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By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Thursday, September 27, 2007
To say the field for this weekend’s Tyson
Foods Invitational is strong is an understatement.
Six of the eight teams in the field are
currently ranked in the NJCAA Division I Top 20, including the 16th-ranked
Hutchinson Community College volleyball team. A seventh has been in the poll
previously and is still receiving votes. And don’t overlook the unranked
team in the field, either.
The 2007 Tyson Foods Invitational will get
underway at 1 p.m. on Friday with a pair of matches. All four HCC matches
will be live on the Internet with game-time links available at approximately
2:45 and 6:45 p.m. on Friday and 11:45 a.m. and 3:45 p.m. on Saturday.
Half of the Tyson field participated in the
2006 NJCAA national tournament, including the defending national champion
Iowa Western Reivers. Missouri State University-West Plains finished third
last season, while Hutchinson defeated San Jacinto for seventh place.
In the latest NJCAA poll, Iowa Western (30-3)
is ranked No. 6, West Plains (15-6) is No. 11, San Jacinto (14-5) is No. 15
and Hutchinson is No. 16. The rest of the field includes No. 8 Barton County
(20-4), No. 17 Northeastern Junior College (26-7), Jefferson College (9-7) –
which is receiving votes in the latest poll – and Colby (14-10).
The Lady Dragons (16-10 overall), coming off
a 3-0 league victory over Pratt on Wednesday, will meet Jefferson College at
3 p.m. on Friday.
At 7 p.m., it will be a rematch of last
season’s seventh-place match at nationals with San Jacinto.
On Saturday, the Lady Dragons will take on
Northeastern Junior College at noon and Iowa Western at 4 p.m.
There will be five All-Americans from 2006
playing in the Tyson Foods Invitational.
West Plains’ Patricia Gandolfo and Iowa
Western’s Juliana Paz were first-team All-Americans. Hutchinson’s Ludmila
Amaral, Northeastern’s Thais Hollerbach and Jefferson’s Ya Chen Wang were
second-team All-Americans.
Amaral and Paz were selected as first-team
2007 preseason All-Americans. Barton County’s Cristin Haines was a
second-team preseason All-American. Hollerbach was a third-team preseason
All-American.
There will be two national statistical
leaders competing this weekend led by Iowa Western’s Paz, who is No. 1 in
the country in kills per game at 6.20 K/G. Paz also ranks 16th in ace serves
per game at 0.803.
Colby setter Daryl Rodriquez also leads the
nation with 13.72 assists per game.
Several other players in the Tyson Foods
field are ranked:
Kills per game: Colby’s Poloma Alvarez, 13th
at 4.17 per game; San Jacinto’s Julia Teixeira, 23rd at 3.87 per game.
Hitting percentage: Iowa Western’s Julia
Kenealy, 17th with a .486; West Plains’ Amanda Kuhn, 18th at a .474.
Blocks per game: Hutchinson’s Amaral, 17th at
1.33 per game; San Jacinto’s Ligia Clemente, 24th at 1.21 per game.
Assists per game: Iowa Western’s Meng Meng Xu,
seventh at 12.33 per game; Jefferson’s Jennifer Elbert, ninth at 11.70 per
game, West Plains’ Kuhn, 12th at 11.52 per game; Barton County’s Alik
Cardoso De Sa, 22nd at 10.62 per game.
Ace serves per game: Barton County’s Stacie
Thomsen, 18th at 0.778 per game; Northeastern Junior College’s Jessica
Tjaden, 23rd at 0.739.
Digs per game: Colby’s Myrtaliz Alicea, ninth
at 5.80 per game.
2007 TYSON FOODS INVITATIONAL SCHEDULE
Hutchinson Sports Arena, Hutchinson, Kan.
Friday, September 28
1 p.m. East Colby vs. No. 6 Iowa
Western
1 p.m. West Jefferson College vs.
No. 17 Northeastern Junior College
3 p.m. East
No. 8 Barton County vs. No. 11 Missouri St.-West
Plains
3 p.m. West No. 16 Hutchinson vs.
Jefferson College
5 p.m. East No. 8 Barton Co.
vs. No. 17 Northeastern Junior College
5 p.m. West No. 6 Iowa Western vs.
No. 15 San Jacinto
7 p.m. East Colby
vs. No. 11 Missouri State-West Plains
7 p.m. West No. 16 Hutchinson vs.
No. 15 San Jacinto
Saturday, September 29
8 a.m. East No. 8 Barton County
vs. Jefferson College
10 a.m. East No. 8 Barton County
vs. No. 15 San Jacinto
10 a.m. West No. 17 Northeastern JC
vs. No. 11 MSU-West Plains
Noon East Colby vs. Jefferson
College
Noon West No. 16 Hutchinson vs.
No 17 Northeastern JC
2 p.m. East Colby vs. No. 15 San
Jacinto
2 p.m. West No. 6 Iowa Western vs.
No. 11 Missouri State-West Plains
4 p.m. West No. 16 Hutchinson vs.
No. 6 Iowa Western |
