EMMA RIDLEY NAMED TO SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE PRESEASON TEAM

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi senior outside hitter Emma Ridley was named preseason First-Team All-Southland Conference when the league released its preseason All-Southland teams and polls on Wednesday afternoon. The top outside hitter in the conference, Ridley was an automatic selection after being named First-Team All-Southland and Newcomer of the Year last season.

Ridley led the entire conference with 464 kills last year and hopes to continue putting up big numbers during her senior season with the Islanders. She will be looked to as a leader this season as one of five returnees on the 15-player roster that includes one junior college transfer and nine true freshmen.

"We know with Emma that we are going to get a lot of offense and someone who can take over the match when we need someone to do that," said head coach Tony Graystone. "When our team gets into trouble, she will be the first one we look at to bail us out.

"It's a real comfort to us, especially being so young, to have a senior outside hitter who can handle that much responsibility and play at a high level."

The Islanders as a team were picked to finish last in the West Division by both the coaches and sports information directors. They received 50 points in the coaches voting while defending tournament champion Texas State was picked first with 118 points while regular season champion Central Arkansas tallied 111 points to lead the East Division. In the SID poll, UCA was picked to win the league with 115 points while the Bobcats were picked second at 112 while the Islanders received just 35 points.

"It's way too early to even think about that (the conference polls)," said Graystone. "Our goal is to get into the conference tournament with the best seed that we can and then go from there.

"Until we even get to conference play, we aren't thinking about the Southland teams just yet."