PUEBLO, Colo. (September 6, 2024) – For the fourth time in the program history, Lubbock Christian University will face Colorado State Pueblo in a season-opening tournament, but for the first time ever, LCU heads to Pueblo and will face the Thunderwolves in Massari Arena. The contest will complete their opening day of play for the 2024 season and for Steel City Showcase, as Friday's 3:45 p.m. (Central) scheduled start will follow LCU's season-opener in Pueblo at 11:15 a.m. against Cal State East Bay. The two-day stay for LCU closes Saturday, with neutral site contests against Lake Superior State (9:30 a.m.) and Minnesota Crookston (1:30 p.m.).
 

STEEL CITY SHOWCASE
OPPONENT	LOCATION	DAY	TIME (CT)	WATCH	STATS
Cal State East Bay	Pueblo, Colo.	Fri, Sept. 6	11:15 a.m.	Video	Stats
Colo. State Pueblo	Pueblo, Colo.	Fri, Sept. 6	3:45 p.m.	Video	Stats

GAME NOTES (PDF)  TOURNAMENT SITE
 
LOOKING AT CSUEB
- The Lady Chaps and Pioneers are opening the season for the first meeting ever between the two programs.  

- CSUEB was preseason picked fifth in the 12-team California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA). They went 13-13 overall last season, going 9-9 in conference to finish seventh in the CCAA standings.  

- Cal State East Bay will be tuned up to face LCU Friday morning. While the contest is LCU's season opener, the match will be the second match of the season for the Pioneers, who face Minnesota Crookston Thursday evening. The Pioneers also faced Division I St. Mary's College in a preseason tilt resulting in a 3-1 win for the Gaels.

- The Pioneers have seven freshmen listed on their roster.

- Lexi Pagani, who led CSUEB with 10 kills in their exhibition against St. Mary's College, is a returning All-CCAA selection. She led the Pioneers last season with 269 kills (2.72 per set). Mia Jordan, who was second on the squad with 232 kills, also returns for the Pioneers this season.
 
LOOKING AT CSUP
- Steel City Showcase host CSU Pueblo and Lubbock Christian have met four previous times and the two teams are split 2-2 head-to-head. All four previous meetings have been neutral site contests. The series first opened in 1989 (Sept. 1, 1989) in Phoenix, Ariz., where LCU fell 2-0. LCU won in Las Vegas, N.M. 3-1 (Sept. 17, 1993) and in Canyon, Texas (Sept. 5, 2015), but fell 3-0 in the previous meeting (Sept. 3, 2016 in Denton, Texas).     

- CSU Pueblo is preseason picked fifth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC). They went 13-14 overall last season, posting a 10-4 in conference. Last season was the first season the Pack did not qualify for the NCAA postseason under head coach Austin Albers, who heads into his sixth season at CSUP.  

- CSUP will rely on 2023 All-American outside hitter Sadie Scoville, who was second on the team in kills (291) and kills per set (2.80), while leading the team in digs (318), digs per set (3.06). Additionally, she was second in aces (37), fourth in blocks (46) and hit .257. Scoville led the team with 13 double-doubles and posted 18 double-digit kills matches. In RMAC play, she recorded 162 kills and averaged 3.00 kills, 3.31 digs, 0.52 blocks and 0.33 aces per set.

- The Thunderwolves roster consists of 11 returnees and seven new additions.

- This season marks the first time since 2021 in which the Thunderwolves in which CSUP opened the season hosting the Steel City Showcase. They went 4-0 that season in the event.
 
LOOKING AT LSSU
- LCU and Sault St. Marie, Mich. based Lake Superior State have no prior meetings all-time.     

- LSSU is preseason picked ninth in the 11-team Great Lakes Intercollegiate Conference (GLIAC). They went 8-22 overall last season, producing a 5-13 record in conference to finish ninth in the GLIAC.

- The Laker roster is highlighted by All-GLIAC First Team selection, Mariana Velasque, who is coming off a junior season in which she led the GLIAC in kills (403) a year ago. The mark was the fifth-most in a single season in program history.

- LSSU has not won a season-opener since 2014 (Finlandia) and has not opened the season outside of Michigan since 2012 (Fayette, Iowa.).

- LCU will serve as LSSU's final match of their stay in Pueblo. They open their stay Thursday night against CSU Pueblo.
 
LOOKING AT UMC
- LCU and Minnesota Crookston have no history and Saturday's meeting marks the first all-time meeting.     

- UMC is preseason picked 14th in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC), which has 15 programs. They went 4-22 overall last season, going 2-16 in conference. They closed their season with a win over Minot State.  

- Maya Jones is a Texas native on the Golden Eagles roster. The sophomore, who had 219 kills and 39 blocks last season as a freshman, is a native of New Braunfels, Texas. Her sisters Angel (SMU) and Erin (Texas Woman's) played collegiately, and her mother, Lisa, is part of the St. Edward's Hall of Honor in basketball.

- Kailee Waasdorp played in every single set last year (91) for the Golden Eagles as a freshman and finished the season top-10 in the NSIC in digs (421).

- This last time CSUP hosted the Steel City Showcase was 2021 and UMC was there. They dropped all four of their contests in the event.  
 
LADY CHAP NOTES
- LCU enters the season with a No.7 Lone Star Conference Preseason Poll ranking. LCU is coming off an 17-9 season, which included a 9-7 record in conference play. The Lady Chaps had a six-win improvement over the 2022 season. They were the first LSC team to not qualify for the conference tournament while posting a winning record (in conference play) since the conference tournament formats changed in the 2006 season.

- Fielding a roster of 16 student-athletes, LCU has 10 returnees, including a trio of All-Conference selections (Kiana Fallaha, Lili Bickley and Kayton Genenbacher). LCU did lose starters Chloe Menard and Kalli Dalland. Menard appeared in 91 matches over four seasons and produced 345 digs serving as the libero last season. Dalland ranked third in the LSC with a team-leading 113 blocks (33rd nationally) and 1.15 blocks per set (32nd nationally). She had 68 blocks in LSC action, which also ranked third in the LSC. Dalland, a middle blocker, also wrapped up the season with 99 block assists, which placed her 17 away from entering into the top-10 for single-season program marks in the category. Her career, spanning 249 sets in 77 matches included 384 kills and 219 blocks (183 assisted blocks).

- This season marks LCU's fourth season under coach Giboney. The Lady Chaps seventh head coach in program history preps for his 20th year of NCAA coaching. Giboney, who has four NCAA Tournament appearances and seven conference titles on his resume, surpassed 400 coaching victories in his first season with LCU and has a career coaching mark of 432-204. The Chaps head coach ranks as the 29th best-active head coach in win percentage (.679) and as the 27th best-active head coach in victories (432). He has the third-highest win total of head coaches with less than 20 years of head coaching experience. Giboney has six new additions joining the Lady Chaps roster this season. Camryn Blair (Hereford – Hereford, Texas), Ashley Howland (Martin – Arlington, Texas), Leddy Rae Guinn (Stephenville, Stephenville, Texas), and Jade Workman (Permian – Odessa, Texas) join the roster as true freshmen. Abby Benitez (Weatherford College – Snyder, Texas) and Bryleigh Schweer (Dordt College – Greeley, Colo.) are a pair of transfers completing the six newcomers.

- The LSC recognized 48 student-athletes as Players to Watch heading into the season. LCU representatives making the list were Lily Bickley (offensive), Kayton Genenbacher (setter) and Ramsey Clark (defensive). Bickley claimed her first All-Conference honor last season and was valuable in conference play for the Lady Chaps. In 16 LSC matches, she posted 175 kills (2.87 per set) and hit a team-leading .334, which ranked eighth in the LSC. Overall on the season, the Fort Worth, Texas native was second on the team with a .286 hitting percentage, which ranked 20th in the LSC. Bickley was also second in total kills, as the right-side hitter had 264 kills to rank 16th in the LSC. She was one of five Lady Chaps to appear in all 99 sets of their 26 matches. Genenbacher nearly reached 1,000 assists last season, finishing with 992. The mark helped her become the 12th Lady Chap in program history to reach 2,000 career assists. The senior from Lubbock, who claims her second consecutive Academic Team selection and first All-Conference honor, produced a team-leading 13 double-doubles last season (24 in career) and concluded the regular season third in the LSC in assists (992, 49th nationally) and fifth in aces (38) while ranking third in assists per set (10.02, 40th nationally). Her assists fueled a Lady Chaps offense that ranked seventh in the LSC in kills per set (13.1) and hit .212 on the season (seventh in the LSC). Her numbers in LSC play ranked her second in assists (698) and third in assists per set (10.3). She was a two-time LSC Setter of the Week during the season. Genenbacher enters the 2024 season with 2,078 career assists and needs 32 to move into the top-10 all-time in LCU history in assists (Bradi Marshall had 2,109 over the 2018-19 seasons and ranks 10th.). Defensively, sophomore Ramsey Clark has drawn attention after a solid freshman campaign last season. She appeared in all 26 matches last season collected 228 digs and served 14 aces. The Midland, Texas native had at least 10 digs in 11 matches last season. She is one of 11 sophomores on the LSC's list (one of four among 16 Defensive Players to Watch).

- The Lady Chaps open a 26-match season, and their 46^th season in program history, in Pueblo. Colo. September 6 at the Steel City Showcase (hosted by Colorado State Pueblo). LCU will play 16 conference matches, playing each LSC program once, beginning September 27 at Texas Woman's. The LSC will house 17 volleyball programs, which leads to LCU playing everyone once and the 16 matches divided into eight home and eight road contests (in conference play).

- LCU is 29-16 all-time in season openers and has won 11 of their 16 prior season openers (LCU defeated Black Hills State 3-1 in Billings, Mont. in last season's opener). They open the season in Colorado for the first time since opening the 2019 season in Golden, Colo.