Last season the Sacramento State women?s volleyball team was denied its fifth-consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Then, they lost their Big Sky Conference Most Valuable Player, Tasman Dwyer, to graduation. The Hornets are still confident that the 2002-03 season will be a successful one.

Sac State welcomes back 10 players from last year?s team. They will also feature several new faces that will likely make an immediate contribution.

“We need to have some of the younger players step up,” senior outside hitter Jayme Wright said. “At the same time, the veterans have to set the precedent in terms of working hard.”

The team already appears to have taken that sentiment to heart.

“We have a new middle that?s working hard, and Allison Gahr?s replacement, Natalie [Melcher] is going to be big for us,” junior middle hitter and team captain Lisa Beauchene said.

The “new middle” is freshman Shannon Arts, who comes to the team from Valdez High School in Alaska. She led her team to a state championship and a 21-1 record last season. Arts is competing with sophomore Emily Wilson for the unenviable task of replacing Dywer at one of the middle positions. Wilson had a solid season for the Hornets off the bench last year.

“Tasman was an MVP and losing her was big, but we have two very capable replacements,” head coach Debby Colberg said.

A graduate of Redlands East Valley High School, Melcher comes to Sac State after transferring from Cal Poly. Volleyball Magazine named her one of the top 50 high school seniors in 2001.

While the new players will need to make an impact right away, Colberg expects veterans like Beauchene and Wright will steer the team.

“Lisa is a nice, solid player and Jayme is poised to have a nice year as a senior,” Colberg said.

In addition, the new “libero” rule will allow junior defensive specialist Olivia Thomas to have a greater impact on the game. The libero is a back row player who cannot serve, attack, or set inside the attack line. The player can re-enter the game as many times as needed, which allows her to play almost the entire match.

The libero rule is currently used in international play and made its debut in the 2000 Summer Olympics.

While the team shows promise on paper, they must translate that promise into wins on the court.

“Part of what killed us last year is that we looked too far ahead. We just want to get as many wins as we can in the preseason and come out strong,” Beauchene said.

On Saturday the Hornets wrapped up their two-day tournament at the Sam Houston State Invitational, finishing second in the five-team tournament.

The Hornets went 3-1 in their first matches of the season, handling Birmingham Southern, Sam Houston State and Texas A&M Corpus Christie.

Sac State?s sole loss was to eventual tournament winner Illinois-Chicago.

After tallying up 39 digs, 23 kills, eight blocks and combining for 136 assists, Beauchene was named the tournament MVP.

Wright was named to the all-tournament team after combining for team-high 44 kills and 59 digs.

“Last season, we played weak when we should have played tough. It comes down to knowing we?re good and playing like it,” Wright said.

The Sports Information Department contributed to this article.