SERVING IT UP: The Arkansas State volleyball team opens the 2014 season on the road at the George Washington Invitational in Washington, D.C., Aug. 29-30. The tournament is being hosted by George Washington University.

THE GEORGE WASHINGTON SERIES: A-State lost the only matchup in its history with tournament host George Washington by dropping a 3-1 decision in the 1997 Saint Louis Billiken Invitational in St. Louis, Mo.

THE NORTH DAKOTA SERIES: The Red Wolves and North Dakota have never met in volleyball. Of note, North Dakota is currently playing athletics without a nickname due to having to drop their old mascot and can't choose another nickname until 2015.

THE AUBURN SERIES: Arkansas State and Auburn have met three times with the Tigers holding a 2-1 advantage over the Red Wolves. The schools last met in 1997 with Auburn earning a 3-0 win over A-State in the Indiana University Classic. The Red Wolves' lone win over was a 3-0 decision at the Butler Invitational in 1992.

IT'S SO HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: A-State loses five seniors from last season's team including digs leader Megan Baska, kills leader Sadie Clark, blocks leader Kelsey Sullivan, and assists leader Jackie Gerig. Defensive specialist Shelby Crncic also graduated and Taylor Szypulski, scheduled to be a redshirt senior this season, retired from playing after sustaining another season-ending injury last year.

DIGGING WITH SCHAEDIG: Sophomore Markie Schaedig will step into the libero position during the 2014 season, replacing Megan Baska, a four-year starter at the position from 2010-13. Schaedig totaled 245 digs a season ago, the second highest total on the team behind Baska's 623.

A SIDE OF REIS: Sophomore Kelsey Reis is back and expected to lead A-State's middle blockers this season. Reis led the Red Wolves with a .301 hitting percentage and 15 block solos a season ago. Her 97 total blocks only trailed Kelsey Sullivan's 107 and Reis's 17 service aces were tied for the fourth most on the team.

MARVELOUS MALLORY: Sophomore Mallory Warrington became the squad's primary setter late in the season a year ago. Over the last 15 matches of the season she registered 479 assists for a team-high 9.58 assists per set. Warrington led the team in double-doubles with seven and was a two-time SBC Player of the Week (one as Setter of the Week and the other as Freshman of the Week).

LONE RANGER: Sarah Kemp is A-State's lone senior this season and looks to improve upon a solid junior campaign. Kemp, who battled some injuries throughout the season, tallied 261 kills and registered the second highest kills per set average on the 2013 squad with a 2.46 average. Kemp was also a very effective server as she recorded the most service aces on the team with 25. Defensively, she was solid with the fifth most digs on the team (161) and also had 34 blocks.

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN: Arkansas State returns seven lettermen from last season's team. They include Markie Schaedig, Kendal Davis, Mallory Warrington, Shelby Holmes, Sarah Kemp, Kelsey Reis, and Jessica Heuertz.

A-STATE GEOGRAPHY: The Red Wolves feature players from seven different states this season. The states represented are Arkansas (4), California (1), Illinois (2), Kansas (1), Missouri (3), Nebraska (1), and Texas (5).

SHORTEST TO TALLEST: Junior Hannah Robey has the distinction of being A-State's shortest player at 5'5, while true freshman Anna Murphy and sophomore Kelsey Reis are tied for the tallest players on the Arkansas State roster at 6'3.

NEW FACES: The Red Wolves welcome 10 newcomers to this year's squad, with seven high school signees leading the way. A-State also added two JUCO signees and one Division I transfer, Lindsay Cline, who will sit out the season.

JUCO ALL-AMERICAN: A-State signed a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) All-American in Kariana Castanon-Hill from Blinn College in Brenham, Texas. A-State head coach David Rehr won two national championships at Blinn College in 2008 and 2011 before becoming the Red Wolves' head coach.

CROSSTOWN RIVALS BECOME TEAMMATES: A-State teammates Nicole Knight and Drew Jones know what it's like to play against each other, but are now playing on the same team. Knight prepped at Fort Smith Northside High School while Jones played for Fort Smith Southside High School across town. Knight led the Lady Bears to the 7A State semifinals where Northside lost to Jones and the Southside Confederettes. Fort Smith Southside went on to win the 2013 7A State Championship.

NEW ASSISTANT COACH: Arkansas State welcomes Tristan Johnson to its staff. Johnson was a student-assistant at the University of Alabama a season ago and takes the place of Tessa McGill, who accepted an assistant coach position at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

BYE BYE BASKA: The Red Wolves lost their libero of the past four seasons when Megan Baska finished her collegiate career last season. Baska ended her tenure as an A-State player with 2,190 digs, the second most in school history, and set the Sun Belt Conference record for Defensive Player of the Week awards with 12 throughout her career, including two as a senior in 2013.

LAST TIME OUT: TROY, Ala. (11/22/13) — The Arkansas State volleyball team's season came to a close with a loss to Texas State 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-20) in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Troy, Ala.

After dropping the first two sets to the third seeded Bobcats (23-12), the seventh seeded Red Wolves (15-20) did not start out the third set the way they had hoped by falling behind 6-1, but A-State fought back to within four points at 12-8 after a Sadie Clark kill. Texas State responded by stretching its lead out to 20-11, but the Red Wolves came back with a 5-0 run of their own to get with four points again at 20-16 after a kill by Sarah Kemp. A-State was able to inch closer and got within three points at 23-20 on another Clark kill, but the Bobcats won the next points to win the set 25-20 and the match 3-0.

“You have to give all the credit to Texas State,” A-State volleyball coach David Rehr said. “They came out fired up and we couldn't match that at first. We've fought back all year and we fought back today, but it was just a little too late.”

Clark led the Red Wolves in kills with nine, while Jackie Gerig dished out 11 assists to lead A-State. Defensively, Megan Baska led the Red Wolves with 15 digs to end her season with 623 and her illustrious career with 2,190. Kelsey Sullivan recorded three blocks while Kelsey Reis and Kendal Davis each had a service ace each.

A-State began the first set strong by jumping out to a 4-1 lead after a block by Gerig and Sullivan, but Texas State stormed back to take a 6-5 lead. The Bobcats used a 13-5 run to obtain a 19-10 advantage, but A-State closed the gap to seven points at 21-14 after a block solo by Sullivan. Texas State quelled any thought of an A-State comeback by ending the set on a 4-1 run to earn a 25-15 game one victory.

In set two, Texas State was the first to 10 and had a 10-7 lead when Arkansas State called its first timeout of the set. The timeout didn't stop the Bobcats' momentum as they used a 7-2 run to stretch their lead out to 17-9. The Red Wolves got as close as six points at 19-13 on a Clark block solo, but a 6-3 Texas State run to end the set clinched a 25-16 game two victory and gave the Bobcats a 2-0 advantage in the match.

A-State ends the season with an overall record of 15-20 and has advanced the semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in both of Coach Rehr's two seasons as head coach.