Volleyball Voices

Kansas Jayhawks Volleyball Team In Rome For 12-Day European Tour

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Kansas Jayhawks Volleyball Team Lands In Rome For 12-Day European Tour

Rome, Italy – After more than 14 hours of travel, the University of Kansas volleyball team finally touched down in Rome to begin its 12-day tour of Europe.

The day began with a two-hour excursion through a small section of Rome that included the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and the Piazza del Popolo. After sightseeing, the team gathered for a traditional seven-course Italian meal near the hotel.

Following lunch, the team then played its first match of the trip, which was originally scheduled for Monday evening but was pushed up to Sunday Night. The Jayhawks traveled to the town of Formelo just outside of Rome to face the Italian Junior National Team.

KU opened the match strong using a 9-1 run to lead 12-7. The Italian Junior National Team eventually tied the set at 18-all and even took a 20-24 lead but KU rallied to score the final six points and win 26-24. Rising sophomore Marianne Beal had two service aces down the stretch for Kansas and finished the match with five total aces.

During set two, the teams were knotted at 10-10 before Italy scored nine unanswered points to take a commanding 19-10 lead. The Jayhawks did not give up however coming within one at 23-22 but their opponents tallied the next two points to win set two, 25-22.

Kansas struggled out of the gate in the third set and never recovered as it fell 25-13. In the fourth and final frame, KU held a 12-11 advantage before Italy took over the lead at 13-12 and never trailed again despite the Jayhawks coming within two at 23-21. Kansas dropped the fourth set 25-21.

Following the contest, both teams gathered at the nearby restaurant Vecchio Oliveto for an extraordinary seafood dinner before finally calling it a night and getting some much deserved sleep. Below senior-to-be Nicole Tate shares her experience of the team’s first day in Italy. Also, fans can visit www.KUAthletics.com/volleyball

<http://www.KUAthletics.com/volleyball> for photo galleries and videos from the trip.

The KU volleyball team has invaded Rome! We flew out of KCI airport early Saturday morning, had a layover in Newark, and then a seven and a half hour flight into Rome. I don’t know how enjoyable the flight was for some of the other people in our group, but my experience was the furthest thing from comfortable. I got the middle seat on the plane behind a person who decided to keep their seat leaned back for the whole trip making it almost impossible to get any sleep on the flight since I couldn’t lay my head on the seat tray in front of me. I managed to get a 30 minute nap towards the end of the flight. The other misfortune from the flight was the little TV for my seat was broken and couldn’t turn on leaving me unable to watch any movies or play the video games. Our athletic trainer, Aimee, let me play games on her TV so I sat in the middle of the aisle playing some game that was similar to Galactica. Love that game! Finally we landed in Rome and waited around at the airport for the rest of our group to arrive and also for the double-decker bus to find us.

We went straight from the airport to walking around the streets of Rome. When we got to the Trevi Fountain, there was a pep rally going on for a soccer game that was taking place later in the day. It was madness! There were pink shirts everywhere and the people continuously tried to jump in the pictures that we were taking of the team. They were a funny group of people and had a lot of team spirit. They filled up the Spanish Steps with pink shirts and people were waving flags, yelling chants, and blaring air horns. It was quite the view. Besides that, the whole traveling group broke up and wandered around the city of Rome. One of the most important stops was to get some gelato! It was so yummy and I will definitely be going back for more later in the week.

After walking around, dropping our stuff off at the hotel, and eating lunch, which was carb central with all the pasta and bread, the team had a match against Italy’s youth national team, which was suppose to be tomorrow but got moved to today. After a fairly strong start to the match and winning set one, the team seemed to be running on fumes and lost the next three sets. It was a very disappointing loss since our performance was far from satisfactory, but we will face that team again on Tuesday so hopefully with some quality sleep we will play up to our standards. After the match, both teams went to dinner together to enjoy some amazing pizza. Hopefully the Italian team doesn’t think we are too weird of a group between us chanting Carmichael’s name to eat some crawfish and swatting at the bugs that were flying around. The day has come to an end and we all got dropped off at the hotel to get some much needed sleep. Finally!

Rock Chalk!
Taters (Nicole Tate)

Kansas Jayhawks Volleyball Team Busy Preparing for Europe

 

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Kansas Jayhawks Volleyball Team Busy Preparing for Europe

 

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Tuesday evening the Kansas volleyball team wrapped up its second day of two-a-days inside the Horejsi Family Athletics Center. While its practice schedule sounds more like a preseason workout in August, the Jayhawks are busy preparing for their European tour, which begins on Saturday, May 28. The team has also been hitting the weight room and will continue to practice twice a day through Friday.

 

Saturday morning the Jayhawks depart from Kansas City for a 12-day, multi-country tour that includes several cities in Italy and Switzerland. KU will play seven matches versus teams from various cities on the trip, while plenty of sightseeing and cultural experiences are also scheduled along the way.

 

Kansas will start its journey in Rome, Italy before traveling on to Florence, Bologna, Venice and Novara. The trip concludes in Geneva, Switzerland. The team will have a chance to visit popular tourist attractions such as Vatican City, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps.

 

Fans can follow the Jayhawks’ journey on www.KUAthletics.com through the team’s daily blog.

 

 

Santa Clara Volleyball Team Hosts Cal Poly Saturday and Pancreatic Cancer Walk!

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Santa Clara Volleyball Team Hosts Cal Poly Saturday and Pancreatic Cancer Walk!

 

Santa Clara finishes its spring season of competition on Sat., May 7 when it hosts Cal Poly at 10 am in the Leavey Center.  The match is free and open to the public.  Prior to hosting Cal Poly, the Santa Clara volleyball team will help host the third annual Walk 4 Pancreatic Cancer Walk on the Mission Campus at 8:30 am on Saturday as well. The walk begins at the Leavey Center.  The volleyball team has raised over $55,000 in the last three years for cancer research and support.

For more information on the walk please click here.  In addition to the volleyball team, athletic department staff, men's basketball, women's golf and women's basketball will also work the walk or participate.

Bronco head volleyball coach Jon Wallace said the Walk 4 Pancreatic Cancer is a nice way to bring attention to the disease and remember those who might have passed away due to it.  "Walking through the gorgeous campus, smelling the roses and reflecting will be a good two hour retreat," Wallace said.   "The walk is a reflection and a great experience."

Wallace said this weekend is about putting it all together against Cal Poly – it's about winning.  "We want to play well together this weekend. It's important for us to set the tone as we head to the summer.  We need to continue to be consistent and get better over time," added Wallace.

Wallace feels good about where the team is and said the spring has been a lot longer this year because of the dedication both the players and staff have shown to improving.  "Our practices have been longer and the improvement has been much greater," continued Wallace.  "The maturity of the group has been promising. We are in a good spot right now and the conditioning of the group has paid off since they have been working in that area since early January.  Working for the second year with Ron Forbes in the weight room has helped us.  They feel good about themselves and that shows on the court. Ron has given us the second year of continuity and the consistency is great."

Last weekend at USF Santa Clara beat UC Davis twice; lost game one by two points to San Francisco State, Cal and San Jose State, winning the second game vs. all three teams.  "I was really impressed with how we competed last weekend.  We battled back against Cal in the first game and came back to win the second game. I like the way we battled on a really long day with one hour breaks after each match so we had to cool down and warm up a number of times," Wallace.  "We showed strong improvement from the week before when we beat Stanford. It's encouraging to see the continued improvement particularly on the defensive end and with our particular skills.  And we are also working on some of our situational plays. The team is handling those with a lot more confidence." 

Wallace said the most improved aspect this spring is their defensive form and the understanding of their responsibilities on the court.  And also getting accustomed to playing together.  "Last year we threw a lot of young kids on the court due to injuries and we weren't all together all the time and I feel like finally now we have six women moving together and playing together.  And that's a big part of it."

Wallace was impressed with 6'5 middle Megan Anders block.  "Her block is really good for us."

Kaleigh Durkett, Ali Rambis and Bridget O'Hara all had good weekends for the Broncos. "Ali made some good plays for us," said Wallace.  "Alexandra Palmer set well for us and won a couple matches with her defense as well."  

Kansas Volleyball Headed to Europe This Spring

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Kansas Volleyball Headed to Europe This Spring

 

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Later this month, Kansas volleyball will embark on a 12-day, multi-country European tour. The team will depart the U.S. on May 28 and travel to several cities in Italy and Switzerland to train and play teams from various cities. Plenty of sightseeing and cultural experiences are also scheduled along the way.

 

The majority of the Jayhawks’ trip will be spent in Italy, where the team will play seven matches in 10 days and visit several cities including Rome, Bologna, Venice, Milan, Florence and Novara. The team also plans to visit popular tourist attractions such as Vatican City, the Pantheon, the Coliseum, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps.

 

The Jayhawks conclude their tour with a day trip through Montreux, Switzerland on their way to Geneva, Switzerland for their final night.

 

Fans can follow the Kansas volleyball team during their trip by checking back at www.KUAthletics.com/volleyball for a daily blog update and photo gallery.

Cal Bears Conclude Spring At USF Volleyball Tournament

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Bears Conclude Spring at USF Tournament

The California volleyball team will play four matches in the annual USF Spring Tournament

 

BERKELEY – The California volleyball team will play four two-set matches in the annual San Francisco Spring Tournament at the War Memorial Gym in San Francisco on Sat., Apr. 30. The Golden Bears open the day with a 9 a.m. PT match against San Francisco State, and then will take on UC Davis at 11 a.m. In the afternoon, Cal draws Santa Clara at 2 p.m., and will conclude the tournament with a 3 p.m. match against host USF.

 

Each match will be two sets to 25 with no deciding third set. Members of inactive teams will serve as scorekeepers and line judges for other matches. Admission is free to the general public.

 

The Bears will open the 2011 season as hosts of the Cal Molten Classic, Fri.-Sat., Aug. 26-27, as Fairfield, Florida International, and UC Riverside visit Haas Pavilion.

 

The Bears finished as the NCAA runners-up in 2010, and were honored with the AVCA’s awards for National Player of the Year (Carli Lloyd) and National Coach of the Year (Rich Feller). Cal returns nine players from a squad that won the 2010 Pac-10 title. Senior All-American outside hitter Tarah Murrey is flanked by junior middles Shannon Hawari, Correy Johnson and Kat Brown. The Bears also return a pair of sophomore outside hitters in Adrienne Gehan, who was a Pac-10 All-Freshman selection, and Lauren Loerch. The Bears break in a new talent at the setter position in junior Elly Barrett, and bring back junior libero Robin Rostratter and sophomore defensive special Erin Freeman.

Santa Clara Volleyball Continues Practice with Matches at USF Tournament Saturday

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Santa Clara Volleyball Continues Practice with Matches at USF Tournament Saturday

 

Splitting with UOP and Saint Mary's before defeating Stanford 2-0 on April 14 in Palo Alto, Santa Clara will take the courts again this weekend in San Francisco to continue its Spring schedule of play. Santa Clara will play San Jose State, UC Davis, San Francisco State and Cal in the tournament hosted by USF. 

Click here for the April 30 schedule at USF.

Bronco head coach Jon Wallace likes what he saw two weeks ago at Stanford.  "As coaches we liked that we showed great improvement from the first weekend at UOP and the women saw a lot of growth in themselves and the team – I think that's what we took away from that weekend.  They were very positive about where they were going and that's good.  In the last two weeks, we've been training to clean things up even more and I think that they've seen even more improvement. 

"Going to USF this weekend, it doesn't matter who we're playing, it's really about us trying to get better and playing as hard as we can in every match," continued Wallace.

Santa Clara focused a lot on defense its first weekend at UOP.  The second weekend at Stanford they started working more on the offensive side of their game.  "We did talk about our defensive responsibilities the first tournament – that's should be continual growth throughout this Spring," added Wallace.  "While we are working hard on the offensive end, at Stanford we did switch around so much that we haven't really settled in on any lineup, and still are working to get everybody in the gym in general terms.  This week in practice we worked a lot on defense and offense, but also being able to handle situational plays a lot better. I really liked where we've come from there.  We've straightened some things out and then our goal for our last weekend is to put everything together and play really well (vs. Cal Poly May 7).

Wallace is pleased to have Katherine Douglas back on the court after she was red-shirted last year due to injury. But he was quick to point out the outside hitters have made big strides working with Dustin Moore and Matt Lyles in the last few weeks.  "I think that everybody's made such big strides, it's really hard to say who is playing the best," said Wallace. "Our middles have become a lot more efficient.  The setting is a lot better.  Everything's just a lot better."

With Alexandra Palmer and Villanova transfer Alyssa Anderson working as the setters, Santa Clara expects to run a 6-2 and a 5-1 this year.  "Both women will have a match or game to themselves where they will run a 5-1 and we'll do all different lineups," said Wallace.

Overall Wallace is really pleased with the dedication the team has shown since the end of last season.  "Everything is coming together really nice.  We've had great effort and great commitment to improvement.  If you were to say, how do you want your group to respond to last year's season, I think we're handling it right."

The practices are long and hard, but Wallace said the team has learned a lot and they appreciate that.  "There's been a lot of attention to detail and they have appreciate us amping it up quite a bit this Spring."

Colorado State Rams Volleyball Team Falls to Tianjin (China) Bridgestone in Five Sets

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Colorado State Rams Volleyball Team Falls to Tianjin (China) Bridgestone in Five Sets

Match marks final exhibition of CSU’s spring season
 

 
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The Tianjin (China) Bridgestone team proved on Tuesday night that they aren’t ranked as one of the top professional teams in the world without reason.
 
The Rams lost a hard fought five-set match to Tianjin, with scores of 25-19, 25-23, 20-25, 16-25, and 11-15, in front of 1,525 fans at Moby Arena.  The match marked the team’s fourth-and-final competition date of their its season.
 
CSU came out strong and took the first two sets, with outside hitter Katelyn Steffan collecting six kills within the first set alone, and ending the match with a team-high 18 kills. Middle blockers Megan Plourde and Tori Brummett followed with eight kills each.
 
Defensively, libero Izzy Gaulia led the team with 23 digs, and sophomore Dana Cranston followed with 13. Brummett also notched an impressive 10 block assists, and one solo block, while Plourde tallied eight block assists as well. Both freshmen setters, Deedra Foss and Katie Rutherford, saw the court against Tianjin, and Foss ended the set with a team-high 34 assists.
 
The Tianjin Bridgestone squad, which recently collected its eighth-overall and fifth-consecutive league championship - will conclude its U.S. tour in California, playing matches against Concordia and UC Irvine this week.  The Tianjin team had already made stops at Illinois, Nebraska, Kansas State and Creighton before arriving in Fort Collins.

Nebraska Huskers Volleyball Team Battles Back to Win in Five

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Nebraska Huskers Volleyball Team Battles Back to Win in Five

 

Lincoln – The Nebraska volleyball team finished its spring schedule on Saturday night with a 3-2 (25-19, 25-18, 33-35, 25-27, 16-14) win over Tianjin Bridgestone, one of the top professional teams in China, in front of 2,340 fans at the NU Coliseum. Saturday night’s match was Tianjin’s fourth match of an eight-match trip across the country. They opened with a 3-2 loss to Illinois before beating Kansas State (5-0) and Creighton (4-0).

 

Gina Mancuso led the Huskers with her third double-double of the spring as the junior produced a match-high 21 kills and added 12 digs. Morgan Broekhuis and Lauren Cook also had double-double for the Huskers as Broekhuis had 19 kills and 14 digs while Cook put up 55 assists and tied for the team high in digs with 18. Tianjin was led offensively by Zhang Xiaoyu’s 16 kills, while three others had 14 kills apiece.  

 

The match was a defensive battle as neither squad hit over .200 with NU hitting .190 and Tianjin swinging at a .163 clip. The Huskers block was the difference as they out blocked Tianjin 15-11, including three solo stuffs and three block assists from Jordan Wilberger. Nebraska only had two more aces than Tianjin, 6-4, but Tianjin had six more service errors than the Huskers, 16-10.

 

The Huskers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the match with a 25-19 win in set one. Mancuso led the NU attack with four kills and no errors on 10 swings, while Broekhuis chipped in another three kills and Cook put up nine assists and an ace. The Huskers only hit .222 in the set, but Nebraska’s defense held Tianjin to .196 hitting. Tianjin could never find its serving rhythm as they committed five service errors in the set. Lui Ya led Tianjin with five kills in the set, but also had two errors on 13 swings to hit .231.

 

Nebraska dialed up the defense in set two behind three blocks from Hayley Thramer and two from Broekhuis. Tianjin committed five more service errors in set two and only produced eight kills on 27 swings to hit .037. Mancuso again led the way for NU with three kills, while Wilberger, Broekhuis and Hannah Werth each added two kills apiece. Nebraska also added to its ace total with one each from Mancuso and Paige Hubl. Zhang Xiaoyu was Tianjin’s lone bright spot in the set with three kills on six swings, an ace and one block.

 

Set three was one of the longest sets in recent memory at the NU Coliseum with Tianjin eventually winning its first set of the night, 35-33. The Huskers kept Tianjin from winning the set six times, but was unable to produce a seventh stop as a kill from Lui Ya sealed the win for Tianjin. Both teams picked up the offense as NU hit .311 and Tianjin hit .296, while the two teams combined for 44 assists. Mancuso had a set-high eight kills and Sun Mingjian led Tianjin with seven kills.

 

Tianjin’s momentum carried over into set four as they tied the match at 2-2 with a 27-25 win. Tianjin hit just .106 in the set, but the Huskers struggled even more and hit .060, including negative marks for Wilberger, Mancuso and Werth. Even though the offense sputtered, the NU’s defense played tough with six players recording a block assist, including three from Allison McNeal and two each from Wilberger and Cook.

 

The final set was a back-and-fourth struggle until late in the match when Tianjin pulled away and had match point at 14-10. The Huskers would not be denied though as Broekhuis put away a kill and then freshman Lara Dykstra served five straight points, capped by a Broekhuis kill, to win the set and the match for Nebraska, 16-14. Broekhuis was the Huskers’ offense in the final set as the sophomore put home five of the Huskers’ eight kills while Mancuso had the other three. Wilberger stepped up her defense down the stretch as well with two blocks during the final 6-0 run.

 

With the 2011 spring schedule now complete fans can look forward to the start of the regular season. The Huskers will open the year in Albuquerque, N.M., at the New Mexico Tournament. Nebraska will play New Mexico State on Friday, Aug. 26 and New Mexico on Saturday, Aug. 27. The Huskers’ first Big Ten Conference match comes on Wednesday, Sept. 21 when Nebraska hosts four-time defending NCAA champion Penn State at the NU Coliseum.

 

Arkansas State Volleyball Wraps Up Spring Practice, Tournaments

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Arkansas State Volleyball Wraps Up Spring Practice, Tournaments


JONESBORO (4/21/11) – The Arkansas State volleyball team has been hard
at work in spring practices and has competed in three regional spring
tournaments this month.

“Spring is an important time for player development, technique and
executing techniques at high percentages,” said ASU head coach Justin
Ingram.  “We made significant progress throughout the course of the
spring and finished playing our best.”

The Red Wolves visited tournaments at Mississippi State, the
University of Mississippi and Kansas State this year.

ASU traveled to Starkville, Miss. April 2 to face MSU and West Alabama
in best-of-five matches.  A-State topped UWA 3-0, but the Red Wolves
fell to MSU 3-0.

Arkansas State visited Oxford, Miss. April 9 to take on North Alabama,
Ole Miss, Murray State and Tennessee-Martin in best-of-three matches.
The Red Wolves finished the day at 3-1, defeating UNA 2-0, Murray
State 2-0 and UTM 2-1.  A-State dropped its match against the Rebels
2-0.

The final spring tournament stop for ASU was one hosted by Kansas
State in Kansas City, Kan. at Blue Valley West High School.  The four
matches played April 16 were two-set matches.  The Red Wolves fell to
Wichita State 2-0 but split with K-State, Saint Louis and Kansas.

“We wanted to play great competition to test where we were at
competitively, so finding quality SEC, Big-12 and NCAA tournament
teams is what we wanted to do,” Ingram added.

Lobo Volleyball Sweeps Through UTEP

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Lobo Volleyball Sweeps Through UTEP
Team set to wrap up spring season with Grass Bash

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The University of New Mexico volleyball team swept all four of its matches at home against UTEP on April 16.

As has been the story for the entire spring season, UNM dominated from start to finish. The Lobos took the matches by scores of 25-19, 25-14, 25-17 and 25-15. Though overall records aren't exactly kept in the spring, the Lobos ended up winning all of their matches except for one, while splitting in another.

"The spring went extremely well,” Head Coach Jeff Nelson said. "I think we progressed faster than I thought we would.”

Nelson also acknowledged how well he thought seniors-to-be Ashley Rhoades and Allison Buck and sophomore-to-be Mariah Agre performed throughout the duration of the spring.

"Ashley Rhoades really stepped up, and Allison Buck is always steady,” Nelson explained. “The biggest change for us was the setter position. We had the same setter for the past for years and now she is gone, but Mariah (Agre) did a great job against some really good teams and had a lot of success.”

The matches against UTEP were the last of the spring for the Lobos. The team will wrap up the season April 23-24 with the fourth annual Grass Bash, taking place at South Johnson Field on the UNM campus.

The Grass Bash will feature 14 divisions for competition as well as a multitude of prizes for volleyball teams claiming first and second place in each division. A small portion of the proceeds raised from the event will go toward the UNM Jeanne Fairchild Endowed Scholarship, with the remaining profits going to UNM Children's Hospital.

Creighton Volleyball Hosts Top Chinese Team Friday

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Creighton Volleyball Hosts Top Chinese Team Friday

OMAHA, Neb. -- Omaha-are volleyball fans will get a special treat this
Friday (April 22) when the Creighton volleyball team hosts Tianjin
Bridgestone in a 5:30 pm exhibition at D.J. Sokol Arena inside the Wayne and
Eileen Ryan Athletic Center. 

The China-based team coming to Omaha - Tianjin Bridgestone - recently won
its eighth league championship by beating (former US Olympic team head
coach) Jenny Lang Ping's Guangdong Evergrande team, 2-1, in the
best-of-three series. Tianjin is located in northeast China. The city
has nearly 10 million people, making it the sixth-largest in China. 

Tianjin began its trip with a match on Tuesday at Illinois, where the Illini
stunned the jet-lagged Chinese team in five sets. During its U.S. trip,
Tianjin also will play Kansas State (tonight), Nebraska (April 23 at the NU
Coliseum), Colorado State (April 26), Norco Club, Laguna Beach Club and UC
Irvine (April 29).

Though five Tianjin players were recently called up to practice with the
Chinese national team, two former national team players, Li Shan (2004 Gold
Medalist) and Li Juan (2008 Bronze Medalist) are on the trip. Tianjin's
coach, Wang Baoquan, is China's former national team coach as well.

"Tianjin Bridgestone is one of the top professional teams in the world, and
we're fortunate to be hosting them," said Booth. "It'll be a huge challenge
for our young team, but we're looking forward to learning more about not
just on-court volleyball skills, but also the Chinese culture, in
preparation for this match."

Friday's contest will be Creighton's final exhibition match of the spring.
The Bluejay squad will consist of its returners for next year's team, as
well as recent Bluejay alums Allie Oelke and Jessica Houts.

General admission tickets will be sold at the door the day of the event
(doors will open at 4:30 p.m.) and cost is $5 per person (cash or checks
made payable to Creighton Athletics will be the methods of payment
accepted).

Creighton finished the 2010 season with a 21-12 record, qualified for its
first NCAA Tournament and also picked up its first NCAA Tournament victory.

Live stats for Friday's match will be available at
http://www.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/stats.html?id=1502. The match will
not be video webcast or broadcast on any radio stations.

CSU Volleyball vs.Tianjin Match Approaching Quickly

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CSU Volleyball vs.Tianjin Match Approaching Quickly

International exhibition at Moby one week away

Click here for more information

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The Colorado State volleyball spring season is quickly drawing to a close, as the Rams – two-time defending Mountain West Conference champions - continue training and preparation for their exhibition finale against one of the top professional teams in the world, Tianjin (China) Bridgestone. 

The Tianjin Bridgestone squad, which last week collected its eighth-overall and fifth-consecutive league championship - has arrived in the U.S. and begins its exhibition tour this week with matches against Big Ten opponent Illinois (Tuesday) and future Big Ten member Nebraska (Saturday), before coming to Fort Collins to take on the Rams.  The team will then conclude its tour in California, playing matches against Concordia and UC Irvine. 

The match between Tianjin and the Rams is scheduled for April 26 at 7 p.m., and will be played under international rules.  It will count as the fourth-and-final competition date allowed by the NCAA during CSU’s offseason workouts.

General-admission tickets are just $5 for adults and $2 for youth (17 and under), while all full-time CSU students will receive free admission with a valid student I.D. card.  All tickets will be sold the night of competition at the Moby Arena box office located on the north concourse.  Doors will open at 6 p.m. 

• Go Rams! •

 

Illini Volleyball Tops Tianjin In Five Sets

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Illini Volleyball Tops Tianjin In Five Sets
Ward, Bartsch each top 20 kills in the victory

Champaign, Ill. – With just a few days left in the spring season, the Illinois team faced a tough challenge from Tianjin, the Chinese professional champion, on Tuesday night. The Illini hit .360 in posting a five-set come-from-behind victory. A crowd of over 500 saw Illinois prevail 25-12, 25-27, 24-26, 25-23, 15-8.

Trailing two sets to one, the Illini rallied from down 19-15 in set four to take the set and send it into the deciding frame. The match featured a 20-mintue delay because of tornado warnings in the area.

Illinois’ outside hitters were impressive. Junior All-Americans Colleen Ward and Michelle Bartsch tallied 23 and 21 kills, respectively, while the Illini out-blocked the Chinese team, 10-3. Middle blocker Erin Johnson hit .609 with 15 kills and eight blocks, and Illinois’ new starting setter Annie Luhrsen engineered a high efficiency offense to go along with a team-leading 16 digs. Ward had four of the Illini’s seven aces.

“It’s good to see we’re getting a good rhythm with our setter,” Ward said. “It was a great match going to five.”

The Illini hit .583 with 14 kills in dominating the first set, then became a little error prone in dropping sets two and three. Tianjin kept rallies alive and fed its hitters, Zhang Xiaoyu (10 kills), Zhang Xiaoting (14 kills) and Li Ying (14 kills).

“I think for this time of year, it was kind of what we expected,” Illinois head coach Kevin Hambly said. “We were fortune enough to play them their first match off the plane. They are going to be a whole lot better as this trip goes on. It took us awhile to get going emotionally, but we showed some good things out there once we did. Erin Johnson showed tonight was we see in practice, getting better all the time, and our two outsides can score and put up big numbers.”

Focus Turns Toward Fall As UWM Panthers Volleyball Wraps Up Spring Schedule

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Focus Turns Toward Fall As UWM Panthers Volleyball Wraps Up Spring Schedule
UWM will return to the court in August

Story link - http://uwmpanthers.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/041911aaa.html

MILWAUKEE - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's volleyball team wrapped up its 2011 spring schedule with a practice and scrimmage against Western Michigan this past weekend.

The competitive day Saturday at the Klotsche Center provided a brief preview of the fall, as the two programs will meet in a regular season match in Kalamazoo.

The Broncos won 22 matches last season and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in 2008.

"Western Michigan has an excellent program and it was a very good day," UWM head coach Susie Johnson said. "Colleen (Munson) and I were talking while the day was going on and we mentioned we need to do this again next year - they are a great opponent for us to have in the spring and the workouts, drills and competitions we did with them were all very productive. It should be a very good match with them this fall."

The full day also brought the Panthers' challenging spring to a close, as the three weeks of competition saw Milwaukee squaring off with the top teams in the Big Ten, Big East and Mid-American Conferences. UWM wound up facing Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa and Marquette, among others, as the Panthers started their preparation toward another run at the Horizon League title this fall.

"We played really tough competition this spring," Johnson said. "Our goal was to get a lot of people playing and competing in those situations and evaluating them against high-level competition. You can really learn a lot by evaluating in the spring and I think we saw the team did improve and individuals improved."

With only a little over two weeks allotted for practice this fall before competition begins at the end of August, it is important to make progress during the spring season.

"We were able to get better and that was the whole goal," Johnson said. "There were some wins and some losses but we were able to work on things and develop a system that we want to run for the fall."

While the focus can often shift to the competitions in the spring, the weekday afternoons spent working out in the Klotsche Center are another highly-valuable part of the preparation for the 2011 campaign.

"I will say our practices were better than our competitions a lot of times," Johnson said. "We were able to have some practice players in the gym that were really helpful to us to improve our team. We had a lot of really competitive practices."

The Panthers will come back together in mid-August for the start of preseason practice, when the spring roster will grow with the addition of four newcomers. Then, UWM is slated to open the regular season in Arizona Aug. 26. The full fall schedule will be announced later this month.