Tom Zasadzinski
Photography Editor
The event many have been waiting for has finally arrived.
The Leos are not only hosting this year’s AIAW National Volleyball tournament, but are ranked number one. That’s number one in the nation.
Whether ULV can live up to that seeding remains to be seen, but the Leos are definitely a team to be reckoned with.
The tournament has 16 teams divided into four pools. Yesterday, every team played every other team in its pool. Then the top two teams from each pool entered a double-elimination tournament to be held today and tomorrow.
La Verne should make it to the final rounds, but in national competition against teams the Leos have never played, anything can happen.
The teams that share the Leos’ pool are number-eight seed Linfield College from Oregon, ninth seed Gaulludet College from Maryland and Trinity College from Texas.
The other top seeded teams to look for are College of Mt. St. Joseph in Ohio, Georgia Tech and Biola University.
For the Leos, playing at home should have a number of advantages.
“It’s nice to be in familiar surroundings,” said Head Coach Jim Paschal. “They’ll be sleeping in their own bed. Plus, we’ll be playing on our own court. It’s good to play at home. Besides, our fans are among the world’s best.”
For the number-one seeded Leopards, the big game started yesterday at 10:30 a.m., and, hopefully, will continue today in the Supertents at 11:30 a.m. If all goes well, the Leos will play for the championship tomorrow night at 7:30.
