University of Houston Athletics
2004 Women's Volleyball Season Outlook
8/10/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Aug. 10, 2004
HOUSTON - With eight returning players from the 2003 season, the University of Houston volleyball team brings experience and determination to the floor in 2004.
Head coach Bill Walton, still boasts a relatively young team, with four sophomores a redshirt freshman and a freshman, but three seniors and four juniors (three junior college transfers) give him some senior leadership.
Returning letterwinners Loure Dews, Mirela Vasconcellos, Jaci Gonzalez, Cinthia Piva, Kelly McAnelly, Becca Sartori, Mary Cates and redshirt freshman Lauren Rhodes became a team in 2003, while four Cougar newcomers are looking to make their mark in 2004.
With all six starters returning from last season, the Cougars have the luxury of experience at every position, but competition for the starting roles will still be high at every position.
"We went from a very young team in 2003, to a team that is very balanced," Walton said. "We only had one sophomore on the team last year and two juniors that had lettered, and now we have three seniors and four juniors. I like the make up of our team this year."
SETTERS
After the 2003 season in which the Cougars had little on court experience at setter, the 2004 squad will have the senior Mirela Vasconcellos and junior transfer Jennifer Hohl, who will compete for the starting setting job.
Vasconcellos served as the primary setter in 2003 and will enter the fall competing with Hohl for the position.
"Mirela brings senior leadership as well as defensive toughness," Walton said. "She also has one of the best serves on the team which can be an asset for us."
Hohl enters 2004 after spending two seasons at Lakeland College in Mattoon, Illinois where she was the starting setter for her team that compiled an 87-18 record.
HITTERS
Leading the way for the Cougar offense in 2004 is sophomore outside hitter Kelly McAnelly who had a strong freshman year, being named to the C-USA All-Freshman team as well as the All-Tournament Team in 2003. McAnelly averaged 4.26 kills per game last season and set a school record with 1600 total attacks. With a year of experience under her belt, she will again be looked to for offensive firepower.
Cinthia Piva and Loure Dews will also play a major role in the success of the Cougar offense. The two players combined for more than 6.75 kills per game last season. Both Dews and Piva are also major players on the defensive side of the net as Dews averaged a team best 1.26 blocks per game and Piva finished second on the team in digs with 3.15 per game.
"We have a lot of options this year," Walton said. "Last season we were trying to find out what we were made of as a team. This year we better know what our strengths are."
Sophomores Becca Sartori and Mary Cates also provide a year of experience for the Cougars. Last season Sartori started 23 of the 25 matches she played in and averaging 2.81 kills per game, which was fourth best on the team. Cates also appeared in 25 matches, averaging 1.04 kills per game.
"The year of experience our younger players gained last year is very valuable," Walton said. "Now they know what it takes to play at this level and are better equipped for this season."
Newcomers Stefani Clark and Kariny Ritter will also provide added depth for the Cougars, coming to Houston from junior college. Ritter was named Second-Team All-American in 2003 at Western Nebraska Community College and Clark ranked second on her team with 55 blocks at Irvine Valley College.
DEFENSE
Defensively the Cougars will be led by the junior libero Jaci Gonzalez. Gonzalez was named to the C-USA Second-Team, for the second straight season after leading all players in Conference USA with 562 digs for a 4.53 average in 2003.
She is also a two-sport standout at UH playing volleyball in the fall and softball for the Cougars in the spring,
Lauren Rhodes will also be looked upon to strengthen the Cougar defense in 2004 after spending most of her first season on the sidelines. Rhodes played in just six matches last year before missing the remainder of the season due to surgery and will be a redshirt freshman this year.
Freshman Zuela Adom, the only true freshman on the 2004 team, will be one of the most athletic players on the team and will compete for a starting spot at middle blocker.
SCHEDULE
Once again the Cougars face a grueling schedule in 2004 with some of the nation's best highlighting the slate. Houston will face six teams that competed in last year's NCAA tournament, including Illinois, Kansas State and California.
The Cougars will open the 2004 season hosting the University of Houston Tournament at Hofheinz Pavilion, taking on Maryland, Kansas State and California. Following the tournament, UH hosts the University of Texas, before hitting the road for tournaments at UT-Arlington and Arkansas. The Cougars and cross-town rival Rice University will hook up twice, one time at each school and as usual there is a full slate of league competition.
"Conference USA will be stronger from top to bottom this season," said Walton. "Top league contenders Louisville, Cincinnati and South Florida will be our biggest matches."
The Cougars tied for a seventh-place league finish in 2003, and made a run to the semi finals of the C-USA tournament, upsetting number one seed Cincinnati along the way.
CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
The season culminates on Nov. 19-22 at the C-USA Tournament. This season, University of Louisville will serve as the host. The top 12 teams from the regular season compete in the league's annual postseason event with an automatic NCAA bid going to the tournament champion.
