TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

WACO, Texas - The University of Texas-Pan American (UTPA) volleyball team will continue their season opening seven match road trip on Friday afternoon as they compete in the Fairfield Inn North Baylor Classic Tournament against Northern Colorado. The two-day three match tournament will see the Broncs face the Bears at noon on Friday, followed by two Saturday matches with tournament host Baylor and McNeese State. All matches will take place at the  Ferrell Center on the Baylor campus.

"This tournament provides us with some stiff competition this weekend," UTPA head coach Brian Yale said. "We'll see two big, physical teams in our first two matches with Northern Colorado and Baylor as well as a McNeese team that is on the rise. I see the next couple days as an opportunity for our young squad to learn a lot about high level Division 1 volleyball."

The Broncs are coming off a 1-3 record last weekend when they competed in the Bearkat Invitational hosted by Sam Houston State University. New Broncs head coach Brian Yale picked up his first career head coaching victory last Friday when the Broncs knocked off Lousiana Tech  3-0 (29-27, 25-21, 25-23). It was the first win for the Broncs against LaTech since 1988.

The Broncs were led by junior outside hitter Ijanae Holman, who is averaging 2.43 kill per set this season. While the defense is paced by junior libero Juri Franzen who avergages 5.07 digs per set so far in 2011.

The Bears (2-2) has wins over UNLV?in a sweep and a five set victory over Air Force. The Bears were picked to win the Big Sky Conference for the first time in school history after tying for the regular season title in 2010 with a 24-7, 14-2 mark. Junior outside hitter Kelley Arnold leads the offense averaging 4.00 kills per set.

The Broncs will face Baylor in the second match of the day on Saturday with a 12:30 PM scheduled start time. The Bears are 2-1 on the 2011 season after earning wins over VCU and College of Charleston last weekend at the Purdue Classic with their lone loss coming to the 13th ranked Purdue Boilermakers

Senior libero Allison King had a solid opening weekend by recording 45 digs in just nine sets, ranking second in the Big 12 conference at 5.00 digs per set. On offense, outside hitters Torri Campbell and Brianna Tolbert lead the way with each averaging over three kills per set. Tolbert has been especially strong with .462 hitting percentage.

McNeese State will be the final opponent for the Broncs over the weekend. The Cowgirls (0-3) will be looking for their first win in 2011 suffering a five-set loss at UL-Monroe. Freshman outside hitter?Maegan Carlton leads the offense with 3.27 kills per set, while senior?Katie Kennedy paces the defense at 3.55 digs per set.

"For me it's an exciting chance to coach against two guys that have kind of mentored me along my coaching path," Coach Yale added. "Terry Gamble (McNeese State) and I first coached against each other about 15 years ago while we were up in the Ohio/Michigan area. While Jim Barnes (Baylor) has been a big help to me and my coaching progression over the past 4 or 5 years."

UTPA will be looking to continue their growth as a team over the weekend and Coach Yale believes the early season tournaments aid in the team building process.

"Our goal this weekend is to go out and improve on the areas that we identified as our highest priority items after last weekend," Coach Yale added. "We are looking to do a few more things well and build this program in as small of steps as necessary. We've got to be willing to endure the process in order to enjoy the progress."

The Broncs will return home on Tuesday night when they begin the home portion of their schedule when the host Texas Tech.