Volley Cats Open Season on Road at Blue Mountain
BLUE MOUNTAIN, Miss. –The Bethel Lady Wildcats will open the regular season Friday August 18 against former SSAC foe Blue Mountain Christian University. Action in Blue Mountain, Mississippi begins at 6 p.m.
The Cats were 22-10 last year while the Toppers were 34-3. BMCU won the SSAC regular season and tournament titles. BMCU is picked to win the SSAC in the conference preseason poll. The Toppers enter the season receiving votes in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches preseason poll.
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2023 Season Preview
The Lady Wildcats will depend upon several veterans and a group of newcomers to continue program momentum this year. The 2022 squad finished 22-10. The Cats were 7-8 in the Mid-South Conference. Bethel had the best overall regular season road record in the league at 10-3. A late season surge saw the Cats win 10 of their last 15 matches. Bethel reached the semi-finals of the league championships before bowing out in heartbreaking fashion to Cumberland University.
The Cats will need to replace several key members of the squad who closed out their careers last season.
Bethel's Hannah McGowan and Nayeli Vilchez were named to the 1st team all -conference squad. Kameshia Moxley was named to the MSC Honorable Mention squad. McGowan was named to the Southeast Region team. The New Orleans native recently completed her career at Bethel as the all-time program leader in kills with 1,966. McGowan had 496 kills last season. McGowan was named MSC Player of the Week three times during the year. The Wildcats also lost assist leader (1137) Nayeli Vilchez. Ashley Sommerfeld, Brookelyn Davis, Lydia Dykes and Alex Lipsey who were all key contributors who will not be back this season.
Key returners Dominika Skoneczna, Madelyn Woods, Madison Hughes, Clara Presmanes and Sami Parker will be counted on to lead the Cats to another successful season. Skoneczna was second in kills with 281. Parker led the team in digs (432) last year.
Several newcomers, including six freshmen will provide new faces and talent to the team.
Bethel is scheduled to play a 27-game schedule.
The Cats open the season at Blue Mountain Christian August 18th. Bethel remains on the road with a visit to Pulaski six days later to battle UT Southern. The Cats face Blue Mountain and Philander Smith in their home openers on August 29th. Bethel closes out the month traveling to Brescia on the 31st.
The Cats play eleven games in September with five of those matches being in the friendly confines of Crisp Arena. Four Mid-South Conference games highlight the month including a match-up versus longtime rival Freed-Hardeman in Crisp Arena on the 12th.
October will find Bethel playing nine games with seven of those being conference affairs. Three of the conference games are in Crisp Arena.
Two conference road games will conclude the regular season in November.
Coach Starla Cupples will enter the season with 306 career wins. It will be her 19th season as head coach of the Wildcats. She has a career record of 306- 263.
Coach Cupples commented on the season. "Each season brings a new challenge. This season we have more new players than returners, but the talent is there. It will be important to gel quickly and learn and grow on the fly. I expect this team to compete all season. "