Hurricanes Claim Two Victories against Barry in Spring Action
March 28, 2006
CORAL GABLES, <?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>Fla.– The University of Miami volleyball team took part in scrimmages against Barry and Florida in spring action all day Saturday at the Gator’s LemerandCenter in Gainesville. The Hurricanes claimed two wins over perennial Division II power Barry. <?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>
In the morning session, Miami topped Barry 3-0 (30-23, 30-28, 17-15) before falling to Florida, who finished the 2005 season ranked third, 3-0 (21-30, 22-30, 11-15). In the afternoon, Miami again defeated Barry 2-0 (30-19, 30-20) before suffering a 3-0 (23-30, 21-30, 16-18) loss to the Gators.
“Overall I felt we made a lot of progress as a team on Saturday,” said head coach Nicole Lantagne Welch. “We had been pretty rusty all week coming off of spring break but we worked hard to get better each day and showed that same mentality throughout the scrimmages. I was pleased to see us improve with each game out, so that we were playing our best by the 11th and final game of the day.”
Redshirt junior Francheska Savage led the team in kills every match, including a weekend-high 19 kills in the first match against Barry. In the afternoon match against Florida, Savage tallied 12 kills while hitting .281. She also dropped in two aces and posted a block.
“Frannie led us in kills in every game,” said Lantagne Welch. “Florida was able to contain her somewhat in the morning but it was nice to see her raise the level of her game and really find more ways to score by the afternoon.”
Junior Sara Duncan, Redshirt sophomore Ciara Michel and Redshirt freshman Ashley Woods and freshman Angelica Ellis also paced the Hurricanes throughout the four matches.
Duncan led the team with a .357 hitting percentage in the first match against Barry before posting a .429 hitting percentage against Florida. In the morning, Michel posted 3.5 blocks against Barry and 2.5 blocks against Florida as well as hitting .455. In the afternoon match against Barry, Woods posted five kills for a .400 hitting percentage and also contributed 1.5 total blocks. Ellis tallied a .500 hitting percentage against Barry and two blocks in each afternoon match.
“Some individual highlights, “noted Lantagne Welch, “include Sara’s improvement on attacking, especially using the block to score. Ann [Gallo] was a phenomenal passer for us- she started out solid and just got better and better with her focus to the form we’ve been working on clearly showing. She was also one of our most effective servers. Ashley attacked very well on the day and really used a multitude of shots to find the empty floor.”
“Our staff challenged our middles [Michel and Ellis] after the morning matches to be more of a force at the net blocking. Both of them improved their footwork and penetration and really started getting some nice blocks. Ciara also attacked very well for us at times throughout the day,” Lantagne Welch said.
The Hurricanes return to spring action when thy host North Florida, Barry and FAU Saturday, April 8 at the Knight Sports Complex.
