Document text
--> --> Nov. 27: Nothing new for SOU By Bobby Heiken Ashland Daily Tidings Southern Oregon University head volleyball coach Paul Elliott has a message for his team as they head to the NAIA tournament. Don't change. The Raiders finished second in the Cascade Conference in the regular season, second in the conference tournament and then caught fire and won the NAIA regional tourney to earn the school's first-ever NAIA berth (SOU went back in 1977 to the AIAW national tournament). "Our biggest mistake would be going into this and thinking that since it's our first time we have to change the way we play," Elliott said. "I want them to play exactly the way they played in the regionals. I've had a good feeling before the regional tournament and I still have that feeling." The Raiders (21-8) will kick off pool play Wednesday as the No. 12 seed and will battle No. 5 seed Fresno Pacific University at 1:30 p.m. EDT. The Sunbirds won the Golden State Athletic Conference and have won 17 straight matches, dropping only seven games in that stretch. Thursday the Raiders will play No. 20 seed Loyola, La. in the morning and then face No. 4 seed St. Mary of Nebraska in the afternoon. St. Mary is one of only two teams to take a game off undefeated and top-ranked Columbia, Mo. SOU's final match of pool play will come Friday afternoon when they face No. 13 seed Grace, Ind. After pool play the top two teams in each of the four pools will play in an eight-team, single elimination tournament. The plan is simple for Elliott and the Raiders. "We need to beat the two lower seeds and then split with the two higher seeds and we're in," he said. Elliott doesn't know much except for stats about the other teams in the tourney, but he'll get to see most of them play before the Raiders face them. "Except for Fresno I'll be able to see every team play," Elliott said. "Against Fresno we'll just play our match and make adjustments." Elliott will be taking a team into the 20-team national championships that is playing at the top of its game. Leading the way is Cascade Conference MVP Kristina Matchett. The sophomore is averaging 5.8 kills-per-game and has an attack percentage of .345. "The thing that impressed me most about Kristina at the regional tournament is that every team knew she was the person to stop on our team and she didn't get frustrated," Elliott said. "And the same thing's going to happen at the national tournament." The regional tournament also saw the emergence of senior outside hitter Michele Dardis. The former Redmond star came away with 47 kills at the regional event. "She's taking advantage of the playing time and is a nice compliment to Matchett," Elliott. "She's always been able to put the ball away and now her blocking is much better and that makes our whole team better defensively." The 11th-year coach likes the way his team has turned it on at the right time. "We've cut down on our unforced errors and our serving and blocking's better," he said. "Once we got all that done the pieces fell together." And with that the team that started the year 1-3 in conference play is the loop's lone representative at the national tournament. SOU's sophomore running back Dusty McGrorty breaks the tackle of Carroll's Chuck Hayter (No. 6) and tries to run upfield through the snow and around teammate's Leo Stoddard's block on Saints' defensive back Keenan Blake. Ashland Daily Tidings/AMY ALONZO 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