Playoffs welcome Leopards -- again
Campus Times
April 16, 1999
Last weekend, the University of La Verne men's volleyball team was selected
to compete in the 1999 Molten Division III Invitational Volleyball Championships
on April 23 and 24 at Clarke College in Dubuque, Iowa.
This is the second consecutive year that La Verne will contend for the
national title. Last year, it ended the season as the national runner-up,
losing in the finals to Juniata College of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.
The Leopards (10-11), the tournament's second seed, ended the season
ranked No. 4 in the Division III national poll. They earned a berth after
going 4-1 against Division III opponents. They also had wins over four Division
I schools: UC Irvine, Cal State Northridge, Harvard and Rutgers-Newark.
Three others schools were also invited to the tournament including Clarke
College, D'Youville College from Buffalo, New York and the defending national
champions, Juniata.
The Eagles of Juniata (13-10) enter the tournament as the top seeded
team and look to carry back-to-back titles. The Eagles held the No. 1 spot
of the national poll for the entire season.
Clarke College was given an automatic bid as the tournament host. They
were 5-0 over Division III opponents and 7-0 over NAIA schools.
D'Youville College (31-2) will make its first tournament appearance
and will enter as the tournament's fourth seed. The Spartans were ranked
No. 8 in the national poll. They earned a berth by sweeping the four matches
at the North East Volleyball Association (NEVA) tournament.
Friday, April 23, will be the first round of the tournament where Juniata
will face D'Youville at 3:30 p.m. and La Verne will face Clarke at 6 p.m.
On Saturday, the losers from the first round games will play each other
in the third place match for 3:30 p.m. The championship game will be at
6 p.m. All games will be held in the school's stadium, the Kehl Center.
Molten America Inc. is the title sponsor of the tournament for the third
consecutive year. They produce the "Official Volleyball of the Division
III Men's Invitational Volleyball Championships."
"I think we have just as good a chance as last year and I think
that the important thing for us is we're going in as the No. 2 seed and
not to over look our first match," said head coach Jack Coberly.
"Juniata and Springfield [College] were the two big teams that
were supposed to be in the finals last year and we came in as an unlooked
team and suprised Springfield," he said. "Our goal is to not let
that happen to us with our first match against Clarke."
Coberly believes that Clarke is a good team that matches very well with
the Leopards.
"We just need to take one match at a time," Coberly adds.
"The team is excited and we definitely want to bring the trophy back
to the West Coast."
Sophomore setter Agke Grow said, "There was a lot of uncertainty
of whether we were going but we deserved it and now we are focused and ready
to take on Juniata in the finals."
