The U volleyball team concludes its season-opening five-game road swing this weekend when it plays at the USC Tournament in Los Angeles.
The Utes head into this weekend batting .500 after two hard-fought contests in last weekend’s Aquafina Invitational.
The Utes, who are ranked No. 24 in the nation, will open the tournament tonight against North Carolina (1-2).
The Tar Heels kicked off their season last weekend at the Sooners Legends Nike Invitational. They started off the tournament in strong fashion, beating the Idaho Vandals in three games for a clean sweep.
The following day, the Heels were handled by Arkansas in three sets. North Carolina failed to put together any kind of a run in its first loss of the season.
The last day of competition saw the Tar Heels get thoroughly dominated by host Oklahoma (30-15, 30-19, 30-25). UNC hit a measly .027 for the match and no Tar Heels member reached double figures in either kills or digs.
Despite getting blown out, UNC will be bringing some talented players to the tournament.
Senior middle hitter Amy Beaver was selected to the preseason All-ACC team a month ago and will likely give the Utes fits up front this weekend. Brianna Eskola will lead the Tar Heel defense this weekend after averaging 4.44 digs per game last week.
Tomorrow, the Utes will face their most significant opponent of the tournament in host USC (3-0). The Women of Troy come into the tournament with a No. 14 ranking after winning three matches in the 2006 CenturyTel Premier Tournament last week.
USC started the tournament off in dominating fashion, easily handling an overmatched North Texas team 3-0.
The second day of competition included meetings with host Texas State and UTPA, both of which were won decisively by the Women of Troy.
Leading the 2006 version of USC volleyball is junior outside-hitter Asia Kaczor. The native of Poland transferred from the College of Southern Idaho and has had an immediate impact for the Women of Troy. She is averaging 14.0 kills a game this year and was selected most valuable player in last week’s tournament.
“We played against her (Kaczor) when she played for the College of Southern Idaho, and I was impressed. She is an exceptional athlete, very physical,” U head coach Beth Launiere said.
Kaczor will be complemented by junior outside-hitter Diane Copenhagen, who hit a team-high .417 in last weekend’s tournament.
Also returning from last year’s team is All-American libero Debora Seilhamer. The senior will be the anchor for USC’s defense this year after setting school season records last year with 696 digs and a 6.82 digs-per-game average.
“USC will be a very physical, athletic team, very similar to Florida last week,” Launiere said.
On Sunday, the Utes will conclude the tournament playing Fresno State. The Bulldogs got off to a slow start last week, dropping two matches to ranked opponents before scoring one in the win column.
The Bulldogs dropped games to No. 25 Kansas State and No. 6 Santa Clara before getting their first win of the season against Pacific, 3-0.
Fresno State was led by freshman Lacey Gera, who tallied 12 kills and eight digs in her first collegiate match.
Libero Cheryl Selenak was selected to the All-Tournament team in last week’s invitational and will have the duty of stopping Ute fireballs in this weekend’s tournament.
Going into the weekend against three quality opponents, the Utes’ main focus is still their own game.
“We’re definitely working on our side of the court, our game. We’re not worrying so much about what other teams are doing,” junior outside-hitter Whitney Webb said.
The Utes’ first game of the tournament will be tonight at 5 p.m. against North Carolina.
Lennie MahlerThe U volleyball team travels to Los Angeles this weekend for a four-team USC Tournament, where the Utes will face off against the No. 14 Women of Troy, as well as Fresno State and North Carolina.