Kansas State volleyball coach Suzie Fritz has brought a portion of her incoming class for the 2010 season on campus already for the spring semester. A trio of freshman graduated high school early and has enrolled in classes at K-State to begin the transition to college volleyball and workout with the team during spring practices.

Tristan McCarty, Kaitlynn Pelger and Erin Truett all will be with the Wildcats this spring in a growing trend in women's volleyball of enrolling early to make the move to collegiate volleyball.

"It's extremely beneficial to both the student-athletes and our program when we can get them here in the spring," Fritz said. "In the spring our priority is individual development. When they come early they gain a better understanding of our systems and can begin to develop working relationships with their teammates and our staff."

McCarty is a local product from Manhattan and played club ball for Topeka Elite and will be a defensive specialist for the Wildcats. As a senior this fall, she helped lead the Indians to third place at the state tournament and said graduating high school early to come to K-State for the spring semester was a group decision and one she is excited about.

"Between my coaches and family, we all felt it was best for me to get in with the team and get used to college now," McCarty said. "I grew up around this program and love K-State. To have the opportunity to play here is a dream come true for me."

Pelger is from Olathe where she played for Olathe South as a middle blocker and played her club ball with the MAVs - Mid-America Volleyball. Pelger helped lead Olathe South to a league championship and a fifth-place finish in state her senior year and was named first team All-State.

Truett will be the first student-athlete from Arizona to play volleyball at K-State as she comes to Manhattan from Goodyear where she played as a setter for Millennium High School.

The Wildcats will begin official team training in March and welcome back most of the roster from last year's team after graduating just two players.