Homecoming Sting

Three University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College volleyball players will experience a homecoming this weekend as a result of damages caused by Hurricane Dolly last month on South Padre Island.

The hurricane's destruction forced the temporary closure of SPI Convention Centre, where the nine-team 2008 SPI Volleyball Challenge was originally scheduled today and Saturday. The Convention Centre won't re-open until October, so the season-opening tournament for the host Scorpions will be played at Rivera High School.

Jacque Touchet, Anayeli Treviño and Lesly Montes are three members of the Scorpion squad who played their high school volleyball at Rivera. 

 "It's exciting to be able to play in that gym again," said Touchet, a sophomore middle blocker. "It's kind of like going home, and it should be fun.

"A lot of the girls on our squad are new, so this tournament should give everyone a good chance to experience the competition that's out there," she added.

Besides UTB-TSC, the nine-team tournament field includes Our Lady of the Lake University of San Antonio, Oklahoma City University, Doane College (Neb.), Morningside College (Iowa), Briar Cliff University (Iowa), Dordt College (Iowa), Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.) and Malone College (Ohio).

Of that group, NAIA teams ranked nationally last season were Morningside (15th), UTB-TSC (18th) and Dordt (19th).

UTB-TSC and Olivet played in last year's NAIA national tournament. The Red River Athletic Conference champion Scorpions finished tied for fifth place at the national tournament with a 36-9 record.

Today, the Scorpions play Doane at 1:30 p.m. and take on Oklahoma City at 6 p.m. On Saturday, they face Morningside at 2:30 p.m. and Dordt at 7 p.m.

There will be nine tournament matches each day on two courts, beginning at 9 a.m. today and 10 a.m. on Saturday. Admission is free.

"This tournament will be our first test of the season and we'll see how we stack up," first-year UTB-TSC head coach John Barnes said. "We'll improve as the season goes along and we'll be competitive, and that's because our players are working hard and playing hard."

Barnes said he was pleased with the outcome of last Saturday night's alumni match. The Scorpions swept the alumni in four games.

"I was real happy with how we did Saturday," he said. "The team came together nicely."

Talita Milasauskas of Brazil, a 6-foot-2 sophomore middle blocker who was named NAIA second-team All-America last season, has returned to the Scorpions, although she isn't playing yet because of injuries suffered in a vehicle accident in May.

 Barnes said he hopes Milasauskas, 2007 RRAC and District VI player of the year, will be ready to play when conference action begins in early October.

"We're not going to rush things," he said.