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RICHMOND, Ky. – Seven Ohio Valley Conference regular season championships, nine OVC Tournament titles and seven more pre-NCAA conference and regional championships have highlighted the first 50 years of Eastern Kentucky University volleyball.
 
The 2015 season marks the 50th anniversary of Colonel volleyball.  This year's team begins OVC play at home on Friday against Belmont at 7 p.m.  EKU will host Tennessee State at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
 
Eastern Kentucky fielded its first intercollegiate volleyball team in 1966.  OVC and EKU Hall of Famer Geri Polvino served as head coach from the program's inception through the 1997 season.  In her 32 years, Polvino compiled a 627-439 record while leading the Colonels to nine total conference championships and eight combined league tournament titles. 
 
Prior to the OVC sponsoring women's sports, Eastern participated in the Kentucky Women's Intercollegiate Conference (KWIC) and the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW).  The Colonels won KWIC state titles from 1971 to 1973 and gained national exposure after winning the 1971 AIAW Region II championship.  In a six-year span, EKU won four AIAW Region II titles and advanced to the national tournament each of those years.  In 1975, the Colonels made their best showing with a 14th place finish at the AIAW National Championships.
 
The program owned the OVC throughout much of the 1980s and into the early 1990s.  Eastern Kentucky won its first OVC tournament title in 1981, and then did it again in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988 and 1990.  The Colonels captured the regular season OVC championship in 1984, 1985, 1986, 1990 and 1991.
 
Eastern Kentucky went undefeated in conference play for three straight seasons – 1984, 1985 and 1986.  From October 1983 to September 1987, the Colonels won 49 straight matches against OVC teams. 
 
The 1984 team made Eastern's first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament.  From 1980 to 1991, Polvino's teams won 20 or more games 10 times and reached the 30-win plateau four times.  She was chosen as the OVC Coach of the Year eight times during that span.
 
Angela Boykins won the program's first OVC Player of the Year award in 1985 and did it again in 1986.  Deb Winkler took home the honor in 1987.  Sue Antkowiak won it in 1990 and Jennifer James was chosen as the league player of the year in 1991.
 
In the early 2000s, under the guidance of former Colonel Lori Duncan, EKU returned to the top of the Ohio Valley Conference.  Duncan, only the second head coach in program history, led the team to OVC regular season championships in 2004 and 2005.  The 2004 squad went 15-1 in league play and won the OVC Tournament title.  Eastern made its second NCAA Tournament appearance that season.
 
One of the key components of those 2004 and 2005 teams was Liz Guard Sellers.  Sellers became the program's first All-American in 2005 and will be inducted into the EKU Athletics Hall of Fame on Saturday. 
 
Sellers will join three other former Colonel volleyball players and coach Polvino in the Hall of Fame.  Boykins, James and Deanne Madden-Scanlon were the first three players to be enshrined.
 
The 2015 Eastern Kentucky squad has faced some of the toughest teams in the nation.  In addition to playing No. 1 Penn State and No. 15 Colorado State, the Colonels have also played Tennessee, Notre Dame, Mississippi State and Indiana.
 
Over the two previous seasons, Eastern has a 16-5 record at home and this year's team has continued to play strong at McBrayer Arena.  On Sept. 8, the Colonels rolled past visiting Northern Kentucky in shutout fashion, 3-0.  Sophomores Celina Sanks and Danielle Hicks finished with 11 and 10 kills respectively.  Johanna Boyer had 18 assists and freshman Chloe Rojas contributed a match-best 21 digs.
 
Of the 14 players on the 2015 team, 11 are freshmen or sophomores.  Sanks leads the team with 2.51 kills per set while Hicks is third with 1.75 per set.  Rojas is the team leader with 217 digs.
 
Belmont is 3-7 this season leading into its match on Tuesday at home against Lipscomb.  Tennessee State is 5-6, and will play at East Tennessee on Tuesday and Morehead State on Friday.