Lion women line up recruits

Vanguard University women’s volleyball added four players to a team

that finished last season 25-14 and advanced to the NAIA semifinals,

the most successful season in the history of the program.

Having lost three seniors from a team that cracked the NAIA’s top

25, Coach Erikka Gulbranson signed three freshmen and a transfer to

the squad in hopes of continuing the success without missing a step.

Junior transfer Rachel Beard, a 2003 graduate of San Clemente

High, will bring in two years of collegiate experience to the Lions

after notching more than 450 assists her freshman season at the

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and competing her sophomore

year at Saddleback College. A 5-foot-9 setter, Beard has also

competed for the Saddleback Valley Volleyball Club, which is based in

Lake Forest.

Shardai Sublett, a 5-10 outside hitter, comes to Vanguard from

Tempe, Ariz. where she carried a 3.5 grade-point average and excelled

in athletics at Marcos de Niza High. A three-sport high school

athlete, Sublett was a first-team all-region selection and Most

Valuable Player for her volleyball team.

Catlyn Appelgate was a two-sport athlete at Green Valley High in

Henderson, Nev. She was named the 2004 Offensive Player of the Year

and served as a team captain for the Gators. A four-year swimmer and

two-year volleyball player at Green Valley, Appelgate worked herself

into an all-conference volleyball player by her senior year.

Lauren Jansen begins her collegiate career as a 5-10 outside

hitter who helped Fallbrook High share the championship of the

Avocado League in 2004. A native of Vista, Calif., Jansen was a

scholar-athlete and will major in business at Vanguard.

“This is the most talented recruiting class that we have brought

to Vanguard in the past four years,” Gulbranson said. “We’ve added to

our blocking, attacking and setting game, as well as some leadership

to the lineup.”

The Lions open the season in early September in the Concordia

tournament.