GREENSBORO, N.C. – UNCG’s volleyball team has added SMU transfer Julia Westerbur for the 2012 campaign, coach Patrick Nicholas announced Thursday.
Westerbur, a 6-1 middle blocker, will join the Spartans as a redshirt freshman and have four years of eligibility remaining. As a true freshman at SMU in 2011, Westerbur did not appear in a match. The Mustangs went 15-17 overall and 11-9 in Conference USA.
“We’re real exciting about Julia’s signing, and we welcome her to our Spartan volleyball family,” Nicholas said. “She’s a great addition for us. She definitely brings some size for us in the front row, for passing and blocking. Sitting out this past year has made her a very determined young woman. She’s very hungry to play college volleyball. She’s got some great self-motivation, so that makes me really happy. She wants to really prove herself.”
Westerbur starred at A&M Consolidated High School in College Station, Texas, prior to her arrival at SMU. She earned All-Texas Team special recognition by LonestarVolleyball.com three times and earned spots on the AVCA Under Armour Girls’ High School All-American Watch List in 2009 and 2010.
A two-time all-district selection and a member of the National Honor Society, Westerbur helped A&M Consolidated to a pair of district titles.
Westerbur was selected to three participate in three High Performance camps and her club team, Brazos Valley Juniors 16 Mizuno Team, qualified for the 2009 Junior Olympics.
“Julia Westerbur is a dominant presence at the net,” Brazos Valley Club Director Jacky Pence said. “She has terrific range with her long, lean frame and a natural ability to shut down any type of attack with commanding blocks. Julia is a wonderful team player that works hard in her role in an effort to make her teammates’ jobs easier. Also a dangerous attacker off of one foot or two, Julia will be very successful in her collegiate career.”
Westerbur joins a UNCG program that went 15-17 overall and 7-9 in the Southern Conference in 2011 to tie for fourth place in the North Division.
“I chose to visit UNCG because of the interest they showed towards me,” Westerbur said. “After visiting the school, I fell in love with the campus. Seeing the girls interact with each other on and off the court, I automatically noticed the team chemistry. While finding the perfect degree program, I knew that University of North Carolina at Greensboro was the school for me.”