Hurricanes Gain Experience with Third Spring Scrimmage
April 5, 2004
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – With at least five key players seeing limited or no playing time this past Saturday at a spring scrimmage with Florida and South Carolina in Gainesville, Fla., several members of the University of Miami volleyball team were able to gain valuable playing experience while seeing action at different positions.
Miami squared off first with the Gators, falling in a close first game to the 2003 National Champion runners up, 40-38 and dropping the second game to the UF, 25-15.
As outside hitters Valeria Tipiana and Elizabeth Tyson sat out of Saturday’s scrimmages, Head Coach Nicole Lantagne Welch altered the lineup, moving middle blocker Karla Johnson to the outside. Johnson took to the position change with success, totaling 15 kills on 20 attempts against the Gators.
“Karla was just unstoppable this weekend,” Lantagne Welch said. “She made a great adjustment playing on the outside for the first time”
In the second match of the day, Miami took on South Carolina, falling in both games.
Against the Gamecocks, UM’s Ann Gallo turned in one of her best outings of the spring, collecting 11 digs.
“Ann Gallo really had one of her best performances of the spring this weekend,” Lantagne Welch said.
The Hurricanes returned in the afternoon to take on UF once more, dropping both games to the Gators, 25-11, 15-10 before overtaking USC, 25-21, 15-13 in the final match of the day.
Johnson continued to shine in the afternoon, blasting the Gamecocks with 10 kills.
UM’s Jamie Grass also stood out against USC, turning in 13 digs while outside hitter Sara Duncan finished the match with five kills.
“I really thing our blocking has improved,” Lantagne Welch said. “At times we looked terrific in our backcourt and we really saw some good things from our defensive specialist.”
The Hurricanes will continue with practice over the next two weeks before hosting Florida A&M and Miami-Dade C.C. in the final scrimmage of the spring April 17 at the Knight Sports Complex.
