Volleyball club teams gain
success in national
tourney
Shawn McGann
Staff Writer
The Purdue women's club volleyball team and the
men's volleyball club both turned in impressive performances at the
National Collegiate Club Championships in Kansas City, Mo., on April
11-14. The Women finished as the national runner-up in the Division
I Gold Championship. The men reigned over all as they took the title
in the Division I Silver Championship.
The women's club, coached by Chad Marshall, was
seeded second out of the 48 teams in Division I heading into the tournament,
but the Boilers came out slow on opening day.
Erin Herd, a sophomore on the team, said, "We had
a rough start; we ended up third in the pool after the first day. On
the second day we turned things around and won our pool."
The women picked up momentum after the first day
and earned big wins over defending champion Texas and top-seeded Marquette.
The wins earned the team a spot in the finals where the women's club
lost to Oregon.
The final was a tight three game match, with Oregon
winning 24-26, 27-25,16-14.
Women's club volleyball has only been in existence
for five years and has come a long way since its inception. In its first
year, the women's club competed with only eight players in tournaments.
The club spent two years in obscurity, but since then the numbers have
increased and now more than 100 women show up for tryouts. The large
numbers have increased the club's talent pools and also have the organizations
consistently ranked in the top 10 in the nation.
The performance in this year's tournament was the
best ever in the club's short history. In 1999, Purdue placed fifth
overall.
Individually, several Purdue women brought home
tournament honors. Deanna Goodman was named All-Tournament Defensive
Most Valuable Player. Rachel Price and Ronda Price were first team All-Tournament,
and Herd made second team All-Tournament.
The men, coached by George Iakovou, earned their
title after defeating Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo 28-26, 25-21 in the championship
match.
"It was a very exciting win," said Keith Brandsetter,
men's volleyball club president. "We were playing at our best all day
long."
The men finished the season ranked the highest
it's ever been — 17th in the nation. This year was also the first
time that the men's club had broken into the top 25 in the nation.
The team was led by Paul Ott and Brian Bell who,
Brandsetter said, turned in "great performances" throughout the tournament.
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