Mayfield, KY - Mid-Continent (team pictured to left returns five players from its 2008-09 squad which posted a 3-25 record and won one TranSouth game. First-year coach Courtney Nicley and assistant Chris Jefferson are faced with the task of building a program that has yet to experience a winning season in a seven-year history. They begin with nine players and no returning All-TSAC selections.

    "We have a group of nine players who desire to work hard and improve in every facet of the game," says Nicley (pictured to right), who was a four-year starter for Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne from 2001-05. "My emphases always have been defense and fundamentals, physical play and hustle, working hard and focusing for the entire game, and knowing the game"

     6-3 senior post Kandi Knupp (pictured to the left) returns after averaging 6.5 points and 3.5 rebounds with 41 blocked shots. 5-8 sophomore Amanda Daugherty, who started the last 13 games of the season, averaged 3.8 points and 5.1 rebounds, and 5-4 sophomore Nicki Dewitt contributed 7.1 points with 39 three-pointers, mainly as a reserve.

    Nicley and Jefferson must wait until the conclusion of the collegiate volleyball season to gain the services of three of its top players: 5-11 junior forward Katie Perry, who averaged 9 points and 4 rebounds in 24 games for MCU in 2006-08 but sat out last season, and 5-8 junior guard Tiffany Payton and 5-6 junior guard Lindsey Davis, who both played two seasons for Kaskaskia College in Illinois.

    Davis and Payton helped Kaskaskia to a 26-9 record last season with conference and NJCAA Region 24 championships, and a berth in the 2009 NJCAA Tournament final four in Salina, Kansas. Davis totaled 166 assists in 59 career games, and Payton earned All-Conference and All-Region 24 selection last season and averaged 12.1 points with 142 three-point field goals and an .844 free throw percentage in 58 games at Kaskaskia.

    MCU also returns two other reserves. 5-11 junior forward Alisha Herndon played in nine games last season with 16 points and 4 rebounds, and as a freshman in 2007-08, she averaged 6.1 points and 2.4 rebounds in 9 games. 5-6 junior guard Jean-Ann Riley, an All-TSAC Scholar-Athlete last season, begins her third season at Mid-Continent and has played briefly in 29 games in 2007-09.