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--> --> Aug. 21: SOU volleyball traveling to season opener By Rich Rosenthal For the Tidings The Southern Oregon University volleyball team kicks off the 2002-03 sports year by traveling to the 19th annual Fresno Pacific Sunbird Invitational this weekend. In what is arguably the best NAIA regular-season tournament on an annual basis and a showcase of several top small-college programs, the 15th-ranked Raiders join third-ranked Fresno Pacific as well as Biola, Calif.; Doane, Neb.; Concordia, Calif.; Cornerstone, Mich.; Western Montana; and Notre Dame de Namur, Calif. in the eight-team field. The tourney's marquee match is an 8 p.m. Saturday showdown between a pair of teams that finished in the top-nine at the 2001 national tournament: SOU, the 2001 NAIA Region I champion, and the host Sunbirds, the defending Region I champion that went 35-4 overall and placed third nationally. Complete tournament information is available at www.fpu.edu . The Fresno tourney begins a six-day California trek that also includes matches at UC Santa Cruz on Aug. 26 and Notre Dame de Namur (formerly College of Notre Dame) in suburban San Francisco on Aug. 27. Southern opens the home season slate Sept. 13 against Eastern Oregon. · With the economy waning, Southern Oregon University volleyball coach Paul Elliott might have the best job in the country. After all, the 12th-year coach returns the bulk of last year's team that went 23-10 and came out of nowhere to win a regional championship and placed a lofty ninth at the school's first-ever appearance in the 20-team NAIA national tournament. The beauty of Elliott's situation is the Raiders, who begin with a program-best No. 15 preseason ranking, remain an underdog on the conference and regional level (behind three-time Cascade Conference champion Concordia) but possess championship caliber talent good enough to surpass last year's heroics. The source of Elliott's optimism is the return of four starters and seven key players from 2001, especially conference MVP and second-team All-American Kristina Matchett, one of five juniors that key SOU's attack. "It's very exciting to begin a new season this far along in our overall development," Elliott says. "Having nine returners who all received playing time last year enables us to start at a very high level that I think people will notice early in the season." Amazingly, the 2002 Raiders have only one senior, outside hitter Kacee Jacobsen. Southern Oregon is even a beneficiary of collegiate volleyball's adoption of international rules, particularly the addition of the libero (pronounced "lee-bare-oh") that allows one player (all-star defender April Lowe in SOU's case) to play in the back row for all six rotations. "This rule," Elliott says, "puts the best defensive specialist in the region on the court for all six rotations." Factoring in another solid recruiting year that yielded Southern Oregon Conference stars Chaley Higgins of North Medford, Nicholette Le Bel of Crater as well as Davis, Calif. prep standout Haley Phillips, could there possibly be another gig Elliott would want? Says Elliott: "certainly wouldn't want the president's job this year." · The big fish in Southern's volleyball pond remains 5-10 second-team All-American Kristina Matchett, who has been nothing short of sensational ever since she was a freshman walk-on in 2000. The Klamath Union grad followed up her conference Freshman of the Year accolades with league MVP honors en route to becoming the youngest player in program history to earn All-American status. Matchett, who set SOU game (14), match (33) and season (669) kill records last season, needs only 167 more to surpass Crystina Brazie's eight-year-old Raider career record of 1,233. "Kristina will always be a great offensive player, but I'm thrilled at how she has improved the others areas of her game," Elliott says. "She'll be hard-pressed to duplicate the kill numbers of her sophomore season simply because we're deeper offensively. But she is much improved defensively and has become a massive blocker." · The Raiders get a taste of life in a premiere NAIA volleyball league with tilts against the first-place Fresno Pacific, fourth-place Biola and sixth-place Concordia-Irvine squads from the 2001 Golden State Athletic Conference title chase. The host Sunbirds, who claimed the 1989 national championship and boast eight loop crowns and eight consecutive national tournament appearances all under the guidance of 17th-year coach Dennis Janzen (499-153), return four starters and a pair of All-Americans: 6-3 outside hitter and former Chinese national team player Lin Gao, and 6-1 sophomore middle blocker Mesha Wimer. Biola went 22-14 overall last season and 13-7 in league action. The Eagles have a new head coach, Aaron Seltzer, and will be led by 6-0 All-American Michelle Warkentin, who struck for 429 kills and 136 blocks last year. Concordia was 19-13 in 2001 and 9-11 in GSAC play for first-year coach Jennifer Kelly. The team lost both GSAC all-star players to graduation, but the Eagles return five key players and two starters, including 5-10 senior outside hitter Carrie Merritt, who accumulated 239 kills a year ago. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing