Henderson starts volleyball season with tourney in Kansas

ARKADELPHIA — Henderson State’s 2018-19 athletic year begins today when the Reddies’ volleyball team takes the court versus the University of Colorado Colorado Springs in the first game of the Washburn Invitational in Topeka, Kansas.

Henderson State is led by a Texas trio of juniors in Karlie Greene, Adrianna Hartmann and Courtney Bolf. Greene, a middle blocker and opposite hitter from Spring, Texas, finished the 2017 season with

161 kills, and led the team with 111 blocks, 34 of them solo. Hartmann, a middle blocker from Fredericksburg, Texas, played in every set of every match of

2017, finishing third on the team with 217 kills. Bolf, an outside hitter from Fort Worth, Texas, paced the Reddies with 383 kills and 31 service aces, and was second on the team with 398 defensive digs. Henderson’s lone senior is Zuzana Ondruskova, an outside hitter who finished second on the squad with 227 kills and 117 defensive digs last season.

The Reddies are scheduled to play four matches on today and Saturday. They are first scheduled to meet Colorado Springs at 10 a.m. Colorado Springs was 15-12 after a quarterfinal loss in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament to Colorado Christian.

A second match is scheduled for 6 p.m. against William Jewel College. The Cardinals were 10-21 in

2017.

Henderson is scheduled to meet Northwest Missouri State at 9 a.m. on Saturday. The Bearcats have developed consistency under the leadership of head coach Amy Woerth.

With a 17-15 record in 2017, it marked the first time since 2000 that the Bearcats have produced three winning seasons in a row. The 2018 Bearcats return

12 players from a squad that lost their opening round game in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association tournament.

The Reddies are scheduled to conclude the tournament at 3 p.m. on Saturday against Colorado State University-Pueblo. The young Thunderbirds missed out on postseason play in 2017 with a 4-22 overall record.