Dani Milner
Dani Milner

Bentley Volleyball Opens Season on West Coast Friday

WALTHAM, Mass. – Before opening the home schedule next weekend with the Sandy Hoffman Memorial, the Bentley University women's volleyball will make their 2019 debut in the Cal State San Marcos Cougar Classic Friday and Saturday.

Bentley, the only team in the tournament from outside the West Region, will face Saint Martin's (Wash.) and the host team on Friday, with matches scheduled at 4 pm EDT and 9 pm EDT, respectively. On Saturday, the Falcons' opponents will be Western New Mexico (12 noon EDT) and Eastern New Mexico (4 pm EDT).

All matches will be webcast at http://ccaanetwork.com/csusm.

Sixth-year head coach Joey Pacis headed west with a veteran roster, one that includes five seniors and three juniors among the 14 players. The five players who had at least 100 kills during last year's 11-17 season are back and senior Dani Milner (Plano, Texas/The Greenhill School) is back on the court after missing most of last year due to injury.

Topping the list of veterans is two-time All-Northeast-10 middle hitter and NE10 hitting percentage leader Rachel Bruno (San Diego, Calif./Francis Parker HS), who'll be launching her senior season about 35 miles from her home. Last year, she hit .370 while also leading the Falcons in kills (2.58), blocks (0.84) and points (341).

Milner was a first-team All-Northeast-10 hitter as a sophomore when she was the only player in the conference to put up at least 3.2 kills, 3.2 digs and 0.5 blocks a game.

Other returning starters from last season's 11-17 team are juniors Kirsten Segaline (Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain HS) and Mallory Burbage (Bow Mar, Colo./Littleton HS), along with sophomores Amanda Parker (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North HS) and Shannon Ngo (San Rafael, Calif./Terra Linda HS).

Segaline and Burbage earned NE10 All-Rookie honors in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Segaline has averaged 2.5 kills and 2.5 digs during her first two seasons and Burbage provided 2.1 kills and 3.0 digs per set last year.

The trip to California is Bentley's first since 2007.

Cougar Classic Website