September 24, 1991
Volleyball 5-1: Lady Quakers host tri-match tonight
Scott Genualdi
Copy Editor
The women's volleyball team openedits
second week of play with three more wins in
four matches to lift its record to 5-1. The
Quakers defeated Sweet Briar in straight
games following a successful showing in
the Greensboro College Tournament where
the team won two of three matches.
In the Greensboro College tournament,
Guilford defeated Maryville 15-9, 15-17,
15-13,15-5 and the host 14-16,15-11,15-6,
15-12 while falling in a tough match to Mary
Washington 15-5,5-15,12-15,15-6,15-12.
Coach Currie had several compliments
for the strong Mary Washington team.
"Mary Washington is a well-coached
team," she said. "They tipped and dumped
a lot, meaning that the hitters would tip the
ball over the net instead of spiking and the
setters would dump the ball over the net
instead of setting to a teammate. We had to
Let's separate the contenders from the pretenders
Peter Smith
Staff Writer
Sadomasochist I'm not, but on the evening
of Sept. 10,1 must admit I derived intense
pleasure watching the University of Miami
football team physically annihilate an ath
letically inferior, but nonetheless highly
ranked University of Houston team. Final
score 40-10, Miami.
It was an unusually soothing feeling to
find myself smiling after each Miami score,
especially considering that I dislike any
thing associated with U of M football. But
like many other things in life, the situation
that evening was ironic. Indeed, I was cheer
ing for the otherwise detestable Hurricanes
essentially because they are legitimate con
tenders, not pretenders. Quite the opposite
for Houston, which,despite its recentNC AA
rule violations, I do not detest in the least,
except for the simple fact that Houston is
just a pretender. Indeed, Houston suffers
from the ever-so-irritating and problematic
phenomenon known as an OVERRATED
team.
Question: Is there anything more exas
perating than watching overrated teams each
week grab national headlines by defeating
the likes of La. TSch or Cal. St.- Fullerton?
College play-off arguments aside, what up
standing coach or sports writer could pos
sible vote each week in the AP and UPI polls
for teams who pad their schedules with such
lightweight competition? This mystifies me.
Can you identify some of the names of
these less-than-brave schools who are afraid
to take on the big boys? Who are these
culprits, the Saddam Husseins of college
football? Consider teams like Brigham
Young, Virginia, Houston, West Virginia,
Nebraska, Georgia Tech and Clemson, just
to name a few. For these teams, a difficult
make adjustments on defense which is a
difficult thing in volleyball because refine
ments are difficult in a confined area during
a match."
In the tournament, Brenda Davis and Laura
Klingseisen were named to the All-Tourna
ment team. Davis compiled 43 kills for the
three matches while Klingseisen registered
34 kills in the tournament. Alison Raney
earned 90 assists for the tournament.
Individual game performances of note
includes Carolyn Doss' six aces against
Maryville and Christine Schroeder's 20 digs
also against Maryville. Davis contributed
three blocks against Greensboro while
Klingseisen compiled seven digs. Against
Mary Washington, Trudy Buckingham
showed a good all-around game with 12
blocks, 16 digs, and 2 aces.
Although the team has played six games,
they are still polishing the lineup and fine
tuning their game.
schedule isatrue anomaly,aonce-in-a team's
history kind of thing. Such teams purpose
fully design easy schedules and every so
often steal away with a national champion
ship or two while the Florida States,
Michigans, Miamis and Notre Dames of the
world beat up each other. Let's consider a
few examples:
In 1981, Clemson comes from nowhere
and escapes with a national championship,
defeating the perennial paper tiger Nebraska
22-15 in the Orange Bowl. Clemson suc
ceeds by playing a predominanUy ACC
schedule and avoiding the big boys.
In 1984, BYU steals the national champi
onship after playing a joke of a schedule
against a series of joke teams collectively
called the WAC conference. BYU wins the
championship with a victory in the ever- so
renowned Holiday Bowl (can you say Holi
day Bowl without laughing?), escaping
with a 24-17 victory over a 6-5 Michigan
team, unranked in the AP and UPI top twenty
and suffering its worst season during the
1980's.
In 1988, West Virginia finds itself 11-0
and ranked #2 in the country entering the
Fiesta Bowl. Significant factors in West
Virginia's Cinderella story include victo
ries over the likes of Bowling Green 62-14,
Cal St.-Fullerton 45-10, and Cincinnati 51-
13 during the regular season. Cinderella's
slipper does not fit as Notre Dame toys with
the Mountaineers on its way to a 34-21
victory. Rare Justice.
Finally, who could forget last year, the
year of the ACC, all jokes aside. Virginia
and Georgia Tech find themselves ranked
#1 during the season. The Cavaliers are #1
and 7-0 in Octobc \ The Yellow Jackets are
#1 (UPI) and 11-0-1 Jan. 2. Virginia proves
its mighty prowess with victories over Kan
sas 59-10, Navy 56-14, Duke 59-0, William
Sports
"After six games," Currie said, "we have
got to the point where the people play their
positions well. But I am still considering the
lineup and we are still shifting positions. We
are not there yet."
In the match against Sweet Briar last
Tuesday, the lineup was shifted again when
some players missed curfew.
"That precipitated changes in the lineup,"
said Currie. "I am glad that we have the
flexibility and depth to deal with the
changes."
The Quakers won the match but not with
out difficulty in the first game, 16-14,15-0,
15-4.
"We struggled because there were
changes," Currie said. "I am glad that it was
a win in the ODAC."
Tricia Allman and Clarice Forsyth led
Guilford with eight kills while Emily King
led the team with 15 assists. Buckingham
earned nine digs and Klingseisen and Bar-
and Mary 63-35 (but must come from be
hind to win) and Wake Forest 49-14.
Tech was less impressive but certainly
more effective.
Was Tech a pretender or contender? You
be the judge, but please don't forget that the
eventual UPI champion Yellow Jackets
would desperately need 14 fourth-quarter
come- from- behind points to beat a medio
cre NC State team in Atlanta; tied an easily
beatable, albeit improving UNC team IS
IS; and escaped with their stingers barely
intact 6-3 over Virginia Tech. You may also
want to consider that Tech was 12-21 under
coach Bobby Ross before suddenly going
11-0-1 last year. Interesting.
Honestly, ask yourself how the 1990 Vir
ginia or Georgia Tech teams would have
fared against Notre Dame's 1990 schedule
or the 1991 Florida State schedule? In 1990
Notre Dame abused itself by challenging # 1
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Deadline: October 15,1991
THE GUILFORDIAN
bara Schmitz each served four aces.
The week ahead for the Quakers include a
home tri-match against Elon and Averett on
Tuesday and a key ODAC match against
Bridgewater during Family Weekend this
Friday night.
"We finally get to play at home," Currie
said. "Bridgewater is one of the top two
teams in the ODAC."
Currie stresses that the team needs to
refine its game.
"Since we have a lot of depth," she said,
"we can do a lot of things with our lineup.
We need to setde some of them. It's a good
situation to have.
"We are starting to put in plays—a faster
tempo offense that is more versatile," Currie
continued. "It either looks great or foolish
but it's more exciting to watch and more
difficult to defend against. It all depends on
accurate passes because your offense is only
as good as your passes."
Colorado (AP), #3 Miami, #7 Michigan, #8
Tennessee, #ll Penn State, #l6 Michigan
State and #2O Southern Cal. Likewise,
Florida State will have to defend its present
#1 ranking against currently ranked #2 Mi
ami, #3 Michigan, #5 Florida and #lB Syra
cuse. In addition, FSU has already trashed
one would-be pretender for national honors-
B YU. This is how it should be. Welcome to
the big time.
Indeed, easy schedules just might win
national championships. So all you poten
tial sports writers and college football
coaches (future voters in the AP and UPI
polls), not to mention avid sports fans, please
remember to do the right thing and
separatethe pretenders from the contenders.
The world already suffers enough from
injustice and can ill-afford to grant another
OVERRATED team in college football an
undeserved championship.
11