SportsVolleyball

ULV breaks the Beavers’ dam open

In the second game of Tuesday's match, sophomore Jennifer Stout (No. 2) spikes the ball past junior Megan Kennedy (No. 15) of Cal Tech. Teammates Delia Rosca (No. 12) and Jaclyn Homnick (No. 9) prepare to recover. The Leopards took the match in three straight wins. The Leopards' next home game is tomorrow against Juniata of Pennsylvania. / photo by Jennifer Contreras
In the second game of Tuesday’s match, sophomore Jennifer Stout (No. 2) spikes the ball past junior Megan Kennedy (No. 15) of Cal Tech. Teammates Delia Rosca (No. 12) and Jaclyn Homnick (No. 9) prepare to recover. The Leopards took the match in three straight wins. The Leopards’ next home game is tomorrow against Juniata of Pennsylvania. / photo by Jennifer Contreras

by Matt Paulson
Sports Editor

The women’s volleyball team at the University of La Verne routed the Cal Tech Beavers in a short, three-game match Tuesday evening in the Supertents to cap off a three-match week in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference this season.

The Beavers fell prey to the Leopards by scores of 30-15, 30-10 and 30-9. Few seats on ULV’s bench remained occupied throughout the match as head coach Don Flora used 12 Leopards in the short contest, including 10 players who registered kills, and half of that number boasting an errorless night.

“It’s great to see the depth of this program. This is probably the deepest team I’ve had in my 10 years here,” Flora said.

All in all, Tuesday’s stats looked like David and Goliath on a seesaw. The La Verne women outhit the Beavers with a team hitting percentage of .410 to Cal Tech’s -.188. ULV recorded three team blocks to Cal Tech’s one and 17 aces to the Beavers’ one.

The Tuesday night romp followed a key Saturday night win over California Lutheran.

Named by Flora earlier in the season as one of ULV’s top SCIAC rivals, the Regals gave ULV a slightly more difficult contest than the Beavers.

In the first game, the two squads traded the serve back and forth before ULV managed to pull ahead and emerge with the first-game win of 30-26.

The Regals showed their competitive drive as they came out in the second game and chalked up three quick points to take a 3-0 lead. However, that would not last long as ULV once again pounced on Cal Lu to take the lead and run away with the second game by a score of 30-21.

This second win seemed to take the wind out of the Regal sails as ULV turned the tables and jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the third game. Cal Lu never really entertained much of a chance after this; La Verne walked off the court with the third game in its pocket by a score of 30-19.

After a slow start, ULV managed to increase its margin of victory with each successive game.

“We enjoy competing against Cal Lu. It’s nice to make progress and beat them more efficiently each game,” Flora said.

The night before, the Leopards visited Pomona-Pitzer for the first of their three SCIAC matches in the last week.

The Sagehens (4-10, 1-3) surprised ULV in the first game, riding strong defense to a close finish. The Leopards managed to pull it off, though, with their imposing offensive attack by a score of 30-27.

After this initial shock, ULV regained form to finish off the Sagehens by scores of 30-23 and 30-15 in games two and three in front of about 75 Pitzer fans.

Once again, La Verne overpowered its opponent with superior play at the net. The Leopards collected 38 kills for a percentage of .220 with 13 team blocks. This outweighed the Sagehens’ 31 kills for a percentage of .030 and just four team blocks and proved to be the deciding factor in the match.

“Pomona had a career match,” Flora said.

Junior outside hitter Lisa Mila and freshman middle blocker Mandy Sedia both recorded an errorless total of four kills on the evening for ULV.

Mila, who came off the bench to play two games in the match, showed the offensive depth of the Leopards on the left side.

Flora praised Mila’s progress in this last year’s off-season.

“It’s great to see her technique catch up with her athleticism,” he said.

With this week’s three wins, ULV remains not only 6-0 in SCIAC but boasts a perfect 18-0 record in those six matches, not losing a single game to any SCIAC foe thus far this season.

“It’s nice to be able to find ways to win every game,” Flora said. He attributed this ability to the team’s “competitive nature.”

Being almost halfway through the year, ULV entertains the chance of remaining perfect for the remainder of the 2002 conference season.

“It’d be nice to turn it in that way, but we’re going to have to keep fighting in the next couple of weeks. We’re going to have to keep playing La Verne volleyball and keep playing to our potential,” senior middle blocker Stacey Lupu said.

The Leopards look to face national competition Juniata at 7 p.m. tomorrow and Cal State Hayward at 7 p.m. next Friday; both matches are in the Supertents. Juniata, of Pennsylvania, is out for vengeance as ULV knocked them out of the national tournament last year. ULV, though, is looking to settle the score against Hayward, who handed the Leopards their first of three losses this year.

“Juniata is a great team. We can’t overlook them this weekend, but we’re looking forward to playing Hayward,” Lupu said.

As for preparation for the matches, Flora said the Leopards want to “fine-tune our systems; be a little more aggressive in our serving, make sure our team knows our opponents’ tendencies and add to the progress in our ball control and our offensive systems.”

Going into the matches, ULV is ranked No. 4 in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III West Region rankings. “It’s definitely a goal of ours to move into the top-two. These next two matches will show if we belong in the top-two in the West Region,” Flora said.

Before the Leopards can face either of these two teams, they must negotiate SCIAC opponent Occidental at 7:30 p.m. tonight in Los Angeles.

Matt Paulson, Editor in Chief
Matt Paulson
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