LAREDO, Texas — The Dustdevils return to the hardwood on Sept. 6 at the Seaside Invitational in San Diego, Calif., and will first fill the Texas A&M International Kinesiology And Convocation Building on Sept. 19 against Heartland Conference rival St. Edward's. The Dustdevils face challenge after challenge this season as they aim to produce a second winning season since 2006, when the team was a provisional member of the Heartland Conference.

The Dustdevils finished 15-12 overall and 7-7 in the Heartland Conference last season under coach Marlon Sano, finishing fourth in the conference standings to qualify for the Heartland Conference Tournament.

Sano returns with the Dustdevils for his second season, while the Heartland Conference selected them to finish fifth in its preseason poll, which was voted by conference head coaches and sports information directors.

TAMIU fell in the first round of the conference tournament to eventual-champion Arkansas-Fort Smith.

The 2011 Heartland co-Freshman of the Year Alex Ciszek returns after performing as the Dustdevils' top hitter last season, leading the team with 326 total kills. Ciszek was also named to the All-Heartland Conference Team. 

The junior from San Juan Capistrano, Calif., ranked second in the conference with 156 kills in conference matches, finishing with 326 total kills. She also ranked second on the team with 260 digs and added 19 aces, 29 assists, and 30 blocks.

With Ciszek, two other Dustdevils were selected to the All-Conference Team in 2012 as seniors, but neither are on the 2013. Daria Winkler and Andrea Marshall rounded out the TAMIU honorees.

Fort Smith was selected to win the conference in the preseason poll after its most recent conference tournament crowning saw it earn back-to-back titles.

The eight-team conference's preseason poll saw Dallas Baptist, St. Edward's and St. Mary's selected as conference tournament qualifiers, standing as seeds 2-4, respectively.

Behind TAMIU, the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, Newman and Oklahoma Panhandle State ranked Nos. 6-8.

Lubbock Christian and McMurry will compete this season, but will be ineligible for the conference championship and postseason play because of their status as provisional members. They were not ranked in the preseason poll.

TAMIU plays its opening games on Sept. 6-7 at the Seaside Invitational — four non-conference games against Azusa Pacific University, California State University-Dominguez Hills, California State Univeristy-Stanislaus and Point Loma Nazarene University. After the California trip, TAMIU will play a pair of Heartland games at Lubbock Christian and at UTPB before returning to Lubbock for the Heartland/Lone Star Crossover with non-conference games against Texas A&M-Commerce, Midwestern State and Texas A&M-Kingsville from Sept. 13-14.

Defensive Specialists

A trio of defensive specialists will fill out the Dustdevils' backline, bringing in both experience and potential. Senior Desiree Ortiz is the only returner, but junior Sophia Quinones will add a veteran flavor after playing her freshman and sophomore years for the University of the Incarnate Word.

Freshman Koral Wright's resume and potential will complement with the two TAMIU upperclassmen as well. She played four years of varsity volleyball for Coastal Christian High School in Arroyo Grande, Calif. She was named to the All-League First Team and ranked as the No. 12 California Interscholastic Federation Athlete of the Year. She finished her senior year of high school with a 26-2 overall record (12-0 in league play) while recording 42 kills and seven blocks over 77 sets played.

 Ortiz played in every single one of TAMIU's sets in 2012, with her 102 sets played for the highest total on the team. In 27 matches, Ortiz recorded three kills, 46 assists and 20 service aces — ranking third on the team. She had 548 digs and registered 23.5 points. Her digs total and reception percentage (.956) ranks No. 1.

For Incarnate Word as a sophomore, Quinones appeared in eight sets and four matches while registering one assist, six total attacks and three digs. As a freshman, she appeared in five sets, recording six digs against Texas Women's College. She was named to the Lone Star Conference Commissioner's Honor Role with a 4.00 GPA as a freshman.

Blockers

A former Dustdevils women's basketball player is changing courts to join the volleyball team this year. Rosebud Guthrie will join returning sophomore Paige Criss and incoming freshman Samantha Gonzalez — a local Laredoan and Alexander High alumnae — as the team's blocking corps.

Criss, the team's most veteran blocker, enters off a freshman year in which she played 98 sets and 27 matches. In 2012, she ranked first on the team for solo blocks, with 10. The next closest Dustdevil recorded only four blocks throughout the season.

Gonzalez, a homegrown talent, will enter off a 2012 that saw her earn an abundance of accolades. The former Lady Bulldog was honored as the District 29-5A Blocker of the Year and as the Laredo Morning Times' All-City Most Valuable Player.

Gonzalez will split time as a blocker and an outside hitter as needed this season.

Guthrie played four years of NCAA women's basketball — two for Eastern Oregon University before playing two with the Dustdevils. She played four years of varsity volleyball for Zillah High School in Zillah, Wash. Now she'll aim to bring her 6-foot-1 figure to the Dustdevils' front lines as a blocker. On the basketball court, she blocked 31 shots and made 158 total rebounds in 50 games for TAMIU.

Hitters

TAMIU will introduce and re-introduce an arsenal of six hitters, set to soar and slam the hardwood in pursuit of Heartland Conference domination. Experience-wise, the Dustdevils' hitters are split down the middle — with three upperclassmen and three underclassmen. Returning seniors Tierney Bannon-Coad and team captain Miranda Pratt will swing in with the most veteran of statuses. Junior Alex Ciszek comes in as the most-decorated Dustdevil within the program, and returning sophomore Toriana Goods will guide the freshest faces in TAMIU's Maroon and Silver.

German import Jana Badenhausen enters the TAMIU team as a sophomore after competing for Odessa Community College last year. Local product and incoming freshman Xcaret Ramirez will round out the Dustdevils' punishing pounders.

Bannon-Coad, a native Laredoan and Laredo Community College transfer, posted 26 kills for an average of 2.36 per set, 13 digs, four assists and one ace in 11 sets for the Dustdevils in 2012. She started both years at LCC and earned All-Academic recognitions as a Lady Palomino.

Pratt, announced as the Dustdevils captain by coach Sano, is back for her senior year after a 2012 season that saw her play 98 sets with a team third-best 218 kills (2.2 average per set), a team second-best 46 assists as well as 43 blocks, 84 digs and 21 aces. In 2011, she played all 32 matches with 275 kills, 43 assists, 49 blocks, 19 aces and 142 digs. Before coming to TAMIU, she played 26 sets and 11 matches as a freshman at the University of Idaho — where she tallied 52 kills, eight digs and six blocks.

Ciszek, a 2012 All-Conference and All-Heartland Tournament team member, led the Dustdevils and ranked fourth in the conference with 337 kills and ranked second on the team 269 digs. She had 30 blocks, 29 assists and 19 aces as a sophomore, while already ranking in TAMIU's all-time top-10 for career kills (7^th, 622 kills) and digs (10^th, 572 digs). In 2011 she was named co-Freshman of the Years in the Heartland Conference after playing in all 32 matches, averaging 0.34 aces per set and 2.32 kills per set. She had 303 digs, 30 total blocks and 26 assists as a freshman.

Badenhausen, a junior college transfer, is coming off her freshman year at Odessa College, where she was an Academic Excellence Award winner and a "Who's Next Among Students Award" honoree after recording 1.91 kills per set, a .322 hit percentage, 0.57 assists per set and 0.52 blocks per set. The Borken, Germany, native will tower at 6-foot-1 on the Dustdevils front line.

Goods, a sophomore from Arlington, Texas, played in 35 sets for the Dustdevils in 2012 as a freshman. She recorded 75 kills, 71 digs, six aces and four assists.

Ramirez, an incoming freshman, was a three-sport athlete at Alexander High in Laredo. She played varsity volleyball and softball from 2009-13 and varsity basketball from 2010-11, while also earning recognition as a Distinguished Athletic Program member, National Honor Society member and a Community Service honoree.

Setters

The Dustdevils will boast a pair of South Texan setters in returning sophomore Lizzie Prieto and freshman Ashley Anderson. Prieto is a homegrown Laredoan out of Alexander High — where she amassed a trophy case of accolades — and Anderson is a two-time district champion from San Antonio O'Connor High.

As a freshman in 2012, Prieto appeared in nine sets and seven matches while recording 38 assists, 13 digs and three kills. As a Lady Bulldog with Alexander, Preito came to TAMIU as the 2011 Laredo Morning Times Most Valuable Player and as the 2011 All-District 29-5A Outstanding Hitter and co-MVP. In 2010 she was the standalone district MVP, and she was the LMT All-City Newcomer of the Year in 2009. She earned All-District 29-5A first and second team recognitions from 2009-12 and lettered in volleyball, basketball, soccer and track and field.

Anderson was a standout in San Antonio after being named to the 2012-13 Academic All-State Team and lettering in volleyball for two years.