TicketsVolleyball Going To InnTowner Invitational
UC travels to Madison, Wis. this weekend
Contact: Shawn Sell
9/14/2004
Rachel Torblaa earned all-tournament team honors at the Furama Hotel Invitational. |
SETTING THE SCENE: The Cincinnati Bearcat volleyball team (5-2) will be out to snap a two-match losing streak when they return to action this weekend at the InnTowner Invitational, hosted by the University of Wisconsin. UC?s first crack at win number six of the season comes on Friday (Sept. 17) when the Bearcats battle Marshall at 5 p.m. CT. The Bearcats are also slated to face Virginia and the host Badgers this weekend. Following the tournament, the Bearcats will battle Minnesota, ranked No. 1 in this week?s USA Today/CSTV poll. That contest is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. CT.
NOTES FROM LOYOLA MARYMOUNT:
? Head coach Reed Sunahara became the program?s all-time leader in coaching wins with the Bearcats victory over Washington State. Sunahara now has 102 wins in his Cincinnati career, one better than Mike Lingenfelter?s previous mark.
? The Bearcats set a new school record in the Washington State match as they totaled 17 service aces in a four-game match. The previous mark of 16 was set in 1993 against Evansville.
? Senior Julie DuPont took over second place on UC?s career kills list with 1,672, passing Cathy Guye. She now trails all-time leader Becky Tenkman by 171 kills.
ABOUT MARSHALL: Marshall is 4-3 this season after taking both ends of a home-and-home series with Morehead State last weekend. The Herd feature Kelly-Anne Billingy on offense, as the freshman averages a team-best 5.48 kills per game, while hitting .327. On defense, libero Maggie Arias posts 3.21 digs per game, while junior Amber Sims is averaging 0.79 blocks. Cincinnati has won seven of the eight all-time contests between the schools, including a 3-0 sweep in last year?s Vernon Manor Bearcat Invitational.
ABOUT VIRGINIA: Virginia is 7-1 this season and on a six-match winning streak after an opening weekend loss to Louisville. The Cavaliers toppled Radford, Duquense and Penn to win their own Farfield Inn Tournament over the weekend. Freshman Sarah Kirkwood is the offensive leader of the Cavaliers, with 5.39 kills per game and a .359 hitting percentage. The Virginia defense is averaging 2.18 blocks per game, led by Katie Oaks and Alexis Geocaris with 1.11 and 1.08 per game, respectively. Libero Melissa Caldwell has a 5.11 digs per game average, leading a trio of Cavaliers defenders with over three digs per contest. The Cavaliers will tune up for the Wisconsin Tournament with a home match on Tuesday night against Towson. UC and UVA have met just twice with each program picking up a win. Virginia was victorious in the last meeting in 1997.
ABOUT WISCONSIN: The Badgers started the year ranked 22nd nationally, but have gotten off to a 3-2 start and dropped out the top-25 rankings. Wisconsin does have a win over then-No. 12 Georgia Tech this season and won two out three at Kansas? tournament this past weekend. The balanced Badger offense has three players with over 2.6 kills per game, led by junior Sheila Shaw and senior Marian Weidner with 3.45 each per game. On defense, both Jocelyn Wack and Aubrey Meierotto are above three digs per game, while Shaw averages a team-best 1.25 blocks per game. The Bearcats have won three of the four all-time meetings, but Wisconsin was victorious in the last contest in 1985.
NOW ON TOP: Cincinnati head coach Reed Sunahara became the program?s all-time winningest coach in the Bearcats? Sept. 10 win over Washington State. Sunahara now has 102 wins in his Cincinnati career, one better than Mike Lingenfelter?s career total. 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 121-75 (.617) in his coaching career, with an even more impressive 102-35 (.745) 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 Sept. 7 allowed UC to establish a new consecutive home match winning streak, as they have now won 18 in a row, dating back to 2002. 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 1,672 kills and 1,048 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).
BEARCATS WITH THE ACE: Over the past few seasons, the Bearcats have not been considered one of Conference USA?s top serving teams. Last season, they ranked eighth in the league in aces, but are up to fourth after last weekend?s tournament at Loyola Marymount. Much of the damage was done in the opening match against Washington State, as the Bearcats established a school record for a four-game match with 17 aces, one better than a 1993 effort against Evansville. Senior Rachel Torblaa led the charge against the Cougars, with a career-high six and she enters the week tied with Maria Pongonis for the team lead with 14 aces this season.
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.
OLSON NOW IN CHARGE: In the Bearcats? second tournament of the year, sophomore Noel Olson stepped into the forefront as the team?s primary setter, as the team moved away from the two-setter attack the squad used the week before. For the tournament, Olson registered 13.82 assists per game and twice handed out a new career-best in assists. In the final match of the tournament against Miami (Fla.), Olson set her new career high at 59. During the first week of play, freshman Jenny Custer also saw time at the position and is now averaging 4.00 assists per game, compared to Olson?s 10.17.
DUPONT WINS C-USA AWARD: For the sixth time in her career, senior Julie DuPont was honored on Sept. 7 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.
INSIDE THE POLLS: Fresh off a battle with No. 22 Loyola Marymount, UC will face its second ranked opponent of the year on Sept. 20 and it will be a big one as the Bearcats travel to top-ranked Minnesota. Since the AVCA instituted its poll in 1982, the Bearcats have faced 26 ranked opponents, but have won just three matches. Assuming the Gophers are still No. 1, they will represent the highest ranked opponent UC has ever faced. The previous highly ranked team was No. 6 Kentucky in 1983 and No. 6 USC in 2001. The Bearcats will also face No. 17 Louisville in the final Conference USA match of the year on Nov. 12.
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 4.62, ranks second on the kills chart with 1,672, after passing Cathy Guye in the Sept. 10 contest against Washington State. She now has only Becky Tenkman to catch on the UC charts. Tenkman recorded 1,843 kills from 1995-98, only 171 more than DuPont?s current total. DuPont also ranks in the UC annals in attempts (third), digs per game (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. This season, both Custer and Dossman have moved into key roles in the Bearcat line-up. Custer has played both hitter and setter, averaging 1.00 kills, 1.50 digs and 4.00 assists per game. Dossman has registered double digit digs in all seven contests as the starting libero, averaging 4.22 digs per game including a career-high 18 against Miami (Fla.). Maldo has seen limited action, averaging 1.33 kills and 0.67 digs per game, while both May and Nevitt are still awaiting their first game action.
HIGH RISER: Maria Pongonis has proven to be an intergral part of UC?s success this season, as she ranks second on the team in both kills (4.09) and digs (3.00). Against Washington State on Sept. 10, Pongonis recorded a new career-high with 23 kills, three more than her previous high from last season?s Marquette contest. In seven matches this season, Pongonis has led or tied for the team lead in kills four times, after accomplishing the feat just three times all of last season.
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 first time honoree Myanna Hellsten.
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 week ranked seventh in conference history in kills with 1,672. Former UAB standout Tonya Larson ranks sixth with 1,760 on the list. 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.
TORBLAA NAMED ALL-TOURNAMENT: At the Furama Hotel Invitational hosted by Loyola Marymount University, Rachel Torblaa was the Bearcats? sole representative on the all-tournament team. Torblaa earned the honor after averaging 3.00 kills and 1.00 blocks per game and hitting .379 for the tournament. The all-tournament honor was the second of the season for Torblaa and fourth of her career, including an MVP performance at the 2003 George Mason Patriot Invitational.
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.
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 seven block assists last weekend at Loyola Marymount?s Tournament, Torblaa jumped to fourth in school history with 340. Torblaa now has some work to do 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 (fifth-1.30) and total blocks (eighth-390).
LOOKING AHEAD: Following the tournament at Wisconsin, the Bearcats will wrap up their eight-match road trip next week. UC starts the week with a trip to No. 1 Minnesota on Monday, Sept. 20. On Saturday, Sept. 25, the Bearcats will make the jaunt to Indianapolis, Ind. for a match at Butler in a rematch of a 2003 Bearcat Invitational contest. UC then returns home for round one of the battle of the Newell sisters as Leslie?s sister Carol and her IUPUI teammates visit Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center on Tuesday, Sept. 28.