UM Volleyball Wins Hurricane Invitational
Sept. 8, 2007
CORAL GABLES, Fla.-Miami volleyball continued its recent trend of keeping its opponents off the scoreboard with a 3-0 win over Delaware to claim the 2007 Hurricane Invitational title. The Hurricanes have now shutout four straight opponents including all three opponents this weekend, Loyola, Brown and the Blue Hens, at the Knight Sports Complex.
“Three sweeps is tough to do in this day in age in volleyball,” head coach Nicole Lantagne Welch said. “I’m just really proud of how steady our team played and how composed we were. There were some tough spots we were in and we managed to stay together and pull out of it.”
Despite the 3-0 win, the `Canes had to battle hard throughout each game to keep their streak alive. A two-point win in game one led to a come-from-behind win in the second game, with UM winning six straight points to go up 2-0.
“Tonight it was an outstanding team effort,” Lantagne Welch said. “We got a key play from everybody and when we needed a spurt from the bench, they came to play.”
Bridget Bomhack and Genny Mayhew led UM offensively with 14 and 13 kills respectively while Ariell Cooke and Ashley Woods each recorded seven. For her performance over the weekend, Woods was named the Hurricane Invitational Tournament MVP.
“The great thing about Ashley was that she struggled a little bit the first night of the tournament and she came back and responded with two excellent back-to-back matches today,” said Lantagne Welch. “She was a key to setting up our block, she played well on the attack and she really didn’t let anything rattle her all weekend. It is a great honor for her and it is certainly well-deserved.”
Katie Gallagher, who finished with 41 assists and 16 digs, was named to the all-tournament team along with Bomhack.
Miami got on the board first with a 30-28 win in game one behind seven kills from Bomhack. Gallagher and Loessberg also played important roles in the win with each recording seven digs.
In game two with Delaware up 26-24, the Hurricanes rallied to win the next six points to claim a four-point victory.
The Blue Hens got out to an early lead in the third game, going up 11-4 before Miami went on an 8-0 run with Loessberg serving to give UM a 12-11 advantage. From there UM, would stay one step ahead of Delaware before pulling away in the end to claim a 30-22 win in the third and final game.
Miami returns to action next weekend when it begins ACC play as the Hurricanes travel to Tallahassee to take on Florida State Friday, Sept. 14 at 7 p.m. The match will be featured on ACC Select and can been seen on the web at www.ACCSelect.com.
Brown 3, Loyola 1
In the first evening match, Brown downed Loyola, 3-1, to pick up its first win of the tournament and the season. Megan Toman led the Bears with 15 kills while Lillie Cohn and Julie Mandolini-Trummel each added 10 to give Brown three hitters in double-figures.
Natalie Meyers tallied 42 assists for the Bears (1-2) while also tying for a team-high 17 digs with Katie Lapinski.
Loyola (2-7) lost its third match of the tournament despite a career-high 30 kills from Dana VanDiggelen. Alyse Serritella also played a strong match in a losing effort, leading all players with 27 digs.
Mindy Rees and Lauren Ditscheit led the Rambler offense with 47 and 11 assists respectively.
A hard-fought game one resulted in a 30-26 win for Brown with Cohn tallying four kills on eight attempts in the game. In the second game, the two teams were tied 15-15 when Loyola won five of the next seven points to take a 20-17 lead. The Bears managed to tie the game up at 23 before Loyola re-gained control to tie the match up at 1-1 with a 30-27 game four-win. Brown turned the game around in the third with a 30-28 win before winning the fourth game by the same score to clinch its first win.
Despite leading Brown in kills, hitting percentage, assists, blocks and digs, Loyola was unable to overcome 13 service errors and eight ball-hitting errors.
2007 Hurricane Invitational Awards
Tournament MVP
Ashley Woods, Miami
Outstanding Libero
Alyse Serritella, Loyola
All-Tournament Team
Bridget Bomhack, Miami
Katie Gallagher, Miami
Stephanie Berry, Delaware
Megan Welch, Delaware
Megan Toman, Brown
