Belles make wins commonplace
By ALICIA ORTIZ
Sports Writer
Wins are becoming slightly more common for the Belles volleyball team, which posted one win for a fourth place overall finish at the Lake Forest Invitational Saturday.
In its first game, Saint Mary's defeated Beloit College in the best of four games with scores of 15-5, 14-16, 15-10, and 15-9. Beloit finished the weekend with an overall record of 5-15. In the next match, Lake Forest defeated Saint Mary's in three short games, with scores of 6-15, 3-15, and 8-15.
The next two teams proved to be more of a challenge for the Belles.
"We faced teams we had never seen before," coach Julie Schroeder-Biek said. "They were powerful servers and attackers with a quick offense.
"We let Lake Forest set the pace. They had the depth that we lacked."
The hosting team definitely made an impression on the Belles.
"Lake Forest was a really good team," junior Angela Meyers said. "We played well against them."
Meyers had a solid performance at the invitational, voted all-tournament player by coaches. Only six players are chosen out of 100 for this honor.
"She was unbelievable," Schroeder-Biek said. "Other teams were defending against her, they were looking for No. 2."
Meyers ended the day with 55 kills and 47 digs.
"She is a rock for this team," said assistant coach Sue Ushela.
Other Belles stars included setter Jamie Dineen, who had 111 assists on Saturday.
"Jamie ran incredibly smart offense," Schroeder-Biek said. "I also nominated her for the all-tournament team. She was doing everything right."
Schroeder-Biek also recognized right outsider hitter Denise Langolis, who served 24 points for the Belles Saturday.
"Denise was serving as tough as other other teams were serving at us," Schroeder-Biek said. "They could not run quick enough to attack her serves."
A combination of good serving and impressive defense led the Belles to fourth place. Another outstanding player was middle hitter Jolie LeBeau, with 30 kills.
"Jolie was smart with the sets that she received," Schroeder-Biek said. "She knows how to wait aggressively at the net."
Also contributing to the Belles' success were senior defensive specialist Victoria Butcko, with 27 digs, and freshman LeighAnn Matesich, with 39.
The third and final game was played against the Saint Norbert Knights. They defeated The Belles 9-15, 2-15, and 8-15. Saint Norbert had a mixed team of upper and underclassmen to give them strength. They finished the tournament with an overall record of 14-6.
"We started the Saint Norbert game with a seven point lead," Schroeder-Biek said, "But we pulled ourselves out with continuous errors. They had talented outside attackers."
The win was just one in a series of turnaround victories for the Belles, who have been working to overcome a 0-9 start at the beginning of the season. Game strategy and smart play have been two improvements that have been notching wins for the team.
The Belles play Kalamazoo today, and are looking to Jamie Dineen's offensive play to help earn a win against the Hornets.
"Jamie is a tremendous offensive threat to any team," Schroeder-Biek said. "We will need that against Kalamazoo."
The Belles' achievements in the Lake Forest Invitational have given them confidence to work for future wins.
"From here on out we want to play as strong as possible," Schroeder-Biek said. "And beat the teams that we lost against."
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, October 10, 2000
