Volleyball looks toward San Diego
Campus Times
November 14, 1997
Jim Paschal, head coach of women's volleyball, prepares his team for
its second visit to the NCAA Division III West Region Playoffs in two years.
"Even though we have about the same record as last year, this year
we are going in with a much higher level of confidence in our ability to
compete with anybody, any team," said Paschal.
The University of La Verne women's volleyball team clinched the Southern
California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) championship with
a three game sweep of Occidental last Friday night.
"It feels great to bring us back to the standard that ULV volleyball
has been for years," said senior setter Mercury Simonian.
This is the women's volleyball team's 14th conference championship.
The last one was in 1992.
"This is the only place I expected to be. With this group I felt
it from the first day of fall practice," said Don Flora, assistant
coach.
Playoffs began last night at UC San Diego. UCSD is tied for third in
Division III with a record of 19-3 against NCAA opponents and is 20-5 overall.
ULV and UCSD had a bye last night and begin playoffs tonight.
ULV plays the winner of the Cal Lutheran (7-9) and Chapman (15-8) game
at 5 p.m. The Leopards have one win and one loss against Chapman and swept
Cal Lutheran.
Tickets go on sale 90 minutes before the match and are $4 for adults,
$3 for students with I.D. and $2 for children under 12.
"My main goal is to get past regionals. It will be a tough road,
but if we work hard we can do it," said Simonian.
La Verne had the week off before the playoffs began and intended to
work hard with its time off.
"Luckily it is a short bye week, we will do a lot of game--like
training and it gives us time to get our owies healed," said Flora.
The Leopards are extremely excited and feel confident beginning the
playoffs.
"We are really excited for them and we will do really good. We
set ourselves into a place where we can make it to the finals," said
sophomore middle blocker Allison Moore.
The Leopards have defeated some good teams this year and finished the
season strong. Head coach Jim Paschal feels that his team is ready for anybody.
"I feel good, we have been playing well against good teams and
that's the sign of a good team," he said. "This last week we have
played hot."
Even with a strong finish in the regular season and playing hot, the
team feels that team work is their key to success.
"Team unity will help us keep our focus," said senior outside
hitter Jill Seaton.
The Occidental match began with a bit of emotion for ULV, as the team
said good-bye to three seniors by honoring them before the game. The three
seniors, Simonian, Seaton and Jacqui Zwissler, played in their last home
game of regular season.
"They are leaders on and off the court. It will be hard to replace
them," said Moore.
The Leopards began the game with extreme intensity. Freshman outside
hitter Amy Brummel served the first ball for an ace. The points continued
to come easy for ULV in the first game. La Verne kept a fluid offense and
had good ball control, but its defense kept the Tigers from scoring. The
Leopards completely dominated Occidental in game one with a score of 15-0.
La Verne started game two with a lack of intensity. Due to bad ball
control, La Verne allowed Occidental to score first. The Tigers came out
with fire, but with the leadership of Simonian and a scrappy defense, La
Verne held on to game two. Occidental played strong, but the Leopards' net
play was too much for the Tigers defense. La Verne won game two, 15-8.
La Verne again dominated game three starting with a huge block by sophomore
middle blocker Sarah Henry.
La Verne stayed strong throughout the game ending the regular season
with a huge ace from Simonian. La Verne won game three, 15-5.
The Leopards were led by junior outside hitter Lynsey Best and Henry
with 12 kills each. Brummel and Seaton each finished with 11 kills.
Occidental was led by Krista Venecia (12 kills and five digs).
Paschal cleared his bench Friday night to allow all the players a chance
to see some game time.
"I'm a little conservative, I want to determine were winning the
match," said Paschal. "They [the bench] did well when they went
in."
