The reigning Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference East Division champs, the Clark Atlanta University Lady Panthers, will hit the court for the first time this season today in the Emmanuel College Tournament in Franklin Springs, Ga. 

The Lady Panthers take on Southern Wesleyan University at 4 p.m. and then the hosts, Emmanuel College at 7 p.m.   Both matches will be streamed live http://conferencecarolinasdn.com/emmanuel/.

There will be a mix of veterans and newcomers for a Lady Panthers program that finished 17-13 overall last season, but had a big
SIAC season in finishing 14-3. 

The biggest change this season is on the sideline as Valerie Jones takes over as head coach.  Jones is a veteran club and high school head coach who also led programs at Kennesaw State University and South Carolina State University.  Jones is also a former All-American player at the University of Tampa.

"We're all excited," Jones said about starting this season.  "The players have all been working extremely hard in our preseason to develop and learn a new system. But they are doing a great job and are looking forward to playing against someone besides themselves."

Her team has a talented returning nucleus, including the SIAC Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Kia Thomas. Thomas, a sophomore middle blocker who was last season's conference Most Valuable Player, is joined by first All-SIAC preseason picks in senior setter Sierra Nelson, senior middle blocker Brittany Warren-Dancy, and second team All-SIAC preseason player, junior outside hitter Taylor Prude. Also returning is junior outside hitter Ashley Elmore, who was a preseason All-SIAC pick last season.

"We will rely heavily on them, as well as the returners who are in the program to kind of step up and lead the way for the new players," Jones said.

The Lady Panthers fell to both Southern Wesleyan and Emmanuel early last season before they went on a hot streak and won four of their next six matches.

Jones looks forward to another challenging pre-conference schedule.

"I'm just looking to gear up for the conference schedule," she said.  "It looks like we have a pretty competitive pre-conference season schedule, which is nice because it means that we'll be tested early on and you can come back and tweak the things you need to tweak and continue building up for the conference."

The Lady Panthers will be road warriors for the first part of the season, as they don't play at home at L.S. Epps Gymnasium until Oct. 12.  But CAU's conference slate tips off on Sept. 27 against Central State at the SIAC Crossover in Albany, Ga.

To see the full season schedule, go to https://clarkatlantasports.com/schedule.aspx?schedule=97.