Grizzlies sign four recruits for approaching volleyball season

ALAMOSA, Colo.— New Adams State College volleyball coach Lindy Mortensen announced on Thursday that four players have signed national letters of intent for the approaching 2005 season. The list covers three different positions and includes three recent high school graduates along with one junior college transfer. “I’m quite pleased with that these four players have decided to become a part of our team,” Mortensen said about her first recruiting class.

Mortensen, a 1980 ASC graduate, had led the Montezuma-Cortez High School Panthers to six straight Southwestern League titles before accepting the ASC job in April. She inherits a Grizzly program that will return five starters and nine letterwinners from 2004.

The new recruits are:
• Tagen Bierly, a 5-foot-7 setter from Colorado Springs and Cheyenne Mountain High School. Bierly will join the Grizzly program after helping lead CMHS to district and regional titles before a fifth place showing at the state championships. She was named as the team MVP and the MVP at the Overland Tournament.

• Mandi Grasser, a 5-foot-10 outside hitter from Louisville, Colo. and Monarch High School. Setting three school records, Grasser helped the Coyotes to a 2004 district title. She was also named as the region’s player of the year and also picked up First Team All-Conference and Honorable Mention All-State honors while finishing second in the state in digs. Recording a 3.4 GPA while in high school, Grasser also earned Honorable Mention Academic All-State accolades and plans to major in sports management at ASC.

• Michelle Maddox, a 5-foot-7 outside hitter, San Luis Valley native and recent Del Norte High School graduate. A Second Team All-Conference selection in 2004, Maddox will have a familiar face in ASC assistant coach Brittney Absmeier, who was her DNHS coach for the past two years. Maddox also earned Second Team All-Conference honors in basketball and finished second in the shot put at the state track meet in each of the past two years.

• Brittany Whiteley, a 6-foot-2 middle blocker from Sierra Vista, Ariz. that will come to ASC via Blinn College in Brenham, Texas. Helping lead the Buccaneers to a 35-7 record and an appearance at the NJCAA National Tournament in her lone year at BC, Whiteley will have three years of eligibility remaining. A 2004 Buena High School graduate, Whiteley earned First Team All-Region and Honorable Mention All-State honors while in high school.