KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com
TERRE HAUTE, IND. ? The 2009 recruiting class of Indiana State's second year volleyball coach Traci Dahl has received Honorable Mention recognition by PrepVolleyball.com as one of the top 100 recruiting classes in the nation. The selections were made by a panel of 100 college volleyball coaches from across the nation who reviewed the recruiting classes of Division I schools.
“We have worked hard in recruiting the athletes that are going to help us as we continue to turn this program around,” Dahl said. “I am really excited about this class of student-athletes and anxiously wait being able to get them together with our returning veterans in August.”
Six incoming freshman and a junior college transfer are part of the 2009 class and include two middle blockers and five outside hitters.
“These recruits addressed the needs that I saw we had last season,” Dahl said. “I expect them to come in and have an immediate impact on the quality of our program and our ability to do well in the Missouri Valley Conference.”
Shea Doran, a 6-foot-3 middle blocker out of Martinsville High School (Martinsville, Ind.) and Auriel Armstrong, a 6-foot-1 middle blocker out of Wilson High School (Long Beach, Calif.) look to strengthen the middle for the Sycamores.
The outside hitters include 6-foot-0 Christin Fullenkamp out of Botkins High School (Botkins, Ohio), 5-foot-11 Morgan Dall out of Breese Mater Dei Catholic High School (Breese, Ill.), 5-foot-10 Aralena Haynes out of Lithia Springs High School (Douglasville, Ga.), and 5-foot-9 Emily Mozwecz out of Chesterton High School (Chesterton, Ind.).
Maira Charun Valdez, a 5-foot-10 junior from Lima, Peru, is transferring to Indiana State after spending the last two years playing at Indian Hills Community College in Iowa.
Three of the four players from Dahl's first recruiting class will be returning along with five seniors. Returning from that 2008 class are 5-foot-11 setter Shelbi Fouty (Plainfield HS/Plainfield, Ind.), 5-foot-3 defensive specialist Kiya James (Pike HS/Indianapolis, Ind.), and 6-foot-1 middle blocker Stacy Qualizza (Crown Point High School/Crown Point, Ind.).
Dahl, who took over the ISU volleyball program in February 2008, had little time to recruit that first year but still landed quality players.
“The returning players all contributed this past season and have worked very hard during the off-season,” Dahl said. “With the addition of the incoming players, I believe that we are taking that next step toward returning Sycamore volleyball to being one of the elite teams in the conference.”
PrepVolleyball.com ranked the top 30 recruiting classes 1-30 with the next 15 listed as “Highest Honorable Mention” and 45 others receiving either “High Honorable Mention” or “Honorable Mention”.
Six schools from the Missouri Valley Conference received recognition by PrepVolleyball.com. Creighton and Northern Iowa received Highest Honorable Mention, Wichita State High Honorable Mention, and Indiana State, Drake and Illinois State each received Honorable Mention.
Six Big Ten teams are in the top 30 including top-ranked Minnesota, No. 4 Penn State, No. 8 Purdue, No. 20 Ohio State, No. 22 Indiana, and No. 28 Illinois.
