Local college notes: Westlake’s Petrulis shining on volleyball court for Ohio
Matt Florjancic | The Chronicle-Telegram
St. Patrick’s Day brought the Luck of the Irish back to the Ohio University women’s volleyball team.
The Bobcats had won four straight Mid-American Conference Tournaments (2003-2006), but in the 2007 championship match, Ohio University lost to Miami of Ohio, 30-28, 30-26, 30-27. Following an NCAA Tournament loss to Purdue, head coach Geoff Carlston resigned to take the same position at Ohio State.
School officials took six weeks to name Ryan Theis head coach. In his first season, he led the Bobcats back to the MAC Tournament championship, the program’s fifth in six seasons. That victory also earned Ohio an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
The Bobcats (24-7) face Yale (20-5) this afternoon at Penn State’s Rec Hall.
“It’s great knowing that we were able to get an automatic bid,” said Bobcat junior Sarah Petrulis. “Our coach always said we want to be playing our best volleyball at the end of the season. Going into the tournament, we were definitely doing that.
“Just by his coaching style, we’ve been able to improve,” she continued. “We didn’t have any coach for the winter, so we didn’t have any winter individuals. Where a lot of teams get better in the winter, we had open gyms with our team. When our coach came in, we had a totally new style of play.”
Petrulis has been an offensive catalyst with tremendous serve-receive. The Westlake resident is a defensive specialist. On the season, Petrulis has 384 defensive digs, including 246 in conference matches.
In the MAC Tournament championship against Western Michigan, she had a match-high 25 digs. As a team, Ohio had an 85-75 lead in digs. For her efforts, the Magnificat graduate earned
All-MAC Tournament team honors.
“We have gone to the USA style of passing, which is a little different than what we’re used to,” said Petrulis. “It was a little harder on our bodies at first, but we adjusted. We’ve become a lot better passers and defenders. We are also doing a swing block, which is a little different. In the long run, it’s definitely helped.
“It was the first career honor I’ve gotten at Ohio,” she said of the All-MAC Tournament selection. “It was special for me, but after we celebrated Monday, we tried to focus on our tournament.”
Yale will be a tough opponent. The Bulldogs are strong on serve and serve-reception. While they have hit 129 aces this season, opponents have converted just 63 serves into aces. The opposition committed 139 service errors.
“They have some really good outside hitters,” said Petrulis. “They have one girl that transferred from California and they’re mostly outside-driven. Our game plan is to go after them when they’re in defense.
“In the MAC, we’re the best serve-receive team,” she added. “Our goal, as any defender or defensive specialist, is to prevent them from getting any aces. (We’re going to do that) by passing how we have all year.”
Ohio is seeking its first NCAA Tournament victory since 2005. In that season, the Bobcats were regional semifinalists, but lost a tough
five-set match to Arizona. Since that run, the Bobcats have gone one-and-out in two other postseason appearances.
“A lot of the players that we have on our team are a little older and wiser,” Petrulis said. “We know the difference is how we played last year and this year. By the improvements in practice, we have a better chance of going to the second round. We’re keeping focused on Yale and trying to beat them.”
If the Bobcats are able to beat Yale and advance in the tournament, their likely second round opponent is Penn State. The Nittany Lions have dominated everyone in their path toward another national championship. Not only has Penn State won every match this season, they have yet to drop a set.
The Nittany Lions are defending NCAA champions and have not lost a match since Sept. 15, 2007, when they fell to Stanford in five sets. Despite that loss, Penn State earned a five-set victory in the National Championship Game.
Earlier this year, the Bobcats and Nittany Lions met in the Hawaiian Wahine Classic. Penn State won 25-15, 25-19, 25-9 as Ohio’s losing streak went to three matches. But the Bobcats won nine of 10 matches and have won 10 straight going into the tournament.
“It would be awesome if we got a rematch,” Petrulis said. “Getting a (set) off them or if we beat them, that would be publicity for our school.”
News and notes
After a busy summer with the USA Under-22 Select team, Brianne McLaughlin returned to Robert Morris for her final season of college hockey. Though the Colonials are a game under .500, McLaughlin has a 6-6-1 record in goal this year.
In those games, McLaughlin has over 768 minutes of ice time with 467 saves. She has a .930 save percentage and a 2.73 goals against average.
Robert Morris started the season in October with a
two-game series against Minnesota, then ranked third in the country. On a night when her teammates generated just 10 shots on goal, McLaughlin preserved a 3-2 upset and earned “first star of the game” with 63 saves. Her win earned her U.S. College Hockey Online National Defensive Player of the Week and College Hockey America Defensive Player of the Week.
* Indiana University men’s basketball forward Tom Pritchard (Westlake/St. Edward) is making a good first impression in a rebuilding year for the Hoosiers (4-2). With new coach Tom Crean repairing Indiana’s image after Kelvin Sampson’s recruiting violations, Pritchard is a scoring and rebounding machine on the low block.
The freshman has led the team in scoring in four games and rebounding in four others. He averages 15.8 points as well as 7.5 rebounds per game and has six blocks. After they return from Wake Forest as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, Pritchard and the Hoosiers will head to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for the Hartford Hall of Fame Classic against Gonzaga.
* Though the Case Western Reserve men’s basketball team is off to an 0-5 start, Reid Anderson (Avon Lake/St. Edward) is putting together a solid season. Anderson, a guard, averages a team-high 16.2 points per game and has collected 4.8 rebounds per game.
The new three-point distance in men’s college basketball has not affected Anderson. He has connected on 11-of-26 triples and is among the University Athletic Association leaders in three-point percentage.
* Alaska-Anchorage recently hosted its 30th annual Great Alaska Shootout basketball tournament. After single-digit losses to Hampton and Northern Illinois, the Sea Wolves finished seventh with a 62-57 victory over Louisiana Tech.
Sea Wolves sophomore forward Colin Voreis (Vermilion) had a steal at the end of the first half against Louisiana Tech and has seen action in four of the team’s six games. A season ago, Voreis was the only true freshman on the Anchorage roster.
* Two area gymnasts will get their seasons underway over the weekend.
Ball State freshman Kayla Kmiecik (Avon/Magnificat) and Kent State senior Amanda St. John (Avon) will be competing in intrasquad and Blue and Gold meets over the weekend. Ball State will host its meet Saturday, while the Golden Flashes are in action today.
Both teams begin intercollegiate competition in January. Ball State will open its MAC schedule at Bowling Green four days before traveling to Kent State on Jan. 23.
Walsh University (29-11) will participate in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) volleyball championship this week. Senior right-side hitter Caitlin Whealy (Avon Lake) and sophomore defensive specialist Ashley Yuhas (Elyria) will be among the Cavaliers making the trip to Sioux City, Iowa.
The teams qualifying for the national championship will face each other in pool play during the week. The top four teams play a single-elimination tournament, culminating with the championship game Saturday.
Contact Matt Florjancic at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.
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Filed by Matt Florjancic | The Chronicle-Telegram December 5th, 2008 in Sports. Popularity: 4% |
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