Leopards set for championship run
Campus Times
December 11, 1998
The men's volleyball team, which earned a No. 2 finish in Division
III last year, is about to begin its season. Sophomore middle blocker Jason
Kolodge, freshman middle blocker Thomas Hilton and junior setter Matt Wright
set up for the defense as senior outside hitter Sean Douglas goes for a
kill during a scrimmage at practice in the Old Gym.
by Ryan Allen
Arts & Entertainment Editor
After coming off the best season the University of La Verne men's volleyball
team has ever had, second year head coach Jack Coberly is not only looking
to improve upon last year's championship team.
He is also looking to achieve a goal the men's team has had since the
inception of the Division III National Championships just under four years
ago -- to win the national title.
"This year we need to use our seniors as models for the younger
guys, because we either have experienced players or we have very inexperienced
players," said Coberly about this season's team and the importance
of the seniors on the team. "The most difficult thing this year is
going to be to get this team to work together."
After losing four seniors last year, it might seem that the team may
lack some experience needed to return to the small college final four.
To a point, this is true, but the team has not lost the entire graduating
class completely. Coach Coberly managed to retain his son, All-American
Morgan Coberly and Jason Flick, last years middle blocker, on the team in
assistant coach positions.
"Coaching is a little weird because I played with half the guys
on the team the last couple of years," said assistant coach Coberly.
"I have to find a different way to coach them than I would the freshmen."
Some key returning players for ULV are senior outside hitter Jeff Pang,
sophomore utility player Alex Lienert, sophomore setter/outside hitter Agke
Grow and sophomore utility player Jason Kolodge.
The Leopards also return All-Championship Tournament selection senior
outside hitter Chris Peterson, and senior outside hitter Sean Douglas, who
will share the captain's duties for the team this season along with Peterson.
Peterson, who led the team last year in digs and was second in kills,
almost did not return this year.
"I wasn't going to play this year, and I decided I just wasn't
going to finish out my career," said Peterson. "Then November
came around, and I started to have dreams and stuff about playing volleyball."
Those dreams have motivated Peterson to try to play again, and he found
that for the first time in a long time he has regained "the whole spirit
of volleyball."
The Leopards also add a couple of junior college transfers, which, if
history holds true, will have a huge impact on the team's success.
In the last two years, La Verne has produced two All-Americans, both
of which have been from Southern California junior colleges in Rob Snyder,
Long Beach City College, and Coberly, Orange Coast College (OCC).
This year, junior setter Matt Wright, from OCC, and junior utility player
Luis Cruz from Mt. SAC join the squad and look to make big contributions
to the team.
Coach Coberly said he will implement a brand-new position to ULV volleyball
that no one has ever seen in a utility position.
Because the team has no true middle position, coach Coberly is training
a number of players who have not specialized in that position.
"We are developing an offense that is centered more around the
idea of using utility players rather than set position players," said
coach Coberly.
These utility players will be used interchangeably and will make up
half of the offense. There will be a setter, a middle and a swing position
along with three utility players, who instead of specializing in just one
position, will have to learn three.
"I think we have the talent to do that," said coach Coberly
about the inception of his brand new offense.
