Fall 2021 Athletics Review — Centenary Magazine

A semblance of normalcy returned to Centenary Athletics this fall when men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball began their seasons in August with fans in the stands. There were highs and lows for all three teams and many exciting moments over the three months.

Ladies Soccer

Centenary finished the 2021 season at 4-10-2 and 2-3-2 in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play and were in contention for a berth in the SCAC Championship on the final day of the regular season.

The Ladies had two players named to the 2021 All-SCAC Women's Soccer Team as a pair of juniors, F Sydney Bascomb (Mesquite, Texas) and MF Celeste Muniz (Denton, Texas) earned spots on the prestigious squad.

Muniz was named to the second team while Bascomb earned honorable-mention honors. The Ladies have now had at least two players named all-conference in every season but one since joining the SCAC in 2012.

The steady midfielder Muniz, an honorable-mention selection last season, played in 16 games this season and made 15 starts. She recorded one assist and was a solid defender. She has played in 44 career matches with 29 starts and has three goals, two assists, and a pair of game-winning goals.

Bascomb, who was named Second-Team All-SCAC last season, played in 15 games with 12 starts. She scored one goal, a game winner in the Ladies 2-1 victory over Texas Lutheran on Senior Day, and had one assist for a total of three points. She took 33 shots with 14 coming on goal and was a stellar defender all season long. She finished the season eighth in the league in shots and shots per game.

She has made her mark as one of the conference's top players throughout her career and has now played in 46 career matches with 42 starts and owns seven goals, nine assists, 23 points, and five game-winning goals. Bascomb ranks in the top 10 in the Division III era (2011-present) in goals, points, assists, shots, and game-winning goals.

One of the highlights of the season was on September 8 when the Ladies made history as they defeated a Division I opponent for the first time in the current Division III era (2011-present), edging the Alcorn State University Lady Braves in a non-conference contest on the road, 2-1, in Lorman, Mississippi.

Senior MF Gabby McDonald (Pasadena, Texas) was named the SCAC Women's Soccer Offensive Player of the Week on November 1 after she scored both goals for the Ladies in their 2-1 overtime victory at Austin College on October 29, including the game-winner just over five minutes into the overtime period.

The win kept Centenary's hopes alive for a potential SCAC Tournament berth entering the regular-season finale at Dallas. The goals were her second and third of the season and gave her nine in her career. McDonald finished as the team leader in both goals (3) and points (7) this past season and earned the honor for the first time in her career as she was previously named the SCAC Women's Soccer Defensive Player of the Week on October 29, 2019.

Gents Soccer

First-year head coach Kevin White came to Centenary from the University of Texas at Dallas and led the Gents to a 6-11-1 overall record and a 2-6 mark in SCAC play. The Maroon and White got off to a 3-1-1 start, struggled in the middle of the season, then ended on a three-game winning streak.

The Gents scored a season-high six goals in a win over Dallas on October 31 in their regular-season finale, scoring the most goals in a match since posting four at home on March 13 of last season in a 4-2 win over Austin College. The Gents finished the season by outscoring the opposition 10-3 over their last three matches, and they allowed one goal or less in a match 11 times during the season.

Centenary landed two players on the 2021 All-SCAC Men's Soccer Team with junior MF Jaron Petreas (Denton, Texas) and freshman F Dylan Allred (Lafayette, La.) representing the Gents on the team. Petreas was named Honorable Mention while Allred earned a spot on the All-Freshman team. Centenary placed at least two players on the All-SCAC team for the fifth time after having a program record three earn all-conference honors last season.

Petreas, who was named to the All-SCAC second team last season, scored one goal this season and started all 17 games as a steady force in the midfield for the Gents.

Allred turned in an impressive rookie season, playing in 14 games with 11 starts and scoring one goal in the Gents' 6-1 domination of Dallas in their season finale. He also added an assist in the match to finish the season with three points.

Ladies Volleyball

Centenary finished their season 15-22 overall and 2-14 in conference play. The Ladies finished 9-2 at home with an impressive eight sweeps and went 13-8 against non-conference competition.

Senior Outside Hitter Alyssa Davis (Leonard, Texas) was named to the 2021 All-SCAC Volleyball Third Team, landing on the third team for the second-consecutive season. Davis is the first player in the Division III era (2011-present) to be named All-SCAC twice.

Davis is also just the second Centenary volleyball player in program history (D1 or D3) to be named all-conference more than once as Kim Bolin was named to the All Trans-America Athletic Conference team in 1997 and 1998. Only three players have been named all-conference during the current D3 era – Davis twice, her teammate and fellow senior Rachel Demerjian (Glendora, Calif.) who was named to the Second Team All-Conference squad in 2018, and Desiree Frey who earned Second Team honors in 2016.

Davis, despite missing the final 11 games of the season due to injury, still finished fourth in the SCAC in kills with 303. She added 258 digs and 17 aces in 22 matches played. She also posted a .232 hitting percentage, tops on the team, and currently ranks in the top five in the Division III era in six different statistical categories.

She topped 1,000 career kills on October 1 in a home match against Schreiner, recording 20 kills. She now ranks second all-time in the D3 era in program history in kills with 1,082 and is just 74 away from the record. Davis is also only 169 kills shy of the school's all-time record for kills, D1 or D3.

Davis posted double-digit digs and kills in the same match an impressive 11 times this season and topped 20 kills three times, including a season-high 26 against St. Thomas on October 9. Her season high in digs was 23 on September 4 versus Mary Hardin-Baylor. Senior S Marichael Clarin-Jante (Houston, Texas) had a great season, finishing second in the SCAC in assists (724), while sophomore DS/L Jaycie Proctor (Paris, Texas) ranked eighth in digs with 324.