|
 |  | ||||||
2000 Season Outlook Cedarville University women's volleyball coach Teresa Clark has come to expect a high level of performance from the players in her program and she is anxious to see what the 2000 campaign holds. The Lady Jackets will be seeking their tenth straight winning season and hope to challenge for the American Mideast Conference championship. Many coaches would be satisfied with coming off a 23-16 season which included a 9-4 mark in the tough American Mideast Conference. Clark, who has a 116-55 record in four seasons at Cedarville, believes otherwise. "We finished last season with eight straight losses and we're not used to that," she said. "There were a lot of obstacles that were difficult to overcome, but this is a new season. We have some experienced players with the talent to produce an outstanding season." Lori Bunger, a 5-foot-9 senior setter from Cambridge City, IN, returns for her fourth season. She won the coveted Susan Hellings Award last year as the outstanding player in the National Christian College Athletic Association. Bunger, who begins the season with 3,129 career assists, is in line to become the school's all-time leader. The NCCAA All-America First Team performer is the most accurate server in school history with a .989 accuracy.
Joining Bunger as seniors on the team are Leah Ziegenfuss, a six-foot outside hitter from Penn Argyl, PA; Chrissie Fretts, a 5-7 back row specialist from Scottdale, PA; and LaChelle Peters, 5-6 and another back row player, from Medina, OH. Ziegenfuss was an American Mideast Conference First Team player last year. Heather van der Aa, a 6-2 junior middle hitter from Bloomington, IL, ranks sixth on Cedarville's all-time kills list with 1,043 and is one of only six players at the school to surpass 1,000 kills. An NCCAA All-America Second Team performer, she is easily the career leader in attack percentage with a .349 hitting accuracy. Amy Martin is another junior who is expected to be a force at the net. The six-foot middle hitter from South Charleston, OH ranked third in hitting and second in blocks last fall. Classmate Cheryl Meyer, a 5-6 back row specialist from Elida, Ohio, adds depth to the defense.
A solid sophomore class is ready to contribute again. The list includes hitters Sarah Oleszczuk (Lambertville, MI), Jennifer Tetrick (Redding, CA), and Emily Young (Liberty, IN) as well as back row players Casey Schmidt (Xenia, OH) and Courtney Williams (Uniontown, PA). Clark is especially excited about her two freshmen. They are Carrie Hartman, a 5-8 setter and back row performer from Snider High School in Fort Wayne, IN and Julie Rhoads, a 5-11 outside hitter from Glen Oak High School in Canton, Ohio. Hartman's two older sisters, Angela and Melissa, were four-year players for the Lady Jackets whose names can be found among the school's career leaders. The Jackets fly to Florida for the Clearwater Christian Tournament on September 1-2. Then they return home to host the 13th Annual Cedarville Invitational on September 8-9. Also coming to the Athletic Center are the NCCAA Midwest Regional on October 20-21 and the NCCAA National Tournament on November 2-4. | ||||||||
