0-8 Saint Mary's defends home court
By ALICIA ORTIZ
Sports Writer
The 0-8 Belles volleyball team will defend its home court against the 5-3 Flying Dutch of Hope College Saturday afternoon.
"We know Hope will be as much of a challenge as Kalamazoo," said Leigh Anne Matesich. "We need to be mentally and physically prepared."
After losing to Kala-mazoo College Tuesday, the Belles hope to improve their performance for upcoming games.
"Hope is always tough competition. We are looking forward to this game," said coach Julie Schroeder-Biek.
Hope defeated Saint Mary's in 1999 and finished the season with a 7-1 record.
"We always seem to play hard against Hope. It is one of our best games," said junior Jolie LeBeau. "Our biggest goal is to be able to play as one unit."
The Belles are enthusiastic despite their record and said the coaching staff is helping them improve every game.
"The coaching staff, especially Julie Schroeder-Biek and Sue Ushela, is the best since I have been here," senior Victoria Butcko said.
The Belles derive motivation and inspiration from Schroeder-Biek.
"We play to show her [Schroe-der-Biek] that she has taught us well," said LeBeau. "We do it for ourselves and for her."
The Belles are focused mostly on improving this weekend.
"We want to improve with every game," said Butcko. "We want to reach and surpass goals, if we can do that on Saturday, in our eyes we will have won no matter what the scoreboard says."
All Sports Stories for Thursday, September 21, 2000
