| OCR Text |
Show 'Birds face Azusa Pacific; I trip to nationals at stake There's no question about the caliber of the opposition when Southern Utah State College's women's volleyball moves into the second round of postseason post-season tournament play. The thunderbird Women, as winner of last week's NAIA District Seven tournament, will host Azusa Pacific, the District Three champion, with the winner advancing ad-vancing to the 16-team NAIA National Tournament. Tour-nament. The national meet will be held November 20-22 at Pittsburg, Pitt-sburg, Kansas. The Azusa, Calif, team won the District Three (Nevada and California last week. The bi-district playoff match will start at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in SUSC's War Memorial Fieldhouse. Admission to the'NAlA-sporisored : event will be $2 for adults and $1 lor students (including (in-cluding SUSC students) and children. "We will probably be meeting the strongest team we've faced this season," Joy Peterson, SUSC coach, indicates. "I understand that they are extremely quick with a very fast and varied attack." Key to the success of the SUSC team, according to Peterson, will be its defensive ability. "If we block well, we'll be very competitive in the match." Team attitude has determined Thunderbird success so far this season, and traditionally this year "we have risen to the occasion," Peterson says. "I think : that there is a very slight chance that we'll be 'psyched out,' because we usually play best when the competition is good. Physically, we have a very good i team." SUSC earned its way to the bi-district competition com-petition by clipping Fort Lewis (15-10, 15-2, 13-15, 15-6) and Regis ( 15-10, 15-2, 15-2, 15-13) in the District Seven tournament. "We had to shake an early case of the littes. but after that, we played very good," Peterson summarizes. "Regis didn't play as well as they can and didn't give a very strong challenge in the finals." Peterson was quick to J praise the steady play of Michelle Cottle and Rosemary Jacklin. She was pleasei'd with the play of Theresa Lurvov and Linda Haines off the bench, and she figures that Linda Whet ton "played just a mi per tournament. She hit well, blocked well, and really covered the court." SUSC will take an 21-7 record into the match after winning its third consecutive RMAC title. Azusa Pacific won the California Collegiate Athletic Conference championship with an 8-0 record. Overall Azusa has won 18 matches and lost only once. i |
