable Mention).

Hernesman Says

Vanessa is a very good athlete with size and great length. I would say that her best asset coming into our program is her blocking ability. I am very confident that everything else will come with training in our program, as she is a very good athlete with a pretty solid base of fundamentals. We've had a lot of success with this type of athlete in the past and we find that it really only takes them a year or so- sometimes even less- to catch up to the rest of our kids simply because of the training we do and the athletic ability we're working with. I believe Vanessa has a very good chance to become a dominant player in our league at some point and all indications are that she has the work ethic that will get her there.