Utah State volleyball will have three additional players on the roster this fall as the Aggies have signed three transfers. Kelee Call and Autumn Spafford join the team from the junior college level, coming from the College of Southern Idaho and Snow College, respectively, while Heidi Carpenter comes from Nicholls State.
Call, a middle blocker from Rupert, Idaho, played the 2016 and 2017 seasons at the College of Southern Idaho. There, she helped CSI to a 58-10 record, including a runner-up finish in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) championship match. Call played in 30 matches, starting one, averaging 1.0 kills per set in her two seasons. She earned NJCAA all-academic second-team honors both seasons. Call played prep volleyball at Minico High School, and at the club level with Club Canyon.
Carpenter has made stops at two Division I schools, coming to Logan from Nicholls State. The setter from Mesa, Ariz., played in and started all 29 matches in the 2018 season, tallying 155 kills, 380 assists, 224 digs and 26 service aces. She was one of 20 Division I volleyball players to record multiple triple-doubles in the 2018 season, doing so twice. Carpenter played her first two seasons of collegiate volleyball at Grand Canyon from 2016-17. She made 48 starts at GCU, leading the team in assists as she averaged 6.82 per set in her two seasons. She tallied 321 digs, 34 kills, 39 blocks and 47 service aces in her time with the ‘Lopes. Carpenter was a four-year letterwinner at Mesa High School, where she holds the program record with 1,440 assists. She spent her final two club seasons on the Thunder Team of the Arizona Storm Volleyball Club.
Spafford, a middle blocker from Alpine, Utah, played her freshman season at Snow College in 2018, where she earned NJCAA honorable mention All-American honors. She played in 33 matches, making 24 starts. The Badgers finished the year with a 27-7 record, ending the season with an appearance in the NJCAA national tournament. At the end of her freshman campaign, Spafford was ranked eighth nationally in total blocks (144) and tied for 12th in 1.19 blocks per set. Spafford played her first three seasons at Corner Canyon High School in Draper, Utah, before finishing her prep career at Lone Peak High School in Alpine, Utah. She also played club volleyball for Club V.
Call and Carpenter were both enrolled in classes at Utah State this spring, while Spafford will join the Aggies this fall.
Utah State will open the 2019 season at home when it hosts the Utah State Invitational, Aug. 30-31, taking on Eastern Michigan, Southern Utah and Xavier. The Aggies return eight letterwinners, along with two players who redshirted the 2018 season. Along with the trio of transfers, USU will also welcome four new freshmen to the roster this season.