by Christine Owen
Managing Editor
After receiving the disappointing news that it would not be going to Nationals this year, the No. 1 ranked University of La Verne men’s volleyball team just did not have enough enthusiasm to beat Stanford on Tuesday night, losing 30-23, 30-16 and 30-15.
The Leopards put up a good fight in the first game and forced the Cardinal squad to break a sweat and defend their No. 4 Division I ranking.
Stanford lived up to its reputation and dominated offensively with a .435 average attack percentage.
They controlled the match defensively with 10 total team blocks compared to La Verne’s two.
“That was the biggest damn block I’d ever seen,” said junior opposite Nate Michael, in reference to Stanford’s defense.
Sophomore outside hitter Jake Swann had a match high 13 kills and the only service ace of the night.
It was on Monday that the Leopards learned that for highly questionable reasons, their No. 1 ranking in Division III was not good enough for them to get a bid to attend the 2001 Molten Division III Men’s Invitational Volleyball Championship in April.
Selection committee members Doug Beal, head coach for the men’s national team, Mark Pavlik, head coach, Penn Sate University, Larry Bock, athletics director, Juniata College, Jim Coleman, USAV Adviser, Bob Newcomb, professor, UC Irvine men’s grants committee, Rod Wilde, USAV High Performance Development Programs and Lindy Binns, AVCA executive director chose sixth ranked Clarke College as the Midwest/West representative.
“We got f—–,” Swann said, summing up the feelings of his teammates.
“It [the decision] has been very, very difficult for myself personally and for the team,” said ULV head coach Jack Coberly. “It’s a situation where we’ve asked the guys to work hard and good things will result from that, and that’s exactly what did not happen.”
“I feel bad for the guys because we told them the matches they needed to win and they went out and did it and made themselves number one in the country and they got screwed,” said Morgan Coberly, assistant coach.
“I don’t understand it [the decision], I don’t agree with it and it’s disappointing,” said senior co-captain Agke Grow, “but we’ve got to move on and finish out our season.”
Journalism operations manager at the University of La Verne. Production manager and business manager of the Campus Times.
