Hurricanes Volleyball Season Review
Nov. 29, 2004
Coral Gables, Fla. – Despite finishing the season second in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Hurricanes failed to nab one of the 33 at-large bids in the 64-team field for the 2004 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship that was announced Sunday.
“All of us are disappointed that we did not get an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament,” commented head coach Nicole Lantagne Welch. “We finished second in the regular season in the competitive Atlantic Coast Conference; you’d hope that would be enough to get into the tournament.”
The Hurricanes closed out their inaugural season in the ACC with a 17-9 overall and 11-5 ACC record. Georgia Tech took the ACC’s top spot after finishing the regular season undefeated. The Yellow Jackets earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament after Maryland, who upset Miami in the quarterfinal round, claimed the automatic berth when they won the ACC Championship Nov. 21st.
Miami overcame early set backs to post their fourth winning season in as many years. The team was forced to cancel their first tournament of the season, the aptly named Hurricane Invitational, after Hurricane Frances forced the cancellation of the event. Two of the Hurricanes’ scheduled opponents (Rice and Illinois), earned bids to the NCAA tournament.
After a trip to the Furma Hotel Invitational hosted by Loyola Marymount University, where UM defeated Cincinnati and saw senior rightside hitter Valeria Tipiana named to the All-Tournament team, the season was once again derailed when their trip to the NOKIA Sugar Bowl Volleyball Classic was cancelled due to Hurricane Ivan. The Hurricanes instead played at the SMU tournament the same weekend where they defeated SMU and Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
The Hurricanes then pieced together an 8-5 record, which included a season-high five match win streak and another match cancelled (against UCF) on account of Hurricane Jeanne, to close out September and October. Miami finished the season strong by winning five of their last six matches.
The string of Hurricanes, “took out four matches in our schedule,” added Lantagne Welch. “We lost the opportunity to host two teams that are going to the Tournament.”
Tipiana became the first-ever Miami player to earn First Team All-ACC honors, as well as, becoming the first player to surpass the 1,000 career kills mark, finishing the season with a record 1,411 career kills. Classmate Elizabeth Tyson became the second player to accomplish the feat, closing out her career with a second-best 1,002 career kills.
Sophomore setter Jill Robinson also reached a career milestone when she surpassed the 2,000 career assists mark after only two seasons of play. She finished the season with 2,208 career assists, which set a new record.
