Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / Sept. 8, 2005, edition 1 / Page 7
Part of University of North Carolina at Asheville Student Newspaper / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
September 8, 2005 Torbett kicks off 13“* season By Ben Walsh Staff Writer For the 13th consecutive sea son, Julie Torbett, volleyball head coach, leads the Bulldogs on and off the court. “She is the best coach I have ever had,” said Talia Ogle, jun ior literature student. “She has taught me so much about vol leyball and life.” Torbett gives her players guidance as a coach, according to Krysti Havens, senior man agement student. “She supports all of her ath letes and the athletic program in general,” Havens said. “She likes to promote women in sports, as well as volleyball.” With a career record of 190- 164, Torbett holds the best coaching record in UNCA vol leyball history. Torbett’s career also includes a long list of personal athletic accomplishments. At Eisenhower High School in Russell, Pa., she lettered in volleyball for four years. She led her team to three league championships and received team MVP honors two years in a row. Torbett also excelled in bas ketball and track and field. She set school records in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles that still stand today. Torbett’s success continued at Penn State as a middleback defensive specialist for four years. At Penn State she played under Russ Rose, one of the most successful coaches in the United States, according to Torbett. After graduating with a degree in exercise and sports science, Torbett moved to Asheville. She did not plan, however, on becoming a volleyball coach. “1 thought I would go into corporate wellness,” Torbett said. “It was big in the early ‘90s and I was a wellness direc tor here in Asheville for two years.” Torbett soon missed the com petition and came to UNCA looking to become involved somehow. “I offered to volunteer as an assistant and I was hired by the previous coach,” Torbett said. A year later, the head coach ing position opened, and Torbett decided to pursue the job. “It was either go for it or wait and see if the new coach would want me as an assistant,” Torbett said. “So I just went for it.” Torbett provides more than just volleyball to the women, according to Havens. “She helps a lot without us realizing it,” Havens said. “She will say something and a month later I will apply it and then realize where it came from.” Torbett really cares about the development of her players, according to Ogle. “She always makes sure that We know she cares,” Ogle said. She wants us to be awesome volleyball players but great People, too. I think that is a really great benefit of this pro gram.” Volleyball-wise, my proud est moment was when we won the regular season champi onship against Winthrop in our ^ni in 2002,” Torbett said. We were picked last in the conference that year and we finished first.” While enjoying success in recent years, Torbett does not °cus on past accomplish ments. , We have done everything nt I set out to do when I took over, except win the conference ch^pionship,” Torbett said, is something that has The Blue Banner - Serving the Univ'ersitv of Noith Carolina at Ashev ille sinee 1982 Sports ee 1982 Page 7 “That eluded us, so I would like to accomplish that.” Major revamp in works for athletic sites By Melissa Decker! Staff Writer UNCA is renovating several of its out door athletic facilities to make them safer for athletes, students and community mem bers. “The main reason we’re doing this is a student athlete and student welfare issue,” said Janet Cone, athletic director. “Our soc cer field was in such bad shape that other teams were refusing to come play us because they felt like it wasn’t safe.” Cone’s goal for renovation of the athletic facilities is split into two different parts. The first part consists of renovating the out door facilities, which include the soccer field, baseball field, track and field, tennis courts and intramural facilities. “We are looking at our outdoor facilities to make them safe, not only for our student athletes, but for our students and fans that come to watch (games),” Cone said. Another important part of the renovations relates to conference championship games. The Big South Conference rotates schools that host championships, and right now UNCA does not have the proper facil ities to be eligible, according to Cone. “We don’t have lights, press boxes, con cession stands or bathroom facilities, so it would really add all those things we need in order to really host a Big South champi onship on our campus for our sports,” Cone Alana Rade/Staff Photographer UNCA athletics is in the process of renovating several of the outdoor facilities including the soccer field, above, baseball field, track and field, tennis courts and intramural facilities. said. The full extent of Cone’s plans involve a plaza that links together the soccer, track and baseball fields, making them one big outdoor sports complex. The second part of Cone’s goal is being completed with the help of a state endow ment of $35 million to build the North Carolina Center for Health and Wellness. “What we decided to do, since it has to be something that we can host graduation at, that we would at the same time add a facil ity for basketball and volleyball,” Cone said. “We’re not building an arena by our selves; it’s going to be part of that North Carolina Center for Health and Wellness.” The center will seat approximately 3,500 people for basketball and volleyball games and will have the ability to expand to about 5,000 for events such as graduation or national conferences, according to Cone. There are no exact completion dates set for either of the renovation projects, but the North Carolina Center for Health and Wellness should be finished within four to five years. “We still have to raise $5 to $7 million in private money to complete that project,” Cone said. Renovations for the outdoor facilities have already begun. As the money is raised, the project will be performed continually, and all necessary upgrades should be com pleted within five to seven years, according to Cone. Thus far, the six tennis court surfaces have been completely redone and new fenc ing surrounds the entire perimeter. Also, the soccer field has been leveled and resur faced. “I’m absolutely thrilled, it’s a beautiful surface and it’s only going to get better,” said Michele Cornish, women’s soccer head coach. “It’s made coaching wonderful and playing even better.” Janet Cone and members of the soccer teams echoed Cornish’s sentiments. “It’s great to finally be able to practice and play matches at home,” said Kelsey Lenhardt, sophomore midfielder for the men’s team. Volleyball wins AT&T Classic By Ingrid Allstaedt Staff Writer UNCA’s volleyball team defeated Chattanooga and fell to North Carolina A&T, before their win over UNC Wilmington to win the A&T/Terry LaBonte Classic at the Greensboro Sportsplex Sept. 2 and 3. Elif Urdu, junior outside hit ter, Amanda Wiles, senior setter and Rose Butler, senior middle- back all received All- Tournament Team honors. Talia Ogle, senior outside hit ter, Unlu and Butler each recorded double-doubles in the match against Wilmington, and Wiles was just shy of a triple double. “We were the strongest team in the tournament,” said head UNCA volleyball coach Julie Torbett. The Bulldogs defeated Chattanooga 3-1 in the first match of the tournament, with a 30-25, 26-30, 30-26, 30-27 vic tory Friday. The Chattanooga standouts were Lara Newberry, with a match-high of 20 digs, Lindsey Galloway with 20 kills and Kari Wiedinger with 13 kills. “Friday night was a good match,” Torbett said. “We played well against Chattanooga.” The Chattanooga head coach was the head coach at UNCA during the same time when Torbett was the assistant coach here, according to Torbett. “I was definitely excited to win,” Torbett said. “For person al reasons I was happy with our performance.” The Big South Conference named Unlu the Choice Hotels Player of the Week for her per formance during the tourna ment. “Elif Unlu had a phenomenal tournament in general,” Torbett said. “She had a really good match against them.” Unlu helped the team out with her career-best of 23 kills and 21 digs, according to Ogle. “If Elif keeps playing this good than we will do really well this season,” Ogle said. The Bulldogs defeated Wilmington 3-1 in the first match Saturday 26-30, 30-18, 39-37, and 30-24. “We beat Wilmington who we have lost to the last couple of years,” Torbett said. “The girls wanted to avenge those losses.” The Wilmington game started off shaky at first, but ended with a win for UNCA, after pulling the performance together, according to Rose Butler, junior middle. “I am glad we could pull it together and win the Wilmington match so we could win the tournament,” Butler said. The Bulldogs lost to North Carolina A&T 3-2 to wrap up the tournament. UNCA lost the first two games 31-29 and 30- 28, bounced back by taking the next two games 30-17 and 30- 23, but lost to the A&T Aggies in the deciding game 18-16. “We lost disappointingly to A&T, because we are a better team in general,” Torbett said. UNCA’s performance should not have earned the team the tournament title, according to Ogle. “We did not give A&T enough credit,” Ogle said. “They are a pretty good team. I was disappointed that we lost to them but still won the tourna ment.” Torbett was not satisfied with the Bulldogs’ overall perform ance this past weekend, accord ing to Ogle. “She always pushes us to do better,” Ogle said. “She never allows us settle with our per formance. It is good because we work harder and always improve.” Butler said the tournament as a whole went well. “I thought the team played great together, for it being so early in the season,” Butler said. “Winning the tournament was definitely a confidence boost- 77a Biltmore Ave. Downtown Asheville Interested in (bins Truck & Field? The UNCA further information Women’s Track should contact Team is looking for Dean Duncan at walk-ons for a lim- 251-6921 or ited commitment. Crystal Goure at Anyone wanting 251-6595. This Weekend at the doghouse Friday Saturday Sunday Men’s Women’s Men’s soccer plays soccer plays soccer plays Belmont at S.C. State Lipscomb 4 p.m. at 2 p.m, at 1 p.m.
University of North Carolina at Asheville Student Newspaper
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Sept. 8, 2005, edition 1
7
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75