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AWC - Ladys Montano Headed to Texas A&M International

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AWC - Ladys Montano Headed to Texas A&M International

Written by Sports News Southwest

Saturday, 14 July 2007

(SNSWS) Yuma, Arizona – Arizona Western College announced that Lady Matadors’ volleyball player Ladys Montano has signed an official letter of intent to attend Texas A&M International University in Laredo, Texas, this fall, and play volleyball for the Lady Dustdevils this season.

Montano becomes the third Lady Matadors’ volleyball player to sign with a four-year school, following fellow sophomore Rachel Kidwell, who signed with the University of Alaska-Anchorage in April; and freshman Lauren Manley, who signed with Cardinal Stritch University in Wisconsin last month. The announcement comes a little over three weeks before the Lady Matadors’ first preseason practice on August 6^th.

Montano was one of the last student-athletes recruited by former Matadors’ Head Volleyball Coach James Finley before he left for NCAA Division I Virginia Commonwealth. Montano was brought along slowly after arriving at AWC in the summer of 2005 under new coach Matt Patton. But despite playing the fewest minutes of any member of the 2005 AWC Volleyball squad, Montano still showed enough promise to rank second on the team in aces per game (.459 per game), and showed enough power to rank 4^th on the team in kills per game (1.45 kills per match).

When Jason Smith took over the program in the summer of 2006, Montano knew that she’d be relied on for leadership since she was one of only three returning players. Despite a slow start while learning Smith’s new system, Montano caught fire right at the midpoint of the 2006 season. During one four-game stretch at the end of September, Montano had three games of 17 kills or more, including a season-high 20-kill performance against Yavapai September 29^th that would provide AWC with the momentum to overtake the Lady Roughriders in the conference standings for good. Overall, Montano was second on the team in kills (283), aces (41) and digs (178) as a sophomore. For her efforts, the native of Santiago de Cali, Valle, Colombia was honored at the end of the season with 1^st Team All-Region I and All-ACCAC Honorable Mention selections. Montano was one of the main reasons that the Lady Matadors won their 7^th straight Region I title last November, and her coach points to her overall growth as the main factor. “The progress that Ladys made from her freshman to sophomore year-in terms of physical, mental and emotional maturity-was exciting to watch,” remarked AWC Head Volleyball Coach Jason Smith. “She was definitely our best all-around player last year. The Dustdevils are getting a big, strong, physical player who has the potential to be absolutely phenomenal.”

Montano will head to Texas next month to join a young but quickly successful Texas A&M International volleyball program. TAMIU comes off a 24-5 season in their first campaign as a NCAA Division II provisional member of the Heartland Conference, and their .828 winning percentage set a new high-water mark for the program. The Lady Dustdevils’ volleyball program is about to enter only its sixth year of existence. Here at home, the 7-time defending Region I Champion Lady Matadors will begin defense of their title August 24^th when they kick off the 2007 season hosting the team they defeated last November to win the crown, the Yavapai Lady Roughriders, at ‘The House’.