Leopards left heartless after losing in 3
Campus Times
March 12, 1999
After Friday's loss to visiting Mercyhurst College, head coach Jack
Coberly summed up the night by saying, "We didn't play with any heart."
La Verne's volleyball squad lost to the Lakers of Mercyhurst in three
games, 15-8, 15-9 and 15-13 in the Supertents.
"Whenever you play a scholarship school, you need to play with
heart and the desire to win," said Coberly. "We just didn't do
that."
The Leopards (5-7) looked flat in the beginning of the night. They found
themselves at an early disadvantage, falling behind 9-3 in the game. Sophomore
Alex Lienert, utility, made a kill to bring a sideout for the Leopards.
La Verne then added four points to their three.
The Lakers (6-8) capitalized on a Leopards service error, soon bringing
an end to the first game, 15-8. The second game seemed to follow the same
manner.
La Verne was able to stay within reach of its opponent but was unable
to take the lead. With the score 9-8, Mercyhurst's Adam Tokash, team captain,
had three kills and a block toward its 15-9 victory.
The Leopards were aware that entering the third game, a win was absolutely
necessary. Their performance in that game far surpassed that of the first
two. Unfortunatley, the Lakers rose to the occasion, preventing a La Verne
victory.
La Verne was again in trouble, suffering 8-4. But after a series of
sideouts, kills and turnovers, both squads battled to an 11-11 tie.
With a kill to force a sideout and a block, Lienert gave La Verne its
first lead of the night, 12-11.
After a La Verne service error and two attempted kills that landed out
of bounds, Mercyhurst was again in the lead, 13-11.
La Verne did not bow down, rallying to a 13-13 tie. However, they were
unable to finish the job. Mercyhurst won 15-13 after La Verne hit the ball
out of bounds.
"We played great defense and everything else was mediocre,"
said Tokash, who finished the night with a team high of 13 kills. "We
also capitilized on their mistakes."
The majority of mistakes came from LaVerne's difficulty serving within
the boundries. The Leopards made 24 service errors.
"That is a good team, but that is a team that we could have challenged
a lot more," said Coberly. "That is a team that we could have
possibly beaten."
"They ran a fast offense and we made a lot of unforced errors,"
said junior outside hitter Dave Spegon.
Lienert led the night with 25 kills while senior Sean Douglas, utility,
and sophomore Jason Kolodge had nine.
On Wednesday, the team suffered another three-game sweep ending in a
loss. Loyola of Chicago won, 15-2, 15-10 and 15-7, in the Supertents. Loyola
outside hitter Tom Papp dominated the game with his 16 kill performance,
which ended up to be too much for the Leopards.
Tomorrow, La Verne will play against Park of Ohio in the Supertents
at 7 p.m.
