by Luz Villarreal
Sports Editor
Participating in two league conferences tor the first time this spring, the men’s volleyball team has earned an overall record of 12-22.
The Leos travel to Westmont tonight tor a 7 p.m. match up.
The team plays in the South Coast Volleyball Conference (SCVC) and with four other schools has joined the new Southern California lntercollegiate Volleyball Conference (SCIVC).
The team’s most recent match was Tuesday night against UC San Diego. The five-game match went to UCSD, 15-8, 13-15, 15-13, 12-15 and 10-15.
Said Coach Jim Paschal, “Last night’s game was the longest game we’ve played, two hours and 47 minutes.”
“We should’ve won in three. We played hard but we didn’t have the intensity to win the matches,” he said.
The Leos’ record in SCIVC is currently 2-3.
Mike Self led the game with 17 kills followed by Don Flora who had 14 kills. Self led in aces with four.
Last Saturday, April 9, the Leos hosted UC Irvine and swept the Anteaters, 15-4, 15-12 and 15-4. Irvine is ranked 20th in the nation and had beaten the Leos in their previous meeting.
Irvine is also leading the conference with a 4-1 record. La Verne is currently tied in the league with Chapman and UCSD at 2-3.
La Verne had several excellent rallies in its match against Irvine.
Pat Paschal led the team against Irvine with two aces. Alex Breganio had 16 kills and Joe Hurst had four blocks.
“We served real well tonight. Our serving was real tough and our blocking was all right,” said Hurst after the game. “We executed better than they (UGI) did tonight.”
Coach Paschal said, “We started off real well. We felt we could compete with them. We (both teams) match up size-wise. They were flat.”
“It was a fun game for us,” Paschal said. “The team played pretty well.”
The Leos have one more league game to play. The team hosts Chapman tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. in the Student Center.
“I hope we beat Chapman; that would put us in second place,” said Paschal. “They beat us last time and I believe we should have won that game.”
Self said, “There’s a certain level everybody is at. Everybody was playing above average. Our blocking was on, and all this didn’t make this a match; it was a blow out.”
“Friday we should do really well. We beat Westmont early on in the season. Against Chapman, they’ve beaten us once, but I think we can win (this time),” he said.
In the South Coast Volleyball Conference, the Leos played Orange Coast Community College, Friday and lost in three, 11-15, 14-16 and 12-15. This brought that league record to 3-9.
“We were really flat. We didn’t do anything well that night,” said Hurst.
Paschal led the game with 10 kills in the game and Hurst led with two blocks.
There are nine team members this season: Breganio, Flora, Adam Hampton, Hurst, Paschal, Tom Phelps, Carlos Salazar, Self, and Marc Smith. There are four returning players and no seniors on the team.
“We played a number of games (this season) that could have gone either way. We’ve played rather consistently,” added Paschal.
“We have a real team effort,” said Hurst. “We have players who could develop.”
