Saints Begin Quest for Conference Title on Aug. 17
SAN ANTONIO (Aug. 10, 2023) – The Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) volleyball program will look to defend its Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) regular-season title this upcoming fall. Head Coach Scott Mattera brings a career .760 winning percentage and .891 conference mark into the season, aided by former Saint and Assistant Coach Raven Swain.
2022 season
The Saints had a fairly young roster as they navigated the schedule last season. Seven of the nine starters were freshmen and led the squad to an undefeated 16-0 conference record. OLLU lost a heartbreaking five set match to Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA) in the conference tournament championship. The Saints ranked in the top 20 of the NAIA with 2.09 service aces per set.
Schedule overview (Numbers after school indicate all-time records.)
OLLU opens the season by hosting the Alamo City Volleyesta from Aug. 17-19. Bellevue University (BU), Loyola University New Orleans (LUNO), the University of Jamestown (UJ) and Texas Wesleyan University (TWU) will battle alongside the Saints. The Saints face BU (0-1) for the first match of the season on Aug. 17. They continue play in the tournament by facing LUNO (2-1) and UJ on Aug. 18. Jamestown is the defending NAIA champions, and it will be the first matchup between the programs. OLLU closes the tournament by squaring up against TWU (9-19) on Aug. 19.
The Saints host another tournament the following weekend. The San Antonio ShinDig consists of Southwestern Assemblies of God University (SAGU), Carroll College (CC) and Oklahoma City University (OCU). The squad will battle SAGU (10-9) on Aug. 25 and close the tournament with matches against CC and OCU (2-2) on Aug. 26.
The first road trip of the season is in Bellevue, Neb., for the Labor Day Classic. The Saints will face Avila University on Aug. 31, Central Methodist University and Dakota Wesleyan University on Sept. 1 and Indiana University Kokomo on Sept. 2. OLLU will take on these programs for the first time. There are two other nonconference matches during the regular season. The team will play at NCAA D3 programs Trinity University (6-7) on Oct. 10 and Texas Lutheran University (5-3) on Oct. 11.
Conference opponents
The RRAC campaign starts in Tyler, Texas, when the Saints play Texas College (26-0) on Sept. 8-9. The first conference home match is against Jarvis Christian University (21-0) on Sept. 15-16. The Saints play away matches followed by home matches again in the following weeks. They head to Dallas to face Paul Quinn College (7-0) on Sept. 22-23 and return home to take on Texas A&M University-Texarkana (2-0) from Sept. 29-30. The Saints are undefeated against conference opponents during this season's September schedule.
The Saints remain at home to battle the University of the Southwest (24-6) from Oct. 6-7. Following the matches against the Mustangs, the Saints head east to play at Louisiana Christian University (4-0) on Oct. 20-21. The Saints complete the conference regular season schedule with home matches against Huston-Tillotson University (29-3) on Oct. 27-28 and XULA (5-3_ on Nov. 3-4.
Returners
Madalyn Gonzalez, Ashleigh Ramirez and Tory Rodriguez will be the senior leaders for 2023. Gonzalez earned All-Conference Second-Team honors. The Saints return four juniors who will help lead the team among the senior class. Julissa Casas, Allison Mata, Camila Ramirez and Tina Trevino make up the junior squad. Ramirez was named to the Red River All-Tournament and All-Conference Team last season and Trevino was the Red River Defender of the Year. The sophomore class returns the most athletes, including Julia Anguiano, Ariana Caldera, Karla Candia, Briana Contreras, Mia Dorsey, Mia Francis, Evelyn Ortega, and Lauren Reynard. Francis received All-Conference Second-Team honors and Reynard was the Red River Setter of the Year. Dorsey had a spectacular freshman campaign, which led to an NAIA All-American Honorable Mention.
Newcomers
The freshmen group is one of the most promising to be recruited by Mattera in his four-year span at OLLU. Mattera commented, "We recruited a lot of freshmen this year and the depth of this class has a lot of upsides. The athletes have played high levels of both high school and club volleyball." The squad includes Arianna Moreno, Makaelyn Perez, Mia Perez, Daniella Saenz, Victoria Urbanczyk, Chanisty Villarreal-Bermea and Deandra Ybarra.
Live-streaming and fan experience
The Saints will live-stream home games with commentary throughout the season. Fans can watch the team on the OLLUSaints Network.