Brookhaven College, the defending NJCAA division three volleyball champions, enter the 2010 season ranked No. 1 in the country.  Coach Jason Hopkins' team finished the 2009 season with an overall record of 26 wins and 10 losses and a perfect record in the Metro Athletic Conference (MAC) of 10-0.

"We return five starters from last years championship team," says Hopkins.  "I feel that with their leadership, we should have yet another title run.  Sarah Terry, our returning first team AVCA all-American will lead the attack this season."

Three schools competing within Region 5 begin the year ranked in the NJCAA top-25 volleyball polls, according to NJCAA.org. 

Temple College enters the season ranked tenth.  After a slow start to the 2009 season, the Lady Leopards rebounded for a strong finish in which they won the North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference (NTJCAC) with a record of 9 wins and only 1 loss and then followed that up by winning the NTJCAC tournament to earn a berth to the national tournament.

The Lady Plainsmen of Frank Phillips College begin the season ranked twelfth nationally.  FPC had a solid year in 2009, finishing with an overall record of 29 wins and 13 losses and entered the Western Junior College Athletic Conference (WJCAC) tournament as the number one seed with a conference record of 7 wins and 1 loss. 

The FPC Volleyball Team returns NJCAA All American Viktorija Jablonska who has drawn the attention of many 4 year volleyball programs all across the United States. This is complimented by Coach Tanya Allen's freshman recruiting class put them in a position to make a run for a 9th trip to the NJCAA National Championship.

Coming in at 23rd nationally are the Lady Chaps of Midland College who finished third in the WJCAC in 2009 and had an overall record of 23 wins and 14 losses.

In the fall of 2011, women's volleyball will be added to the list of nationally recognized athletic programs at Odessa College.  Alana Rowland has been selected as the first Head Coach in school history.  Rowland comes to Odessa College after having spent four seasons as assistant volleyball coach at Seward County Community College in Liberal, Kansas. 

Last season Rowland was instrumental in helping guide the Lady Saints to a Jayhawk West Conference Championship and a #14 NJCAA national ranking.  In 2008 Rowland helped lead the Lady Saints to an impressive 36 win season that resulted in a 2nd place finish in the Jayhawk West Conference.  In Rowland's first season with the Lady Saints, the Lady Saints played in the NJCAA Region VI Tournament championship match.

Odessa College athletic director Wayne Baker is thrilled about OC's new program and new coach. "Odessa College and the entire community of Odessa, TX are extremely excited about adding volleyball to the sport program at OC.   We were very fortunate to have a great applicant pool to choose from, and feel very good about the choice of Alana Rowland to be the first volleyball coach in the history of Odessa College.  Alana has the energy and personality to successfully initiate the inaugural volleyball program at Odessa College. We are excited to welcome Alana to the Odessa College family."

Rowland is ready to embark on this historic journey. "I think it's a great opportunity to build a program from scratch and add to Odessa College's stellar athletic reputation.  I feel very fortunate to be able to work with Wayne Baker and I really appreciate his hard work and desire to get the program started in a way that will allow us to be competitive immediately.  Everyone at OC has been very welcoming and I am ecstatic about the new position.  My husband and I look forward to becoming a part of the OC family"

ODESSA, Texas - Odessa College athletic director Wayne Baker recently announced the addition of volleyball to the Lady Wrangler athletic program to begin in fall 2011.  This was approved by the Board of Regents on Monday evening, January 25. 

"We are thrilled to have another WJCAC team participate in the sport of volleyball.  This will bring the total number of teams to six," said WJCAC commissioner John Green. 

Teams currently participating in volleyball are Clarendon College, Frank Phillips College, Midland College, New Mexico Military Institute, and Western Texas College.