Leopards approach championship
Campus Times
December 5, 2003
Middle blocker Tricia Schary, of the University of La Verne delivered 14
kills and three digs against the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse last Friday.
The Leopards now advance to the Final Four, which will take place tonight and
tomorrow in the Supertents.
For the first time since 1983, the University of La Verne women’s volleyball
team will play host to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division
III National Championship this weekend.
“It’s a true compliment to what they’ve built,” head coach
Don Flora said. “It shows how much they deserve to put their hard work
on display. It will be a historical part of the University in the new millennium.”
With the Leopards’ first appearance in the Final Four in two years, the
national championship season of 2001 is playing on everyone’s minds.
“Half of our team was on the team that went two years ago, and the other
half is probably just sick of us talking about two years ago,” said senior
outside hitter Amy Smith. “So it’s nice to finally have something
that all of us can buy into and all of us can look at and say this is our team,
this is our year.”
Flora added: “It’s nice because, for family, friends and students,
nobody has to travel. They can just come root us on.”
La Verne learned that it would be hosting soon after returning home from Wisconsin
on Nov. 23, where it beat the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse on Nov. 22,
a win that advanced the Leopards to the Final Four.
With a simple flick of the wrist, setter Amanda Thomas tipped the ball over
the net, scoring the final point in game four against La Crosse.
“I never dump on game point, but I hadn’t gotten to dump all game
long,” Thomas said. “It was just a good ball.”
The hometown La Crosse crowd went dead silent as the third-ranked Leopards
sealed the win and a spot in the Final Four.
Almost all the 1,255 fans in attendance at Mitchell Hall were there to lend
support to the Eagles (33-6), but the Leopards did not let the crowd affect
them.
“I use the crowd’s energy whether it’s against us or for us,”
said Adele Jones, opposite. “Once I’m out there on the court, it doesn’t
really matter; just them cheering if we make a play brings us up. It’s
just the environment that we play in – that kind of excitement, that much
energy.”
Flora said it felt as if the fans were far away, and the energy did not affect
the Leopards negatively.
“It was a good environment because there was energy in there,” Flora
said. “That raises everybody’s level. That’s the excitement of
playing at that level. That’s the gift of that environment; it didn’t
hurt us. We’re very emotionally and mentally tough.”
“I just smile because I know we’re going to get the next play if
we make a mistake,” Thomas said.
Nothing compared to a ULV home crowd.
“They weren’t as rowdy as our fans at all,” Kratochvil said.
UW-L, the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference co-champions, jumped
from a No. 12 ranking to No. 4 after a regional championship victory over Wisconsin-River
Falls.
The only time ULV and UW-L competed was in 1985, when the Leopards defeated
UW-L, 3-1, in the semifinals of the Final Four.
This year was the Eagles’ ninth NCAA regional tournament appearance; the
last appearance came in 1986.
ULV is making their 16th trip to the tournament.
“You don’t want to lose once you get to quarters. You want to go
all the way just because you’ve worked so hard for it,” Kratochvil
said.
The Leopards started the match with total confidence, taking game one, 30-16.
The pace of the game was slower than what is thought of as La Verne volleyball,
although the squad was strong and consistent. As a team, ULV hit .243 in game
one, holding the Eagles to a negative .027.
“We came out strong our first game, and I think that has a lot to do
with anxiousness and nerves and just playing to win,” Smith said.
It did not appear the match would go more than three games, as the Leopards
continued to dominate and won game two, 30-26. ULV’s 2-0 lead did not look
hopeful for UW-L.
“They really ran their quick offense very well,” UW-L head coach
Sheila Perkins said. “We couldn’t catch up with them.”
Somewhere, the Eagles found momentum to come back and take game three, 30-27.
Although tied five times in the match, the Leopards never held a lead in game
three. It was the only game in which UW-L’s hitting percentage was higher
than ULV’s. The Eagles hit .196 as a team while the Leopards hit .163.
“Serve, receive: That’s all it was. We probably gave up eight points
on not communicating and serve receive,” Kratochvil said.
ULV came roaring back in game four, hitting .366, finishing off the game 30-22
for the 3-1 win in the match and an advancement to the next round.
“We knew what we had to do. We just we needed to play our game,”
Kratochvil said.
“We did step up. We did do our job putting the ball away,” Thomas
said.
The Leopard squad hit .258 on the evening. The ever-consistent outside hitter
Amy Smith led her team with a match-high 25 kills. Tricia Schary and Kratochvil
followed with 14 and 12, respectively. Four Leopards also reached double digits
in digs.
“Pretty much every team has two or three go-to hitters,” Thomas
said. “We have like five or six and they’re effective all the time.
It makes my job a little bit easier.”
UW-L was strong in the match defensively with digs, tallying 78 to ULV’s
70.
“They dug some big swings from us,” Flora said. “It made us
play our defense a little bit better.”
Offensively, the Leopards were strong with their serves, recording 16 service
aces in the match. Thomas contributed six aces and Jones five while Kratochvil
had three.
“Winning at aces always shuts the other team down,” Kratochvil said.
“It totally changes momentum. If your team gets an ace, (the other team)
drops their heads.”
This afternoon, games for the Final Four start at 4:30 p.m. in the Supertents
when Emory (Ga.) takes on New York University.
No. 6 Emory (32-12), defeated Williams, 3-1, to reach the Final Four in its
eighth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.
No. 7 NYU (39-4), making its first-ever appearance in the Final Four, knocked
the top team in the nation Juniata out of the running for a national championship,
an example of the toughness of the quarterfinal round, Flora said.
ULV, who is making its second appearance in the Final Four in three years,
faces Washington (Mo.) at 7 p.m. tonight.
No. 2 Washington ( 36-3) defeated Ohio Northern to reach playoffs.
Saturday’s competition will be a 4 p.m. consolation match and a 7 p.m.
championship match.
“We’re going to have tough opponents obviously in the Final Four,
but our game right now is stronger than a lot of Division III teams,” Kratochvil
said.
ULV, now 29-2, is on a 14-match winning streak heading into the Final Four.
“We feel like we have a real chance to run the tables and go 5-0 in the
last five games we play,” Flora said.
