3 unbeaten teams in home Volleyball tourney

September 11, 2003
St. Thomas will host five other teams in the Friday-Saturday UST Classic in Schoenecker Arena on the UST campus in St. Paul.

Each team plays twice Friday and twice Saturday in the round-robin format.

Some good volleyball teams will take some losses this weekend, since there are three unbeaten teams in the field, and the six teams' combined record is 30-8.

Here's a quick look at each tournament team:
.St. Thomas (6-0 in 2003, 30-7 in 2002) is ranked 12th
in this week's poll for Division III by the AVCA. St. Thomas won the 12-team Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) regular-season titles
in 2000 and 2002. They have wins over No. 16 Puget Sound, No. 17 UW-LaCrosse and No. 25 Nebraska Wesleyan. Senior setter Jane Gibbs, an AVCA All-American in 2002, broke the school career assists record Aug. 30 and was named AVCA Division III National Player of the Week Sept. 3. Junior MB Amie Lee Aschenbeck was named the MVP of the Puget Sound Invitational Aug. 29-30. The Toms graduated first-team All-American hitter Katie Reynolds but returned eight of their top 10 players.

.UW-Oshkosh (5-3 in 2003, 20-16 last season) is ranked 23rd in Division III and already has played a tough early-season schedule. All three defeats have come to top-15 ranked teams Washington U., Mount St. Joseph and Ohio Northern and they have a four-game win over No. 11 Elmhurst. The Titans finished 32-5 in the 2001 season and play in perhaps the deepest conference in Division III with five teams currently ranked in the top 25. Last year with no seniors, the Titans won 11 of their last 15 matches. All-conference hitter Amanda Delgadillo was named to the six-player all-tourney team at Elmhurst Aug. 29-30 with 82 kills
and 71 digs in 15 games

.Eastern (9-0 in 2003, 32-6 last season) has
some impressive credentials out of the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference. The Eagles are 81-2 in conference play since 1997 and had a home-court winning streak peak at 59 matches before a five-game defeat in 2002. They have reached the NCAA playoffs in each of the last four seasons. The Eagles defeated Gettysburg in four games last weekend to claim the championship of the Bullets' tournament. Erin Meredith was named MVP
of the Franklin & Marshall tourney and joined and Kate Adams on the Gettysburg all-tourney team.

.Carleton (7-0 in 2003, 15-11 in 2002) is off to a fast start and is looking to not only reach the six-team conference playoffs but to surprise the preseason pollsters who tabbed them seventh in the 12-team MIAC race. The Knights have posted back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in 15 years and return five starters, led by seniors Lizzie Erickson (MH) and Katie Haldy (setter).

.Gettysburg (5-2 in 2003, 24-14 in 2002) graduated only one player from last year's team. The Bullets have won nine of their last 10 Centennial Conference championships. Shannan Smith and Jessica Cortese made the Gettysburg all-tourney team after leading the Bullets to wins in three of their four matches. Their losses are to unbeaten Eastern in four games and in five games to Dominican (Ill.)

.Lakeland (2-3 in 2003, 32-5 in 2002) repeated as Upper Midwest Conference champions in 2002 and played in its first NCAA volleyball playoffs. The Muskies have wins over Lawrence and Aurora and lost in four games to No. 10-ranked UW-River Falls and in three to No. 11 Elmhurst. They are led by senior Amy Lieske, Therese Ertler and Monica Draeger.

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UST Volleyball Classic
Sept. 12-13 /Schoenecker Arena

Tournament Pairings
(Matches on two courts at same time)

Fri. Sept. 12
.4 p.m.--Eastern (Pa.) vs. St. Thomas; Gettysburg (Pa.) vs. Carleton
.6 p.m.--UW-Oshkosh vs. Eastern (Pa.); Lakeland (Wis.) vs. St. Thomas
.8 p.m.--Carleton vs. Lakeland (Wis.); Gettsyburg (Pa.) vs. UW-Oshkosh

Sat. Sept. 13
.9 a.m.--Gettysburg (Pa.) vs. Lakeland (Wis.); UW-Oshkosh vs. Carleton
.11 a.m.--Lakeland (Wis.) vs. Eastern (Pa.); Gettysburg (Pa.) vs. St. Thomas
.1p.m.--Carleton vs. Eastern (Pa.); St. Thomas vs. UW-Oshkosh