Leopards eat Cougars in 3-2 rally
Campus Times
September 13, 1996
Junior Jill Seaton, an outside hitter from Boulder City, Nev., fights
to keep the Leopards ahead in the game Tuesday night. Playing Azusa Pacific,
for the third match in the season, the Leopards defeated the Cougars in
three games out of five, 15-9, 7-15, 15-9 and 15-8 Seaton delivered eight
kills during the match.
On Tuesday night in the Supertents, the University of La Verne's volleyball
team were roaring once again as they defeated Azusa Pacific University for
the second time in a span of five days.
Playing like her All-Tournament performance earlier in the week, at the
Whittier Tournament, was Gina Medina, looking like hitting was second nature,
with 19 kills for the night. Right behind the attack of Medina was senior
Denise Rice, with 11 kills of her own.
On the defensive was sophomore Lynsey Best, unearthing the court with five
digs, along with help from Medina and transfer Jill Seaton with three digs
each.
The game of the night was the fourth, where the Leopards continued their
murderous streak of with 20 kills in 37 attempts for a .514 average for
the game. The match went the distance, with the Leopards winning the fifth
and final game of the match by means of the rally point system 15-8.
Last weekend, Whittier College was the site of the Women's Volleyball Invitational,
where the women made their statement for the rest of the season.
The ULV team placed third overall in the tournament, and in that process,
blanked two other Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
(SCIAC) teams, Claremont Mudd-Scripps and Whittier College.
Third place was hard for the women to capture, since they only practiced
together for a week due to SCIAC regulations, while other schools have been
practicing for over three weeks.
On Friday, their first match was vs. Mills College where the Leopards took
the match in an orderly 4-1 fashion. The second match of the day was against
APU where the women just kept moving along, taking the match subtly at 4-1.
The final match of Friday also went to the Leopards when they upset the
host of the tournament, Whittier College, in an agonizingly quick three
games to none match.
Saturday opened up with a bang for the women as they quickly reestablished
the flow of the previous day when they swept SCIAC rival Claremont Mudd-Scripps
in a janitorial 3-0 sweep.
The second match of the day was against Master's College, and the ladies
hit a speed bump in the road to victory. Master's won the match over the
Leopards.
With two Leopards named to the All-Tournament team, Medina, teamed with
fellow All- Tournament setter Mercury Simonian, and the Leopards went roaring
in the most climactic match of the whole tournament.
Head coach Jim Paschal said, "The girls gave it their best, we are
only one week into the season and practice, and we are not at the top of
our physical stamina yet. This is the best team I have seen on the ULV courts
in a long time. The skills and intensity level of this year's team is like
no other, but we still have room for improvement."
Assistant coach Don Flora was very pleased with the girls performance at
the tournament and looks forward to the elusive SCIAC championship.
"I think that the new class brings a lot of diversity with them in
all areas, especially in depth at all positions. I think that the only thing
that may have kept us from winning the tournament may have been some jitters
that will be worked out soon as we have some more practices under our belts.
This was a great stepping stone for the beginning of our season," said
Flora.
Flora was very happy with the All Tournament performances turned in by Medina
and Simonian and was very content with the huge blocks put up by freshman
middle blocker Sara Henry. Flora also mentioned passing by transfer, Jill
Seaton, was consistent throughout the tournament. Seaton is a junior outside
hitter for the Leos.
All in all, Flora and Paschal were pleased with the performance, especially
only a week into the girl's season. Both are thrilled at the depth of the
team in general, and feel that the skills of the entire team enable them
to pull girls off the bench with the ability to win a game late in the match.
The team left yesterday morning for a trip to Texas where they will be playing
in the Trinity Tournament against some of the top ranked teams in Division
III.