Northwest University’s head volleyball coach Steven Bain announced that three high school students and one junior college transfer student have signed letters of intent to play volleyball at the university next fall. They include Courteney Carr, a Mount Si High School senior; Hannah Lord of Vancouver, Wash.; Audrey Saelens of Puyallup; and, Sarah Howlett of Richland.

“We have been working diligently on the 2017 recruiting class knowing full well that our ability to continue to move the program forward would hinge on replacing a talented group of seniors with players that would be able to contribute at a high level from day one. We believe that we have achieved that goal as all of the players in this class have the potential to compete for playing time right away,” said Bain.

Carr, a 5-8 setter, was a KingCo Conference all-league second team member in her sophomore year. She was named first team all-KingCo in her junior and senior seasons and named MVP of her team in both years. She has also made the honor roll all four years of high school. She plans to major in business management at NU.

Lord, a 6-0 outside hitter/middle blocker, attends Heritage High School in Vancouver, where she earned three varsity letters in volleyball and also lettered in track. In her senior year, Lord was named to the first team, all-league volleyball team and was team captain and also broke the records for kills per season and per game.

Saelens, a 5-9 middle blocker, is a transfer from Bellevue College. She played her prep volleyball at Emerald Ridge High School in Puyallup, where she was a first team, South Puget Sound all-league team member. At Bellevue College, Saelens was two-time, Northwest Athletic Conference, first team member.

Sarah Howlett, a 5-11 opposite hitter, earned four varsity letters in volleyball at Richland High School and was named to the 2015 and 2016 All-Mid Conference second team.