The Marquette women’s volleyball team signed three recruits to bring depth to next year’s team, as it continues its rebuilding process.
The Golden Eagles received letters of intent from Emma Brydels, Courtney Mrotek and Casey Read. All three players will arrive in the summer of 2010 with four years of eligibility remaining and were named to the 2009-2010 Under Armour Girls’ High School All-America Watch list earlier this year.
“We have a great class coming in for 2010, giving us a little more stability and a little more depth at a lot of our positions,” coach Bond Shymansky said. “All of these players are very competitive athletes in addition to being very gifted and good students. We feel like we added a lot of balance to the class, bringing in a setter, an outside hitter and a middle hitter. It was a great first class for us.”
Brydels is a setter that comes from Oakville High School in St. Louis, Mo. She was named team MVP as well as being named to the all-district and all-conference teams the last two seasons. This year she also earned second team all-region honors after recording 544 sets and 287 kills in the 2009 campaign.
“Emma is a 5-foot-10 left-hander and a very versatile setter,” Shymansky said. “She is going to be really good and we are really counting on her learning a lot behind Nikki Klingsporn. Emma is part of the big-picture future of our program.”
Morgan Lucas, Brydels’ high school volleyball coach, was very excited for Brydels’ decision to play at “an excellent Division I university,” and gushed praise for her setter.
“Emma is an extremely competitive player,” Lucas said. “She is also a very intelligent setter and does a great job running the offense.”
Brydels may one day be setting Mrotek and Read, the other two recruits signed to play this year.
Mrotek is a 5-foot-11 middle hitter from Lincoln High School in Manitowoc, Wis., who led her team to the WIAA Division I state semifinals this year.
She was selected Fox River Classic Conference Player of the Year in 2007 and 2008 and was named as an honorable mention to the all-state team in 2007 and 2009.
She is excited for the opportunity to stay in-state and help in the rebuilding process.
“I want to help change it and bring it up, hopefully getting some conference wins in there and turn it around,” Mrotek told the Herald Times Reporter, the daily newspaper of Manitowac County.
Read will travel further than any of the recruits coming from Chatham High School in Chatham, N.J.
She was a three time all-state selection to go along with her four all-conference, all-county and all-area selections.
“Casey Read is coming all the way from New Jersey, which is one of the great things for our program, being able to expand our recruiting base a little bit,” Shymansky said. “Casey is a great all-around player who knows how to win and is super competitive.”
