New-look volleyball team to debut at Pomona Tourney

ORANGE, Calif. – If the Chapman University women’s volleyball team is going to make it back to the NCAA Division III tournament as it did in 2009, the Panthers are going to rely on a lot of new faces to do it. Head coach Mary Cahill will get her first glimpse of the new-look Panthers on Friday as Chapman opens play at the Pomona-Pitzer Tournament in Claremont this weekend.

Chapman will face Case Western Reserve University (Ohio) at 2 p.m. on Friday followed by Manchester College (Ind.) at 6:30 p.m. The Panthers also play Ithaca College and U.C. Santa Cruz on Saturday in the final day of the tournament.

The Panthers won 18 matches last season – a 15-year high – and advanced to the NCAA regional playoffs for the first time since 2005. However, this year they return just two starters and a total of four players from their playoff roster, including senior S Kat Kowalski and junior MB Nalani Haviland. Thirteen of Chapman’s 16-player roster are listed as either a freshman or sophomore.

Kowalski – the team’s offensive quarterback – has averaged over 10 assists per game over the past three years and is primed to become Chapman’s all-time setting leader with just 413 more assists. Meanwhile, Haviland led the Panthers with 52 blocks and had 167 kills as a sophomore a year ago.

After the weekend tournament, Chapman will open its home schedule on Tuesday, Sept. 7 when it hosts Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges at the Hutton Sports Center at 7 p.m.

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director