By MATT VINES, LSU Shreveport Public Relations
Caitlin Clampitt had a decision to make.
The volleyball outside hitter completed her junior college career in Texas, but she was homesick to return to her Shreveport roots.
Clampitt was leaning toward coming back to Shreveport and ending her volleyball playing career when a local club coach relayed news that made her decision a no-brainer.
LSU Shreveport is starting a volleyball program.
“I was really on edge the entire time – do I want to keep playing (offer from NAIA member Texas Wesleyan) or come back home to be near my family,” said Clampitt, the homeschooler who played sports at Evangel Christian. “When I heard that LSUS was starting a program, I was so excited and sent coach (Callie Houlihan) my film.
“This opportunity was perfect, and I’m really excited to be able to come in and build something from the ground up.”
Clampitt will be one of 17 student-athletes to don LSUS volleyball uniforms for the first time in school history.
Players take the court for the first practice today as they barrel quickly toward competitive play with scrimmages on Aug. 15 and Aug. 18 with the regular season opening on Aug. 21.
The Pilots play their first 11 matches away from home at invitationals and classics, and LSUS will open the home chapter of its program on Sept. 11-12 with the Red River Athletics Conference opener against Texas College. LSUS plays Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at noon.
First-year head coach Callie Houlihan knows time is short to implement her style and build the team culture foundations, but that’s exactly what she signed up for when she accepted the job in December.
“Being a college head coach has always been a dream for me, so when I saw this opportunity, I knew I had to take it,” Houlihan said. “Team chemistry is the top priority, getting everyone to know each other on a personal level.
“We want to run a little bit of a faster system, so we’ll make sure everyone’s on the same page on how we’re doing things. We’re going in with an open mind.”
Outside hitter Logan Hamilton played under Houlihan for the past two seasons as Houlihan was an assistant coach at McPherson College, which reached the NAIA Tournament quarterfinals this past season.
Hamilton had her best career game in that final match (14 kills) for 34-3 McPherson, and she’ll be key in helping her new teammates acclimate to their new coach.
“Knowing that Coach Callie was there took away a lot of the uncertainty of transferring to a brand-new program,” Hamilton said. “She’s very understanding, and players can go talk to her easily.
“I’m excited to get to know everybody and start building a great foundation. It’s fascinating to watch a team come together, and we’ve all played on enough teams to know that each team is different and we have to work on coming together.”
Houlihan’s first mission was to recruit.
Recruiting was her primary task at McPherson in her two seasons, and she put those skills to work in building a roster that includes two Division I transfers, one Division II transfer, four from Division III, five from the junior college ranks and two from fellow NAIA schools to go with five freshmen.
Those players stretch across classification levels as well – five freshmen, two sophomores, four juniors and six seniors.
They hail from Shreveport and nearby places like Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas while also stretching around the globe from places like Brazil, Egypt and Turkey.
Clampitt, the Shreveport native who played at Evangel, knows the Shreveport community is starved for college volleyball at a local public institution.
Clampitt coaches with local club TC Elite and started coaching the freshman team at C.E. Byrd this summer.
“I think this is really cool, and I think having a public-school volleyball program here will help grow the sport,” Clampitt said. “We have a lot of really good athletes here, and now they have access to scholarship volleyball in their own backyard.
“It’s weird that volleyball hasn’t been bigger sooner in this area given how big it is in Texas and South Louisiana, but the sport is growing at the club level, middle school level and high school level.”
Houlihan and assistant coach Aubrey Beaumont will be on the volleyball community frontlines as coaches at TC Elite, fostering relationships that will drive interest and attendance for LSUS volleyball.
“We’re going to be at high school games, and we’re going to be involved in the volleyball community and in the city overall,” Houlihan said. “We’re looking forward to bringing our girls out to support our local teams, and we’ll certainly want to bring that excitement back in our gym for our games.”
Contact Matt at matt.vines@lsus.edu