TicketsBearcat Invitational Starts Friday
UC opens 2004 campaign at Fifth Third Arena
Contact: Shawn Sell
9/2/2004
Julie DuPont was the 2003 Bearcat Invitational MVP. |
SETTING THE SCENE: The University of Cincinnati volleyball team will open the 2004 season this weekend when they host the Vernon Manor Bearcat Invitational in Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center. The four-team tournament, which features the host Bearcats along with Bradley, Maryland-Baltimore County and Kent State, gets underway on Friday (Sept. 3) with a pair of matches. Saturday features a full slate of four matches, with the Bearcats playing at 11 a.m. and again at 7:30 p.m. The event also marks the first time UC has opened its schedule at home since 1999, when they dropped a five-game contest to crosstown rival Xavier.
ABOUT BRADLEY: The Braves finished the 2003 campaign with an 11-20 overall record with a 7-11 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference, finishing seventh. Bradley will count offensively on junior middle blocker Lindsay Stalzer, who averaged a team-best 3.98 kills per game a year ago. Junior setter Ashley Vance returns to control the offense after recording 12.27 assists per game in 2003. She also added 2.36 digs per game. The Bradley defense is led by junior Briony Hammet and her 2.44 digs per game and Stalzer?s 0.79 blocks per game.
ABOUT UMBC: The Retrievers of Maryland-Baltimore County opened the 2004 season on Wednesday night with a three-game loss at Xavier. Senior Jocelyn Teoh, who paced UMBC with 4.96 kills per game last season, again led the squad on opening night, recording eight kills. The UMBC offense struggled against Xavier, hitting just .019 for the match. The Retrievers? defense was extremely balanced last season, with junior Christine Skala (2.92), Teoh (2.87) and junior Megan Gross (2.85) all averaging nearly three digs per game. UMBC finished the 2003 campaign with a 14-19 record under first-year head coach Greg Giovanazzi and returns 10 letterwinners and five starters from that squad.
ABOUT KENT STATE: The Golden Flashes are coming off a 12-14 campaign in 2003 that saw them tie for third in the MAC East with an 8-8 league record. A total of eight letterwinners and four starters are back from that team for eighth-year head coach Mora Kanim. Kent State is 0-1 this season after dropping a five-game match with Cleveland State on Wednesday night. Junior outside hitter Danielle Holt is the top returning offensive threat for KSU, having averaged 4.93 kills per game last year and registering 13 in the loss to Cleveland State. Ruth Ladurner-Schnitzer, who carded 2.78 kills per game last year, had a match-high 19 against the Vikings. On the defensive side, Holt is the top returnee with 3.13 digs per game, while Kara Warnke averaged 0.70 blocks per game in 2003.
LAST YEAR?S BEARCAT INVITATIONAL: Cincinnati dominated the 2003 edition of the Bearcat Invitational, not losing a game in wins over Marshall, New Mexico State and Butler. Julie DuPont was named the tournament?s MVP after averaging 6.11 kills and 4.78 digs per game, while hitting .339. For the Bearcats, Maria Pongonis and Rachel Torblaa were also named to the All-Tournament squad.
REMEMBERING STEPH: The Bearcats will play their 2004 season in honor of assistant coach and former UC star player Stephanie (Meinig) Rosfeld, who passed away unexpectedly during the preseason. UC will honor Stephanie?s number 10, as no player will wear the number this season, while the entire team?s uniforms will bear the initials SAR and the number 10.
ALMOST NUMBER ONE: Cincinnati head coach Reed Sunahara reached a pair of coaching milestones last season, beginning with his 100th career win in UC?s Sept. 19 victory over Brown. He reached his second banner achievement on Oct. 18 at East Carolina, when Sunahara passed Darrell Morken for the second most wins at UC with 91. He now trails only Mike Lingenfelter, who racked up 101 wins in his five-year career. Sunahara, now in his fourth year as the Bearcats? mentor, is 116-73 (.614) in his coaching career, with an even more impressive 97-33 (.746) mark at UC.
BEARCATS NEAR TOP 25: After becoming nationally-ranked for the first time in program history and ascending as high as No. 20 in the USA Today/AVCA rankings last season, the Bearcats enter the 2004 campaign just outside of the top-25. The poll, now known as the USA Today/College Sports Television rankings, shows UC in the No. 27 spot in the nation. The Bearcats, who received 110 points, trail No. 25 Notre Dame by just 26 points. Defending national champion USC was again tabbed No. 1 in the nation.
HOME SWEET HOME: Since the opening of Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center, the Bearcats have been nothing short of dominant on their home floor. In the 14 years the building has been in existence, the Bearcats have posted a 113-50 (.697) record at home, with exactly half of those losses coming in a three-year span from 1991-93. UC has lost only one match at home in each of the last four years, with just one coming outside of Conference USA play. The Bearcats enter this season on a 14-match home winning streak and can match the school record of 17 with a sweep of this weekend?s Bearcat Invitational. The current streak was established from a Sept. 7, 1999 win over Dayton to an Oct. 18, 2000 defeat to Louisville.
DUPONT NEARING HISTORY: During her career, senior Julie DuPont has made her mark as one of the top players in program history and she is on the verge of reaching two more career milestones. DuPont, who is tops in school history in kills per game with 4.61, ranks third on the kills chart with 1,564. Cathy Guye is next for DuPont on the list with 1,636 kills from 1987-90. DuPont is also on the verge of becoming just the fifth UC player ever with 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs. DuPont needs just 31 more digs to join an exclusive club that includes Sonja Jackson (1,443 kills; 1,135 digs), Dani Peterson (1,040 kills; 1,132 digs), Becky Tenkman (1,843 kills; 1,303 digs) and Trish Ladusaw (1,465 kills; 2,074 digs).
INSIDE THE POLLS: Following the season-opening four-match home stand, the Bearcats will embark on one of the toughest stretches of the schedule as three of their next seven opponents are listed in the first USA Today/CSTV national rankings. UC will participate in tournaments at No. 18 Loyola Marymount (Sept. 10-11) and No. 23 Wisconsin (Sept. 17-18), with the big finale coming on Sept. 20 with a trip to NCAA Final Four participant and preseason No. 5 Minnesota. The Bearcats will also face No. 20 Louisville in the final Conference USA match of the year on Nov. 12.
C-USA COACHES SPEAK: For the third consecutive campaign, the Bearcats have been selected second in the preseason poll of Conference USA coaches. UC, after sharing the Conference USA regular season championship with Louisville, was once again chosen one spot back of the Cardinals. In addition, senior Julie DuPont, the reigning C-USA Player of the Year, was tabbed the league?s preseason player of the year.
THE BEST EVER: With a 27-6 record, the 2003 Bearcats rank as one of the best in program annals. Statistically, the Bearcats finished as the best offensive team in school history, concluding the campaign with higher kills (17.10) and assists (15.57) per game than any UC team ever and the second highest hitting percentage (.273). The .273 mark trails only that of the 1983 squad who hit .337 for the season. The Bearcats came up short of gathering the school record for wins in a season of 34 established in both 1976 and 1979. A closer look at the mark, though, reveals that the 1976 squad took 44 matches to achieve the mark, while the 1979 team needed 51 contests.
MORE OUTSTANDING FRESHMEN: Head Coach Reed Sunahara and his staff have once again assembled another outstanding freshmen class that appears poised to continue the tradition of outstanding freshmen at UC. During the nine years of Conference USA Volleyball, the Bearcats have featured five freshman or co-freshman of the year in the league. Myanna Hellsten continued the run last year, capturing league and region freshman of the year honors, giving UC four recipients of the C-USA award in the last five years. This year?s crop includes promising newcomers Jenny Custer, Natalie Dossman, Erin Maldo and Jessie Nevitt. In UC?s Alumni Match last Saturday, the entire foursome was impressive, led by Custer who had nine kills and 14 assists, seeing time as both a setter and a hitter. Dossman filled the first team libero role and responded with a team-best 15 digs. Maldo and Nevitt both saw limited playing time, but finished with five and two kills, respectively.
BEARCATS IN C-USA: In the eight years of Conference USA play, the Bearcats have gone 106-26 for an .803 winning percentage, ranking second in both, trailing only Louisville. The Bearcats have now won 70 of their last 83 matches against C-USA opponents. Five of the 13 losses have been to Louisville, while four have come against USF. The marks exclude C-USA Tournament play.
HIGH RISER: While Julie DuPont dominated the headlines last season, the Bearcats got a very solid performance from Maria Pongonis in her first season at UC. Despite missing five matches late in the season, Pongonis still ranked second on the team in kills (3.44) and third in digs (3.43), while adding 34 service aces. Pongonis? importance to UC?s success showed late in the season, as with her out of the line-up the Bearcats? offensive numbers dipped to 14.78 kills per game and .206 hitting and the squad won just two of five.
STEPPING UP HER GAME: Rachel Torblaa made her mark on the Bearcats? success with a very solid 2003 season. For the year, Torblaa averaged 3.12 kills and 1.26 blocks per game, while ranking fifth in Conference USA in hitting at .313, earning spots on the all-tournament teams at the Patriot and Bearcat Invitationals, including MVP honors at the former. Torblaa broke one school record and matched another in UC?s Nov. 8 win over TCU. The junior finished the three-game match with 12 total blocks, breaking Angie Showalter?s 10-year old record, while matching her own school mark with 10 block assists.
ALL-AMERICANS: For the first time in program history, a Bearcat volleyball player earned All-America honors in 2003 as Julie DuPont was chosen to the third team by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA). Laura Lauder was also recognized, drawing honorable mention honors. DuPont?s honor also marked just the second time in Conference USA history that a league player was honored. She joined USF?s Michelle Collier, who picked up third team accolades last season.