Gyori part of Owens’ volleyball’s deep freshman class

"We're really excited about this year," Lewis said. "They're learning. They're picking up the changes we want them to. We had a scrimmage last weekend and we played better and better and better as the scrimmage went on. We're looking for an outstanding season this year."

Owens was the top ranked team out of Region XII. Defending Region XII champion Columbus State (OH) Community College is No. 10, Grand Rapids (MI) Community College is No. 16, and Oakland (MI) Community College is ranked No. 18.

It is the highest preseason poll ranking for the Owens volleyball team since they opened at No. 4 in 2013. They open the regular season this weekend at the Battle for the Dells in Wisconsin. On Saturday, they face Waubonsee Community College and Highland Community College-Illinois before taking on Indian Hills Community College and Carl Sandburg College on Sunday.

Parkland College, the two-time defending national runner-up, opens at No. 1 for the second consecutive season. Glendale (AZ) Community College, the defending national champion, is No. 2, while Cowley County (KS) Community College is No. 3.

Owens opened up the season by picking up a straight set win over Carl Sandburg College (Ill.) to bounce back from a tough loss to NJCAA Division I No. 12 Indian Hills Community College today in the Battle for the Dells Invitational. With the split, Owens finishes the season opening weekend 3-1.

Owens opened its second day of the regular season losing to an Indian Hills Community College (25-20, 25-20, 26-24) team featuring plenty of height and five international players. Despite losing the match, they fared well as the team hit .304 offensively and had 41 digs on only one ball handling error. Gyori had her third straight double digit dig total of her collegiate career with 13.

In match two, Owens defeated Carl Sandburg 25-18, 25-18, 25-14 as Gyori matched her season-high with a team-high five aces, while also leading the team with 14 digs.

This year's team is coming off a 34-11 season, which also witnessed a 12-2 record and a second place finish in the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference. In the postseason, the team lost a key offensive player in Macy Reigelsperger (Coldwater) to an injury in the Region XII District E tournament before falling to No. 6 Columbus State CC in the loser's bracket finals. Columbus State, which won the OCCAC championship, ended up winning the tournament and advanced all the way to the National Junior College Athletic Association (Division II Final Four.

"Last year, our season ended too early," Reigelsperger said.

The positives for Owens this year, though, include the return of Reigelperger, along with Erika Hartings (Coldwater), who led the team with 540 kills, and three other starters including Purcell, Deanna Smith (Riverview, Mich.) and Ally Mikesell (St. Henry).

Hartings, who had 540 kills, 124 digs and 89 blocks last year, and Reigelperger, who had 500 kills, 247 digs and 161 blocks, return as only the second duo in program history to record 500 or more kills in the same season. They will look to become the first set of teammates in program history to each record 1,000 or more career kills.

"Having your best friend on the team (is important)," Reigelsperger said of Hartings. "And she's a big competer against me like if she's getting more kills, I want to get more kills. Hopefully that helps the younger girls and creates competition. (The younger players) always want to beat the older players, but we won't let them (do that to us)."

Aside from Hartings and Reigelsperger, the team also returns one of its most versatile players in Mikesell, who finished third on the team in kills with 279, fourth on the team in digs with 300 and second on the team in blocks with 122. She also added 29 aces.

The team graduated Jessica Cooper (Brandywine, Mich.), who led the team with 904 assists last year, but brings back Smith, who produced 792 assists last year and is also the top returner in service aces.

The fifth returning sophomore is Purcell, who recorded 167 kills and 60 blocks as a freshman.

Miranda Johnson (Whiteford, Mich.), a transfer from Siena Heights University, will team with Mikesell to aid in replacing Ciarra Wirick (Benjamin Logan), who recorded a team-high 763 digs last year en route to being named an NJCAA Honorable Mention All-American. Also in the defensive mix is Samantha Reer, who will see time at outside hitter, as well.

Smith will help mentor freshman setter Christine Tylutki (Monroe, Mich.).

Rounding things out, the freshmen class features a ton of height in Ashley Pleiman (Fort Loramie), Abigail Hesselschwardt (Otsego), Tyanna Smith (Bowling Green) and Annie Lindeman (Ottoville). Pleiman was recently named one of the nation's top newcomers by the NJCAA, while eight players in the team stand at least 5-foot-10.

"Bringing in Ashley at 6-2, Annie at 6-1 and the others at 5-10, this will probably be one of our tallest overall teams that we've ever had and because of that, we expect to do a lot better at the net than we've done in past seasons," Lewis said.

"We're really excited," Lewis said. "Our goal every year is to win the conference and go on to nationals, and to do well at nationals. Our (main) goal is the red banner, which is to bring a national championship back here to Owens. The kids are buying in to it, and that's what we hope they do this year."

Owens will compete in five tough invitationals this year, including the Owens Invitational Aug. 28-30, while also having to fight through 14 conference matches. In addition to that, the team will twice take on Clark State Community College, who re-started its program this year, and will face Region XII foes Kalamazoo Valley Community College and St. Clair County Community College on Oct. 24 at home.

One key unknown is two-time defending conference champion Columbus State, which finished 34-4 last year. Head coach Jaclynn Yocum took a head coaching job at NCAA Division I University of Tennessee-Martin in the offseason. They lost the 2014 OCCAC Player of the Year, Stephanie Ruffing, and First Team All-OCCAC member Ellie Cain, as well.

"We expect some very tough matches in the conference," Lewis said. "We're expecting some improvement - Cincinnati State's going to be a very good team, (and) we always look for Sinclair to be tough. We also know some of the other teams like Edison, Lakeland, and Lorain are going to keep improving. Clark State started volleyball again. They're going to be coming in the conference. With nine teams in the conference again, it's going to be tough for us."

On Aug. 22-23, the team opens up its regular season on the road at the Battle for the Dells Invitational in Wisconsin before returning home for the Owens Invitational to close out the month. On the final day of the Owens Invitational, the team will host perennial national power Parkland College, which finished as the national runner-up in each of the past two seasons and third three years ago. They also closed the regular season last year as the nation's No. 1 ranked team.

Following that, the team will compete in six conference matches in preparation for a tough Parkland Invitational Sept. 18-19. While there, the team will take on Des Moines Area, Kirkwood, Johnson County and Iowa Central. All four teams finished last year's regular season ranked No. 10, No. 9, No. 13 and No. 19, respectively.

On Sept. 23, Owens will travel to Lorain County Community College for a conference matchup before traveling to Grand Rapids, Mich. for the GRCC Invitational Sept. 26-27. The schedule for those two days has yet to be announced, but is expected to feature some of the nation's top teams.

The month of October will begin with a matchup against Clark State and a conference match before the team travels to Hickory, N.C. to take part in the Catawba Valley Invitational. While there, they will take on Pasco-Hernando, which finished with a No. 4 ranking last year, Monroe College, ranked No. 17 in the NJCAA Division I poll, and Catawba Valley, which finished just outside the top 20 last year.

After the N.C. trip, Owens will finish out conference play in preparation for postseason play.

Owens will host the Region XII District F tournament Nov. 6-8. The tournament will feature the top teams from Ohio, including Vincennes University, in a battle for one trip to the NJCAA Division II National Tournament, which will be held in Phoenix, Ariz. Nov. 19-21. In the past, the region split teams up in an east and west manner, whereas this year will be north and south.

"It's going to be tough no matter which way you go, whether it be north south or east west," Lewis said. "We're excited now because we're going to see a lot of the teams all year long that we're going to play (at regionals)."

Owens will be streaming more matches this year than in the past as not only all home matches will be online, but several road matches, as well. Stay tuned for more information on this, but it looks like the matches will be streamed through the department's YouTube page.

While OwensExpress.com is your primary source for Owens athletics news, you can also follow all the action of the Owens volleyball team this year by visiting the department's Facebook page, its Twitter account and its Instragram account. The Owens Sports Information Department will link all post match recaps and photo albums primarily on Facebook, but links will also go on Twitter. The Twitter account will feature live match updates, and photos will be posted on the Instagram account.