Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Young volleyball team gets set for demanding ‘04 schedule PHOTO BY MARK SCHILLING/THE GAMECOCK Lynae Vanden Hull won SEC Freshman of the Year last year. BY DANIEL KERR TIIEHAMECOCK For the second straight sea son, the USC volleyball team will depend on young talent to play through a tough schedule in 2004. The Gamecocks will have no re turning seniors to look to for leadership, but nonetheless will try to build on the experiences of the 2003 season in which they went 12-18overall and 6-10 in the SEC. The team has all but two play ers coming back from the squad that last year competed with some of the nation’s best. USC will again face the Southern California Trojans, who are this year’s defending NCAA Champions, in a home tourna ment that also includes nation ally ranked Michigan State and Notre Dame. Setters Katelyn Panzau and Alexeis Thomson return for their sophomore seasons Panzau is the returning leader in sets, attacks, points and serves. Sarah Morgan, Lynae Vanden Hull, Shonda Cole and Iris Santos all return to make up a promising line of outside hitters. Morgan, a junior, who led the team in digs per game last year, leads the line, while Vanden Hull is the returning co-SEC Freshman of the Year. Cole was second on the team in kills, and Santos led the team in receptions per game. Middle blocker is a concern this year for USC. Helping fill the void left by All- SEC Niece Curry will be juniors Nicole Miller, Lauren Ford and redshirt fresh man Crystal Johnson. Stepping in at libero will be Caitlin Withers, a freshman from San Marino, Calif. The SEC will be a tough con ference in which to compete in 2004, especially in the Eastern Division where defending con ference champion and national runner-up Florida returns many players with All-SEC potential. Tennessee finished second in the East last year and returns all its starters for their junior and senior seasons. Georgia lost a few starters to graduation but has an excellent senior setter. Rounding out the east is Kentucky, who will de pend on experienced seniors at the outside hitter and middle blocker positions. Arkansas is coming off a suc cessful season after winning the Western Division last year, fin ishing second to Florida in the SEC tournament and making the NCAA Tourney. Alabama expects to stay in the upper echelon of the division with help from some talented outside hitters and middle block ers, while LSU is in the hunt to move up with promising play from its outside hitters. Ole Miss is returning just one senior from last year team, but the team is very excited about a freshman defensive specialist who was a blue-chip recruit from Kentucky. New Mississippi State head coach Tina Seals is excited about the national recognition her 2004 recruiting class has garnered. The freshman class is expected to make an immediate impact on a rebuilding team that went 2-14 in 2003 and lost five seniors to graduation. The Auburn Tigers hope to improve on their disappointing 1-15 season in 2003. The team is comprised of mostly sophomores and juniors, returning just one senior. USC opens the season with a tournament at Wake Forest Sept. 3-4 in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Gamecocks then return home to play host to Clemson on Sept. 7 and open SEC play Sept. 24 against Miss. State. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Olympics CONTINUED FROM PAGE Cl 800-meter freestyle relay. Szucs will be paired with Istvan Bathazi in that event. His brother Tamas is entering his second season as a Gamecock, and this will be his first Olympic appearance. He will swim the 800-meter free style. Gaspar, a USC graduate, will carry a large load for his country this month, swimming four different events: the 50 meter freestyle, 100-meter fly, 400-meter freestyle relay and 400-meter medley relay. His best chance for gold is the 100 meter fly. In Sydney four years ago, Gaspar finished sec ond in his heat, sixth in quali fying, but fell to 11th in the semi-final. At Carolina, he won two SEC championships, posting a fly time of 46.55 sec onds. In the diving competitions, Carolina’s lone representative is junior Tracey Richardson. Diving for her native England, Richardson will be competing in the 3-meter board dive. This has been her most suc cessful event in collegiate com petition as she won the SEC Championship in her second year with a score of 523.55. Richardson later took 10th in the NCAAs that same year. Turning to the hardwood, the USA women’s basketball team will be bolstered by the presence of USC graduate Shannon Johnson. The former Gamecock guard has won five international medals, including four gold, but never at the Olympics. The Hartsville na tive is a four-time WNBA All Star and plays overseas in Russia. Also coaching in Athens will be USC graduate Maxsy Jimenez. He will coach the Venezuelan women’s tennis team. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksportsfcbgwm.sc.edu 5**L .,A«wrfnyrgfaTrn ' ■•- f ■.» '■' i' 'iii iiniliMBMtti ^ ^ C A li P U s^m^LmmJ