The Iowa volleyball team will open its season today in College Station, Texas, where it will compete in the Texas A&M Tournament. The Hawkeyes will face host Aggies and Texas-San Antonio and Tulane on Saturday.

This will be the first time any player on the roster will meet any of their three opponents and is also the longest out-of-conference road trip taken by the Hawkeyes since participating in the Columbia Invitational in New York City in 2011.

There will be a plethora of unfamiliar faces for any fans traveling to watch the Hawkeyes. Along with first-year head coach Bond Shymansky, four newcomers will be in the starting lineup to begin the season.

With such a relatively young squad, the Hawkeyes will rely heavily on their veterans to keep the motor running, beginning with seniors Alex Lovell and Alessandra Dietz.

Lovell led the team in kills at 405 and kills per set at 3.35. Dietz was third on the team in both categories at 220 kills and 1.88 kills per set, as well as being the team leader in blocks at 112.

Junior Erin Radke and sophomore Lauren Brobst were also vital performers last season, and they will likely assume a more central role to the team this year, along with sophomore setter Alyssa Klostermann.

The Aggies finished last season at 19-12 but graduated five seniors. The team now has only two seniors, three juniors, and has more freshmen on their roster than the Hawkeyes.

Iowa will try to get a good start to a new era, with first serve scheduled for 10 a.m.

— by Kyle Mann