Veterans lead the way for SIUE volleyball

Rick Crossin
Sports Editor

One word can describe the 2000 SIUE volleyball team - experienced.

The Lady Cougars have 10 upperclassmen on this year's squad, which should make second-year head caoch Joe Fisher's job that much easier.

"It's nice," Fisher said. "It's a season that you look forward to.

It's easier because you don't have to spend a lot of time on the basics, you can get into some of the more complicated things."

Last season, the Lady Cougars compiled a 22-11 record, advancing all the way to the conference finals before being ousted by Northern Kentucky University.

NKU made it all the way to the National Collegiate Athletic Association-Division II Elite Eight before losing.

" I think Northern Kentucky is still going to be the team to beat. There's no question about that," Fisher said."I think the top of the conference is going to remain the same three teams, with us included with Northern Kentucky and IUPU-Ft. Wayne," Fisher said.

This season, transfers Stosha DeShasier, Shanan McLean and Amanda Hampton join the Lady Cougars.

DeShasier, a transfer junior, is a 6-2" middle hitter from the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, Ind.

Leading the way for this year's team are Seniors Linsday Rust, Kathy Dulle, Heather Vaughan and Melissa Schaeffer.

Last season, Rust led the Lady Cougar offense with 4.09 kills per game, which was sixth in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

"I expect her to continue to improve and get better," Fisher said. "I think she has high expectations for the season and the coaching staff does as well."

"You don't want to say that Lindsay has a good suporting cast kind of thing, but I think last year showed how well rounded we could be," Fisher added.

Dulle spent all of last season as the team's middleman, racking up more than 11 assists per game, which was also sixth in the GLVC.

"She's going to continue to be put in the spot of running the offense," Fisher said. "That's a big resonsibility."

One of the few negatives this season for the Lady Cougars is the loss of last year's seniors, Anne Ulrich and Kim Gilman. Ulrich and Gilman were vital parts of the SIUE squad last season and will be missed on the court.

"Both seniors were leaders and those are tough to replace," Fisher said.

Gilman, however, will still be a part of the Lady Cougar program as a student assistant coach.

Also, the Lady Cougars have switched divsions in the GLVC, now playing in the Green Division rather than the Blue Division.

With the switch, it means that SIUE will now have to face Northern Kentucky and IUPU-Ft. Wayne once during the regular season rather than twice.

"Only seeing Northern Kentucky and Fort Wayne during the season each will be something different," Fisher said. "I don't know how that's going to affect us."

Fisher didn't have a choice in the move, citing that conference officials made the move for SIUE.

"We were the one sport that didn't have the same travel partners as the rest of the sports, so we're finally on the same page with the rest of the conference," Fisher said.

SIUE will start its season on Aug.x 25 as the host of the Edwardsville Intelligencer Invitational. The Lady Cougars will face Drury College in their first game of the event.

"I think we'll be ready come the 25," Fisher said. "A lot of teams use the first weekend as a tune-up and to get ready and results don't matter as much. The teams we have coming in aren't going to be pushovers by any means."..