Oct. 3-4 Volleyball Tourney Preview

October 2, 2003
Tourney schedule:
Fri. October 3:
---2 p.m.--Bethel vs. Central (Ct. 1); UW-Whitewater vs.Cal State-Hayward (Ct. 2)
---4 p.m.--Loras vs. Macalester (Ct. 1); UW-Whitewater vs. St. Thomas (Ct. 2)
---6 p.m.--Bethel vs. Macalester (Ct.1); Cal State-Hayward vs. Central (Ct. 2)
---8 p.m.--Loras vs. St. Thomas (Ct. 1)

Sat. October 4:
---9 a.m.--Macalester vs. UW-Whitewater (Ct. 1); Cal State-Hayward vs. St. Thomas (Ct. 2)
---11 a.m.--Central vs. Macalester (Ct. 1); Loras vs. Bethel (Ct. 2)
---1 p.m.--UW-Whitewater vs. Bethel (Court 1); Cal State-Hayward vs. Loras (Court 2)
---3 p.m.--Central vs. St. Thomas

Welcome to college volleyball and the 2003
St. Paul National Midseason Tournament on the Macalester College campus. Each team plays twice Friday and twice Saturday in the round-robin format.

Look for some excellent volleyball this weekend, with four teams ranked in the top 16 nationally in Division III and the other three entrants also have played challenging schedules. The seven teams' combined record is 81-35.

Here's a quick look at each tournament team:

.UW-Whitewater (13-4 in 2003, 36-4/NCAA champion last season) is ranked seventh and already has played a tough early-season schedule. The Warriors have wins over No. 20 UW-Oshkosh (in four); No. 2 Washington U. and No. 16 Central (both in five); and No. 23 Wartburg and No. 21 Simpson (both in three). They lost a five-gamer Wednesday to No. 19-ranked UW-LaCrosse, and had previous defeats vs. No. 12 Ohio Northern and No. 6 Wittenberg (both in four) and to UW-River Falls (in five). The Warriors graduated four key players, including three All-Americans. Leading the returners are setter Michelle Stanislawski, Megan Kay and Abbie Mueller. Coach Kris Russell was AVCA D-III National Coach of the Year in 2002. She is coming up on 1,000 matches in her 23 seasons at Whitewater with 763 wins to date.

.Cal State-Hayward (14-3 in 2003, 32-2 last season) have wins thus far over No. 4 LaVerne and No. 10 Elmhurst (both in five games) with losses to No. 14 Pacific Lutheran (in five games) and No. 17 Puget Sound (in four games). The Pioneers reached the NCAA quarterfinals last year before losing to eventual NCAA runner-up Washington U. Senior Liz Hazell is averaging 3.35 kpg and 3.59 dpg, and junior Nicole Brandt-Young is hitting .354 with 1.1 bpg and 2.93 kpg. Coach Jim Spagle has taken his teams to five
consecutive NCAA playoffs.

.St. Thomas (14-1 in 2003, 30-7 in 2002) is ranked 13th under first-year head coach Thanh Pham. St. Thomas won the 12-team Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) regular-season titles in 2000 and 2002. They had early 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 All-American hitter Katie Reynolds but return eight of their top 10 players. Senior Emily Buehler has 64 service aces. The Toms' lone loss was a five-gamer to No. 20 UW-Oshkosh Sept. 13. They have bounced back to start 5-0 atop the Minnesota conference.

.Central (11-5 in 2003, 22-15 in 2002) is another tradition-rich team in the field. The Flying Dutch, who won three consecutive Division III championships from 1998-2000, had a streak of seven consecutive NCAA playoff berths halted last season. They are 88-3 in Iowa Conference regular-season matches since 1996. Their main blip on a fast 2003 start for Coach Kent Clayberg's team came at the Wash U. tourney where they went 0-4, all to ranked teams, including five-game losses to Wash U, Whitewater and Ohio Northern and a loss to Wittenberg. Their season wins include defeats of Simpson, Wartburg and Macalester.

.Bethel (7-7 in 2003, 24-9 in 2002) returned five starters from a conference runner-up team. The Royals are led by senior Angie Frenell and junior Jill Thorvig, who each received All-Region recognition in 2002. The Royals' losses include three-gamers to No. 18 Southwestern (Tex.), No. 21 Simpson and St. Olaf, and five-gamers to St. Ben's and previously-ranked UW-Stout and Nebraska Wesleyan. They have five-game wins over St. Mary's and Colorado College and four-game wins over Colorado College, Carleton and Gustavus.

.Macalester (12-5 in 2003, 12-16 in 2002) has already matched its 2002 win total. Stephanie Schleuder, now in her fifth season at Macalester, is on pace to coach her 1,000th match in 2004. She has 639 wins in 23 seasons at Bemidji State, Division I Alabama and Minnesota and with the Scots. Senior Carley Bomstad, a lock to make all-confernece honors for the fourth year in a row, is averaging 3.63 dpg, 1.25 bpg and 3.03 kpg while hitting .342. The Scots are happy to be home after playing 15 of their first 16 matches on neutral and away courts.

.Loras (14-6 in 2003, 32-7 in 2002), under first-year head coach Brian Meeter, returned four starters from a strong 2002 team, led by senior setter Kristin Anderson. Senior Jen Wernimont is averaging 0.55 apg and 3.22 dpg. Junior Abbey Dunsworth is averaging 0.71 dpg. The Duhawks' losses include a four-gamer to Central and three-gamers to UW-Platteville
and No. 10 Elmhurst.