EL PASO – UTEP Volleyball Head Coach Ben Wallis brings on three new additions to the 2023 roster, setters Kalia Kohler and Trinity Gomez, middle blocker Sakira LaCour. 

Kalia Kohler | Setter | 5-7 | Alpine, Utah 
Kohler reached 970 assists (9.4/set) while producing 108 kills and 286 digs in 103 sets her senior season at Lone Peak HS. Kohler is a three-time state champion and was a First Team All-State selection and MVP in 2022. She was recognized as the All-Valley Setter of the Year (2022), was a Senior Player of the Year Candidate (2022) and made it on the Prep Volleyball Class of 2023 Setters Watch List. 

"We are completely stoked to have grabbed Kalia this late in the recruiting process," head coach Ben Wallis said. "She's a total winner at every level and has shown it by winning several state championships at perennial powerhouse Lone Peak High School in the state of Utah. She plays on one of the best 18's club teams in the country (Club V in Salt Lake City) and is a total bulldog competitor. She fits really well into everything we want to do offensively and one of her best strengths is her ability to defend at a very high level as a setter. She was completely under recruited because of her size but we're ecstatic to have grabbed her this late in the year and she's going to be a great addition to an already stellar 2023 class."   

Trinity Gomez | Setter | 5-7 | San Antonio, Texas 
Gomez produced 720 assists (5.4/set) and 203 digs in 133 sets her senior season at Clark HS. Her team was crowned District and Bi-district Champions in their undefeated 2022 season.

"Trinity is one heck of a volleyball player and really shined for us in camp last summer," Wallis said. "She was able to show us that she's a very skilled player in many ways and will add another quality young setter to the group that we have, and I can't tell you how many programs in the entire country will have the number of quality setters that we have on our roster in 2023. She's another high character human as well and will fit right in here in El Paso." 

Sakira LaCour | Middle Blocker | 6-0 | Albuquerque, N.M. | Oral Roberts University 
During her Senior at Oral Roberts, she started all 30 games for the Golden Eagles and tied for the team lead with 113 sets played. She led the Golden Eagles in blocks with 129.0 (1.14/set), which ranked fourth in the Summit League. She ranked third on the team with 329.0 points and in kills with 238, averaging 2.11 kills per set. She owned a team-best .299 attack percentage and registered double-figure kills nine times on the year. She recorded a season-best 13 kills versus South Dakota (11/12), 19 points versus Sout Dakota State (10/15) and 10 blocks versus UTRGV (9/16).

"Grabbing Sakira from the Transfer portal is an absolute home run," Wallis said. "She was being recruited by everyone including some power 5 teams and a ton of top quality mid major programs and she's going to come in as a grad transfer and help us in many areas right away. We've talked about her playing beach in the spring too and that would help us in both of our volleyball programs as well because she's a physical athlete that can really fly. Probably should have been 1st team all-conference in the Summit but because her team didn't do very well last season she was really overlooked." 
 

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