Women's Volleyball Heads To Buckeye Invitational
9/7/2000 12:00:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
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Sept. 7, 2000
TOLEDO, OH - The University of Toledo women's volleyball team travels to Columbus, OH this weekend for Ohio State's Buckeye Invitational. The Rockets (2-1, 0-0 MAC) will be facing the host Buckeyes (4-0, 0-0 Big Ten) on Saturday, Sept. 9 before meeting either Illinois State (2-1, 0-0 MVC) or Kentucky (1-3, 0-0 SEC) on Sunday, Sept. 10 in a consolation (Noon) or championship (2:00 p.m.) matchup.
Following is a complete schedule for this weekend's tournament with all matches being played at St. John Arena (13,276):
Saturday, Sept. 9
5:00 p.m. Illinois State vs. Kentucky
7:00 p.m. Toledo vs. Ohio State
Sunday, Sept. 10
Noon Consolation match
2:00 p.m. Championship match
ROCKETS OPEN SEASON WITH TWO WINS
Toledo opened their 2000 campaign with two wins in its first three matches last weekend at the Mark Twain Hotels Invitational in Peoria, IL.
Sophomores Bitsy Mayhle and Heidi Neumeister led the Rockets to their second-place showing and were each named to the all-tournament team.
Mayhle paced the Rockets with 51 kills (5.1 kills/game), including a career-high 23 in a 3-0 victory over Memphis on Saturday. The Houghton, NY native also tied for the team lead in aces (5) and was second in attack percentage (.333) and digs (25).
Neumeister led UT in attack percentage by hitting at a .393 clip (33 kills - 9 errors - 61 attack attempts).
ROCKETS SHORTHANDED IN OPENING WEEKEND
Toledo enjoyed success in its opening weekend despite the absence of sophomore middle blocker Jessica Buck, who suffered an ankle injury last week in practice.
Buck, who earned All-MAC Freshman Team honors in 1999, is expected to return to action for this weekend's matches.
STEVENS STARTS OUT SEASON SUCCESSFULLY
Sophomore Kacy Stevens guided the Rockets to pair of wins in her first action as UT's starting setter. Stevens saw limited action in matches last year and helped the Rockets attack at a .284 clip last weekend, a big improvement over last season's mark of .144.
HEAD COACH KENT MILLER
Head Coach Kent Miller enters his fourth season possessing a 30-64 (.319) in three seasons as the Rockets' mentor. An assistant coach with the USA Women's Olympic Volleyball Team for 10 years (1987-1996), he guided the Rockets to their most wins (17) in 14 years in his first season at UT in 1997.
QUOTING COACH MILLER
On the Buckeye Invitational:
"We're going to go down to Columbus looking to continue to improve. We're going to take our best shot at Ohio State and see what happens. It's a very competitive field and probably is the toughest tournament we'll play in prior to opening our MAC season."
ROCKETS SOAR TO TOP OF MAC
The Rockets rank first in the MAC with a .284 team attack percentage after one weekend of play. Toledo also is near the top of the rankings, ranking fourth in both digs (14.40) and aces (2.10) per game.
Leading the way for UT individually was Heidi Neumeister, who ranks first in the MAC with a .393 attack percentage and 14th with 3.30 kills per game.
Bitsy Mayhle is in the Top 10 of the MAC rankings in three categories: kills per game (4th/5.1), attack percentage (7th/.333) and aces per game (T-8th/0.50).
Other Rockets ranking in the MAC's Top 15 are Kacy Stevens in assists per game (6th/10.40) and aces per game (T-8th/0.50), Becky Radomski in aces per game (T-8th/0.50) and digs per game (T-10th/3.00).
A LOOK AHEAD
The Rockets travel to Chestnut Hill, MA next weekend to compete in Boston College's Eagle Challenge on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 15-16. UT will face Canisius on Friday at 7:30 p.m. before facing Harvard and the host Eagles on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., respectively.
