(Seguin) — The Texas Lutheran University volleyball team will look to build upon its most successful season under fifth-year head coach Phyllis Fowler as Coach Fowler revealed the Bulldogs’ Fall 2022 schedule on Friday.
Entering her fifth season at the helm, Fowler has accumulated nine matches on the 2022 schedule against teams in the 2021 NCAA Division-III Women’s Volleyball Championship. TLU will take on three opponents that reached at least the Regional Semifinal in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) opponents: Trinity University, Colorado College, and Southwestern University. Trinity advanced all the way to the national quarterfinals last season before falling to Calvin University in five sets.
To kick off its 2022 slate, TLU will travel to San Antonio, Texas, on Sept. 1 for a match against Wisconsin-Stout before traveling to Houston, Texas, to face Widener, Willamette, LeTourneau, and Rose-Hulman in the St. Thomas Tournament hosted by University of St. Thomas, Sept. 2-3.
The following weekend (Sept. 9-10), the Bulldogs will visit Lexington, Kentucky, for matches against host Transylvania, Saint Benedict, and Whitworth. The Transylvania Pioneers and Whitworth Pirates each reached the First Round of the NCAA Championship Tournament last season.
Texas Lutheran’s first home matches of the season will be against Our Lady of the Lake on Wednesday, September 14th. The Bulldogs will travel to San Antonio that Friday, Sept. 16, to face La Verne and Scranton in the Trinity Invitational Tournament. Scranton also made it to the First Round of last year’s NCAA Championship Tournament.
To kick off SCAC play, the Bulldogs will return to Houston on Sept. 24 to face St. Thomas and Southwestern, who finished last season ranked 18th in the country.
Texas Lutheran will then host St. Thomas (Sept. 27) and Mary Hardin-Baylor (Sept. 28) in non-conference action at Memorial Gymnasium. Although they fell short of the national tournament, the Crusaders finished the 2021 season ranked 24th in the AVCA Division-III volleyball poll. Texas Lutheran will also host Howard Payne (Oct. 4), Huston-Tillotson (Oct. 4), and Southwestern (Oct. 21) in non-conference action.
Texas Lutheran will also face conference foes Dallas (Oct. 1/14), Austin College (Oct. 1/14), Centenary (Oct. 2/15), Schreiner (Oct. 7), Colorado College (Oct. 7), and Trinity (Oct. 8) on road SCAC Divisionals. Sandwiched in SCAC play are road non-conference matches against Huston-Tillotson (Oct. 18) and Our Lady of the Lake (Oct. 19). For the second consecutive season, Texas Lutheran will host the final SCAC divisional at Memorial Gymnasium, hosting Schreiner, Colorado College, and Trinity Oct. 29-30.
All streaming and live stats links will be available on tlubulldogs.com.
The Bulldogs will return all but one starter to the fold in 2022, including 2021 NCAA Division-III digs leader and 2021 SCAC Backrow Player of the Year defensive specialist/libero Lexi Morris (Victoria/Victoria West), SCAC Freshman of the Year setter Shavonne Respondek (San Antonio/Madison), All-SCAC Second Team outside-hitter Tanyse Moehrig (Spring Branch/Smithson Valley), as well as veteran middle blockers Madison Weisinger (Friendswood/Friendswood) and Peyton Sulak(Needville/Needville).
Rounding out the returners are outside hitters Maddy Schultz (Richmond/Needville), Paige Day (San Antonio/Reagan), and Faith Coldewey (Floresville/Floresville), middle blockers Baylie Baccinelli (Santa Fe/Santa Fe) and Keriann Kallus (New Braunfels/New Braunfels), setters Adrienne Galaviz (San Antonio/Harlandale) and Julia Chew(Cypress/Cy-Fair) and defensive specialists Celie Contreras (San Marcos/San Marcos), Jade Olivo (San Marcos/San Marcos), and Kylee Shirley (Deer Park/Deer Park).
Newcomers include transfers Emily Mixon (outside hitter, North Lake CC) and Brylie Nedd (outside hitter, Blinn College) as well as four freshmen: middle blocker Kara Clark (San Antonio/Churchill), middle blocker Cameren Davis (Wimberley/Wimberley), outside hitter Annie Johnson (Burleson/Centennial), and libero/defensive specialist Ridley Kelly (Missouri City/Elkins).
The full schedule can be viewed here.
For more information on Texas Lutheran volleyball, follow the Bulldogs on Facebook (TLU Volleyball), Twitter (@TLU_VB), and Instagram (@tlu_vb) and as always you can find updates on all Texas Lutheran athletics on tlubulldogs.com and all official TLU social media channels (@tluathletics on Twitter, @tlubulldogs on Instagram and Facebook, and @tlu_athletics on TikTok).