The Hoggies Beach (20-10) and Indoor Volleyball (21-12) teams welcome nine new team members for the 2018-19 Seasons.
Texas A&M University – Kingsville (TAMUK) signed these new athletes to fill in a few special areas on the court. They consist of new Outside Hitters, Middle Blockers, Setters, Right Sides, and a Defensive Specialist.
Eight of the newly found Hoggies specialize in indoor play. They are from Texas and competed for high school teams, universities, or colleges. The other player comes from Tulsa, Okla. and will assist the Beach Volleyball team next season.
Joining the Hoggies are Melanie Casteel as an Outside Hitter, Kailey Estrada as a Middle Blocker, Kayla LaRue as a Setter, Kelsi Luckenbach as an Outside Hitter, Talleyshia Morris as a Middle Blocker, Emily North as a Setter, Alexa Ruiz as a Defensive Specialist, Mia Soto as the Right Side and Jordan Wonders as a Middle Blocker/Right Side.
Recruiting is a year-round process that ensures only the best of the best athletes are chosen for the Hoggies volleyball teams.
Assistant Coach Joseph Morales does most of the recruiting for both programs. When searching for new team members, Morales and Head Coach Tanya Allen hand-pick each athlete. The hope is for the new team members to collaborate with the returnees as smoothly as possible. They are expected to contribute to the on-going culture of the current indoor and outdoor volleyball teams.
“My assistant Joseph does the majority of the recruiting, like the traveling. He’s done a tremendous job. At one point he spent 10 days all over Texas. I think he did a really good job in covering a lot of ground in a short amount of time,” Coach Allen said.
Duel Player Madison Brabham remembers the recruiting process she experienced.
“Trying to find a college is hard and [Morales and Allen] were very welcoming. As an athlete it’s very stressful [to wager schools]. My experience during recruitment was awesome. [Joseph Morales] recruited me out of high school. He even drove to see me play,” she said. Brabham then mentioned what she looks for in a new member.
“In a new team member I really appreciate positivity. When I met some of the recruits, they were excited to be here. I feel that is essential. You have to be excited,” she said.
The national title brought attention to the Beach Volleyball team from TAMUK students. “I was in class when it was brought to my attention that the Volleyball team had a national title. A classmate was congratulating a player. I am very proud of them. Now other universities know who we are,” said Abrianna Cooper, Animal Science majors at TAMUK.
Coach Allen then talked about the type of players she looks for when recruiting.
“We are obviously going to look for someone who is athletic. This year we wanted to find a mix of both physical and specialty players.
“We have some younger kids that are very physical and some older kids that are a lot more specialized in positions. We recruit for two different teams, beach volleyball and then volleyball. Every once in a while you get an athlete that can play both. We want to win the LSC tournament [with these new recruits],” Allen said.
The team will start up again in the fall with training and the 2018-19 Seasons of beach volleyball and indoor volleyball.
