TicketsBearcats Set For Furama Hotel Invitational
UC in Los Angeles, Calif. this weekend for three matches
Contact: Shawn Sell
9/9/2004
Tri-captain Leslie Newell and the Bearcats will play in the Furama Hotel Invitational beginning Friday. |
SETTING THE SCENE: The University of Cincinnati volleyball team takes to the road for the first time this season when they compete in the Furama Hotel Invitational hosted by Loyola Marymount this weekend. UC enters the tournament a perfect 4-0, after a sweep of Miami (Ohio) on Tuesday night. The Bearcats are slated to face the host Lions, Miami (Fla.) and Washington State in the two-day tournament. UC will open play with 0-4 WSU on Friday (Sept. 10) at 4:30 p.m. PT.
NOTES FROM MIAMI (OHIO):
? The Bearcats established a new school record for consecutive home wins at 18 with the victory over the RedHawks. UC toppled the previous best of 17 which was set during the 1999 and 2000 seasons.
? Reed Sunahara matched the school record for coaching wins at UC with 101. Sunahara has now equalled Mike Lingenfelter?s mark from the latter?s tenure of 1986-87 and 1993-95.
? Rachel Torblaa?s five block assists allowed her to jump from seventh to fifth on the school?s career list. She now has 333 for her career.
ABOUT WASHINGTON STATE: The Cougars are 0-4 on the year after dropping a four-game match to No. 10 Colorado State on Wednesday night. WSU opened the year at the UNLV Classic, dropping a pair of matches to the host Rebels, along with one to San Jose State. Kelly Rosin and Jennifer Todd are the team?s offensive leaders, averaging 4.00 and 3.71 kills per game, respectively. On defense, Washington State gets 4.29 digs per game from libero Stacey Holbrook and 1.12 blocks per game from Todd. This will be the first ever meeting between the two schools.
ABOUT LOYOLA MARYMOUNT: Loyola Marymount is 3-1 this season and hosting its second tournament in as many weekends. The Lions, ranked No. 22 in this week?s USA Today/CSTV poll, picked up wins over Duke and Villanova, before being upset by Tennessee. LMU also got a win over Cal State-Fullerton on Wednesday night. On offense, Dina Debarnardi (3.69) and Krista Houseman (3.25) each average over three kills per game. On the defensive side of the court, Jacene Dimson totals 4.23 digs per game and Kelli Nerison averages 1.62 blocks per game. The squads have met just once, with the Bearcats taking a five-game home win in 1983.
ABOUT MIAMI (FL): Hurricane Frances has wrecked havoc with Miami?s schedule this season, as they have played just once, a 3-0 win over Florida International last week. In that match, Valeria Tipiani had 12 kills and seven digs, while Karla Johnson added 11 kills. Jill Robinson had a solid defensive effort with seven blocks. Miami has the only victory between the schools, a 2-0 triumph at UC in 1980.
DUPONT WINS C-USA AWARD: For the sixth time in her career, senior Julie DuPont was honored this week as the Conference USA Player of the Week, sharing the honor with Saint Louis? Aida Antanaviciute. In earning MVP honors at the Bearcat Invitational, DuPont averaged 5.22 kills and 3.89 digs per game, while hitting .370. DuPont now shares the top spot with former USF players Paula Araujo and Michelle Collier and Saint Louis? Colleen Hunter in number of career Player of the Week awards.
ALMOST NUMBER ONE: Cincinnati head coach Reed Sunahara moved one step closer to becoming the winningest coach in school history with Tuesday?s win over Miami (Ohio). Sunahara earned his 101st win at Cincinnati against the RedHawks and has tied Mike Lingenfelter for first place on the school career win list. Lingenfelter recorded 101 wins in his five-year career, which covered 1986-87 and 1993-95. Sunahara, now in his fifth year as the Bearcats? mentor, is 120-73 (.622) in his coaching career, with an even more impressive 101-33 (.753) mark at UC.
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.
HOME SWEET HOME: The Bearcats? win over Miami (Ohio) on Tuesday night allowed UC to establish a new consecutive home match winning streak, as they have now won 18 in a row, dating back to 2001. The new streak is one better than the previous best of 17 straight home wins, established from a Sept. 7, 1999 win over Dayton to an Oct. 18, 2000 defeat to Louisville. 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 118-50 (.702) record at home, with exactly half of those losses coming in a three-year span from 1991-93.
DUPONT JOINS ELITE CLUB: As she has so many times during her career, Julie DuPont made history in the Sept. 4 match against Kent State. Against the Golden Flashes, DuPont became just the fifth UC player ever with 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs. DuPont, with 1,624 kills and 1,012 digs, joins 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).
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.
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 USA Today/CSTV national rankings. UC will participate in tournaments at No. 22 Loyola Marymount (Sept. 10-11) and No. 25 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. 18 Louisville in the final Conference USA match of the year on Nov. 12.
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 are just outside of the top-25 in the second poll of the year. The poll, now known as the USA Today/College Sports Television rankings, shows UC in the No. 29 spot in the nation. The Bearcats received 85 points this week, down from 110 last week.
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 another career milestone. DuPont, who is tops in school history in kills per game with 4.63, ranks third on the kills chart with 1,624. Cathy Guye is next for DuPont on the list with 1,636 kills from 1987-90. DuPont also ranks in the UC annals in attempts (third), digs per game (tie-seventh) and block assists (ninth).
SISTER, SISTER: Senior Leslie Newell will have a unique opportunity during her final season as a collegiate player, as her and her Bearcat teammates will play contests against both of Newell?s younger sisters. UC will host IUPUI with youngest sister Carol, a freshman, on Sept. 28, before Conference USA rival Charlotte and sibling Lisa, a junior visit on Nov. 5. Leslie Newell has bettered sister Lisa in all three of the sisters? head-to-head match-ups. UC has won each of the last regular season match-ups between the school?s, while also taking a C-USA Tournament quarterfinal win in 2002.
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, Hannah May and Jessie Nevitt. In the first four matches of the season, both Custer and Dossman have moved into the starting line-up with instant success. Custer has played both hitter and setter, averaging 1.50 kills and 7.00 assists per game. Dossman has registered double digit digs in all four contests as the starting libero, averaging 4.25 digs per game, while Maldo has seen limited action, averaging 2.00 kills and 1.00 dig per game.
TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE: The Bearcats entered 2004 with the sizable task of replacing setter Laura Lauder. Lauder was not only a four-year starter, but statistically was the best setter in school history, accumulating 5,946 in her career. To fill Lauder?s shoes, the Bearcats have turned to the combination of sophomore Noel Olson and freshman Jenny Custer and through four matches, the duo has been solid. The two have led the Bearcats to 14.50 assists per game, including 6.83 by Olson, and a .269 team hitting percentage. Custer, who lines up as a hitter while Olson is on the court, is averaging 7.00 assists per game and has added 1.50 kills, 1.58 digs and 0.92 blocks per game. Olson set a new career-high with 25 assists against Kent State, while Custer has had at least 20 assists in all four contests.
HIGH RISER: Maria Pongonis once again showed her importance to UC?s all-around success during the Bearcat Invitational. For the tournament, Pongonis averaged 3.25 kills and 3.75 digs per game. With Pongonis hitting in the negatives in the first two matches, the team struggled to .237 and .190 team hitting efforts. But Pongonis and the team turned it around in the weekend finale against Kent State, as Pongonis hit .387 and registered 16 kills and Bearcats hit a weekend-best .339.
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.
TOURNAMENT HONORS: For the second consecutive season, UC dominated the Bearcat Invitational Sept. 3-4, winning all three matches and posting a perfect 9-0 games record. As she did in 2003, Julie DuPont garnered tournament MVP honors and was joined on the all-tournament squad by a pair of her teammates. Rachel Torblaa repeated as a member of the team and was joined by Myanna Hellsten. The all-tournament honor for Hellsten was the second of her career.
TORBLAA CLIMBING THE CHARTS: While she has proven to be a solid and valuable offensive player during her career, senior Rachel Torblaa has made her name at the net with her strong blocking ability. With five block assists against Miami (Ohio) on Tuesday, Torblaa jumped from seventh to fifth in school history with 333. She now trails fourth place Angie Showalter by just one. Torblaa will have some work to do after she passes Showalter as Becky Tenkman (393) and Bontia Wise (431) are third and second, respectively. Former UC assistant coach Stephanie Meinig is the program?s all-time leader with 518 block assists. Torblaa also ranks in UC annals in both blocks per game (1.31) and total blocks (eighth-379).
DUPONT JUMPING THE C-USA CHARTS: In addition to her name being written throughout the UC record books, Julie DuPont is also starting to make waves in the Conference USA annals as well. DuPont enters the weekend ranked eighth in conference history in kills with 1,624. Former Saint Louis standout Laura Risley ranks seventh with 1,636, but 124 kills separate Risley from sixth place Tonya Larson of UAB. Former USF star Michelle Collier, the only player in C-USA history to be named All-American besides DuPont is the all-time record holder with 2,729.
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.
LOOKING AHEAD: After this weekend at the Furama Hotel Invitational, the Bearcats will embark on a four-match road trip that features a pair of ranked opponents. UC will travel to Madison, Wis. next weekend for the InnTowner Invitational, where they will face not only the host Badgers, but also Marshall and Virginia. On Monday, Sept. 20, the Bearcats wrap up the road trip with a visit to fifth-ranked and 2003 Final Four participant Minnesota.
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.
NATIONALLY SPEAKING: The final edition of the NCAA?s 2003 national statistics show the Bearcats made quite an impact on the national scene. Led by setter Laura Lauder, who finished fourth in the country in assists per game with 13.87, the Bearcats were sixth in kills per game (17.10), eight in assists (15.57), 16th in hitting percentage (.273) and 34th in blocks per game (2.82). Julie DuPont, UC?s top offensive weapon, was ranked 15th in kills per game with 5.43. In addition, Myanna Hellsten climbed into the rankings in blocks per game, coming in 50th with 1.30.