The Our Lady of the Lake University Athletic Department welcomes new and returning student-athletes from volleyball and men’s and women’s soccer and cross-country.  The student-athletes arrived on campus last Friday to begin their preseason workouts. The men’s soccer team will start its season with a scrimmage on Thursday at 6 p.m. on the OLLU Soccer Field. Both the men and women’s soccer teams will welcome alumni on Saturday for games beginning at noon. The volleyball team will play an exhibition in Mabee Gymnasium at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, and the cross-country teams will run their first meet later this month.

OLLU has announced the hiring of Bruce Lenington as the new head softball coach.  Lenington comes to OLLU after an assistant coach stint at Michigan State University.

“I am really excited about the diverse background that Bruce has in education, coaching and administration,” said OLLU athletic director Shane Hurley. “His background as an educator and high school coach for 17 years means that he’s well-equipped with the experience to groom student-athletes with diverse backgrounds and needs. Furthermore, his club and NCAA DI experience will lend connections across the country that he will capitalize on for the development of our softball program.”

Lenington boasts a long career at the high school, national travel ball, NAIA and NCAA D1 levels. Read full story at www.ollusaintsathletics.com.

Women’s basketball coach Stacy Stephens will be inducted into the Texas High School Basketball Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2020.

A former standout at the University of Texas who played professionally, Stephens led Winnsboro High School in Winnsboro to three consecutive State Tournament appearances in 1998, 1999 and 2000. This included two State Championships in 1999 and 2000. Stephens was named All-State three times and All-State Tournament three consecutive years.

Stephens, along with three other standout players and four legendary coaches, will be honored during the induction ceremony on Saturday, May 16, 2020, in San Antonio, during the annual Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Clinic. Read full story at www.ollusaintsathletics.com.

The OLLU volleyball program has released its match schedule for the fall featuring 24 regular season matches, including eight home matches and the Red River Conference (RRAC) Championship Tournament.

“We were able to put together a pretty nice schedule including some chances to be seen outside of our conference,” said first-year Head Coach Scott Mattera. Read full story at www.ollusaintsathletics.com.

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has announced the teams that have earned the distinction for Scholar-Teams for the 2018-2019 academic year.

Eight teams from OLLU qualified for this honor – the same amount as last year, which was a record.

OLLU’s NAIA Scholar Teams are Women’s Cross-Country, Soccer, Indoor Track, Outdoor Track and Volleyball; Men’s Baseball, Golf, Tennis. (Note: Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Teams are counted separately). Read full story at www.ollusaintsathletics.com.

The OLLU Athletic Department is proud to announce its largest class of scholar athletes – 120 – who have earned Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) Scholar-Athlete recognition. The cumulative GPA for all 120 student-athletes during the 2018-2019 season is 2.94 – the third highest in Saints history. View full story here.

With a new coach having just arrived in San Antonio in February who had nothing in the recruiting pipeline, the OLLU volleyball program faced an uphill battle in putting together its 2019 class. But with faith, togetherness and persistence, the Saints were able to gather some fantastic new additions to the volleyball family. New head coach Scott Mattera was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the recruits: “I wasn’t sure what we were going to be able to do in such a late and short window of time. But I am thrilled that we were able to find and attract five young ladies who will add some much-needed depth to our program.” Read full story here.

The Our Lady of the Lake University men’s tennis team has added Carlos Chavez to the 2019-2020 squad. Chavez is a graduate of Ysleta High School in El Paso, Texas, and he plans to major in business at OLLU.

The tennis team finished out its season at the NAIA Unaffiliated Regional Tournament as runners-up. The Saints will play a fall schedule and their official season in spring 2020.

The NAIA announced in May that 186 men’s golf student-athletes had been named to the 2019 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete Team.

In order to be nominated by an institution’s head coach or sports information director, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, must appear on the eligibility certificate for the sport and have attended two full years as a non-transfer or one full year as a transfer. 

Selected from Our Lady of the Lake University was Steve Landry, who earned a 4.00 GPA as a graduate student.

To learn more about the Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete award, click here. 

The OLLU volleyball team will host the OLLU Volleyball Recruit Camp from July 18 at 6 p.m. through noon on July 20 in Mabee Gymnasium. The camp is specially designed for varsity-level high school players with a desire and the ability to potentially play at the collegiate level.

For campers wishing to stay on campus for a two-night stay, the cost is $150, and for those wishing to commute, the cost is $100.

Residential registrations must be completed by midnight on July 14; commuter registration will remain open until the camp starts.

For additional information, including registration, medical release form and payment for the camp, visit the camp website here.