Volleyball ranked 16th in D-III preseason poll

August 21, 2003
St. Thomas is ranked 16th in the 2003 Division III preseason top-25 poll by the American Volleyball Coaches' Association (AVCA) released Wednesday.

Bethel, at No. 24, is the only other MIAC team in the preseason volleyball rankings. 2002 conference playoff champion St. Olaf is among 12 other schools which received votes.

The Tommies, who start their season Aug. 29-30 at the Puget Sound tournament in Tacoma, Wash., are directed by first-year coach Thanh Pham (pronounced TANG FAMM). He replaced four-year coach Cole Tallman, who's now head coach at Division I Gardner-Webb (N.C.).

Pham returns at least 10 players from a 30-7, nationally-ranked team. Last year's Tommies won the conference championship but saw three key injuries dash their postseason hopes.

Pham inherited one of the toughest Division III schedules in the nation. The Tommies will play 14 of the other 36 teams which received votes in the preseason poll, including No. 1 Washington (Mo)., No. 4 UW-Whitewater, No. 5 Cal State-Hayward, No. 9 Mt. St. Joseph, No. 10 Elmhurst, No. 13 Central, No. 14 Puget Sound, No. 15 Wartburg, No. 18 Nebraska Wesleyan, No. 21 Baldwin-Wallace and No. 24 Bethel.

The Tommies graduated first-team All-American and conference MVP hitter Katie Reynolds, who ranks second in MIAC history in career kills (1,922). But second-team All-American setter Jane Gibbs (4,210 career assists), returns for her fourth and final season as a starter and needs just 95 assists to set the school career record.

Other returners include junior MB Amie Lee Aschenbeck ; senior MB Kristin Pins; senior MB Jen Smith (sat out in 2002); senior OH Emily Buehler; and sophomore hitters Erika Wetzel, Lisa Yonke and Ann Eibensteiner. Freshmen hitters Rachelle Dosch of Anoka and Megan Mueller of St. Cloud Cathedral will look to contribute immediately.

Wetzel was chosen the MIAC's First-Year Player of the Year. She missed the last 15 matches with an ankle injury incurred in October. Before her injury, she helped UST to a 20-2 start with 252 kills in 75 games, a .318 hitting percentage, 289 digs, 36 blocks and 28 service aces.

St. Thomas surpassed 500 all-time victories in 2002 and has built a 454-228 record (.667) in the last 20 seasons. The Toms have won 36 of their last 44 regular-season MIAC matches.

In 2002 NCAA Division III statistics, Gibbs finished third nationally in assists per game (14.64) after leading the nation in 2001; and Reynolds was fourth in kills per game (5.77), 14th in digs per game (5.40) and 15th in attack percentage (.397).

see link to AVCA poll here