Oakland
Sets Foundation For Future Success In 2003
Oakland?s
volleyball team continued to show signs of improvement in the 2003 season
as the Golden Grizzlies continue to build the program towards the goal of
winning a Mid-Continent Conference championship. While the 2003 team
finished with just a 6-21 overall record and a 5-9 mark in conference
play, both marks were an improvement from the year before. In fact, OU?s
conference record was its best since the program changed to Division I and
joined the Mid-Con and had the team just one game out of the final Mid-Con
tournament slot.
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In her first season
at Oakland, Heather Lippert led the Golden Grizzlies in hitting
percentage and blocks. |
Oakland
had to make one adjustment right away at the start of the season, one to
new head coach Dave Schmidlin. After opening the season with a loss
at Eastern Michigan, the Golden Grizzlies picked up their first win of the
season at the Cleveland State Invitational, downing St. Francis (Pa.) in
four games as four OU players scored at least 13 points in the match, led
by 13.5 from transfer Heather Lippert. Oakland dropped its other
two matches over the weekend, but senior Patti Hunter came up with
all-tournament honors for OU after hitting .255 and serving six aces in
the three matches.
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Stephanie Linz
had an strong first season with Oakland, finishing among the team
leaders in hitting, kills and aces. |
A
combination of youth, working in two new transfer players and learning
Schmidlin?s new system led to some struggles early in the season for the
Golden Grizzlies. After getting the first win of the season OU lost its
next eight matches. Oakland broke out of its slump with a three-game win
at conference newcomer Centenary. Stephanie Linz, OU?s other
transfer for the 2003 season, had a career night against the Ladies,
setting a new school Division I record with 20 kills and hitting .545 to
lead OU to the win. Setter Becca Moller was also in on the record
setting that night, establishing a new mark for aces in a three-game match
with seven.
Returning
home Oakland did it again, downing Western Illinois in five games as four
players recorded 10 or more kills, led by 16 from Hunter who also had nine
blocks against the Westerwinds.
After
the first half of the conference season the Golden Grizzlies started to
become more comfortable with their new style of play, and while the team
was not able to record consecutive wins the rest of the way, its improved
play led to three more conference wins over the rest of the season.
Included in those wins was a thrilling five-game upset of IUPUI, the
third-place team in the Mid-Con.
At
the end of the season Oakland?s senior class capped off some fine
careers with each of the three listed among the team leaders multiple
categories. Cortney Varterasian, Beth Ann Rourk and Lauren
Bramos each finished among the team leaders in several categories and
placed their names among the school?s all-time Division I leaders in
several categories as well.
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Seniors Beth Ann
Rourk (3), Lauren Bramos (12) and Cortney Varterasian (l) finished
their careers 1-2-3 in digs in the OU Division I record book. |
Oakland?s
two newcomers, Lippert and Linz, certainly added instant help to the team
over the season, with the two finishing 1-2 in hitting percentage. Lippert
also led the team in blocks (84), while Linz recorded over 200 kills and
shared the squad lead with Moller with 29 aces, finishing sixth in the Mid-Con in aces per
game. Sara Miller led the team with 211 kills and was second with 230.5
points for the season.
Defensively
it was Bramos who led the team with 231 digs, teaming with Katie Lozier
to account for over one-third of the team?s digs.
With five of the six top
point scorers eligible to return for the 2004 season, Oakland has
established the foundation that it can build on to continue to move
towards challenging for a Mid-Continent Conference title. |
