South Dakota volleyball head coach Leanne Williamson has announced the additions of Meagan Kerns and Raquel West to the 2016 roster.
A 5-foot-11-inch right-side hitter/middle blocker from Anthon, Iowa, Kerns transferred to USD from University of Missouri-Kansas City. In 2015 at UMKC, Kerns appeared in 26 matches with 23 starts for the Kangaroos. She was third on the team with 21 service aces to go along with 127 kills and 56 blocks. While playing at Maple Valley Anthon-Oto High School, Kerns led the Rams to three Western Valley Conference Championships. She was named first-team all-state her senior year, second-team all-state as a junior and first-team all-WVC three times. She is the school’s career record holder for kills with 1,423. Kerns graduated Cum Laude from Maple Valley-Anthon Oto and also played basketball. She plans on studying communication studies and business while at USD.
Hailing from Wimberley, Texas, West is a 5-foot-4-inch setter and defensive specialist. West comes to USD after two seasons at Allen Community College, which is part of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). She played in 31 matches with the Red Devils and tallied 645 assists, 5.86 per set and had a match-high 46 assists against Neosho College. She added 215 digs and 25 service aces. West was named to the all-NJCAA Academic Team in 2015. She was named to the Allen Invite All-Tournament Team, Neosho All-Tournament Team and was voted the Red Devil’s Most Valuable Player during the 2015 season. At Wimberley High School, she was named to the all-district first-team in 2012 and 2013. She earned academic all-district honors in 2012 and academic all-state honors in 2013. West plans on studying exercise science at USD.
