Sept. 25, 2001

Serving Up Seconds

Colonials Head Volleyball Coach Jojit Coronel Serves as Courtside Leader of a Young Team

Volleyball Begins Conference Schedule
With a matchup against La Salle, the GW volleyball team resumed its defense of the 2000 Atlantic-10 Championship, though this season’s Colonials are a much different squad.

After posting a 25–6 record (14–2 in the A-10) last season, six seniors graduated, a sophomore is out due to injury, and a freshman transferred. So, Head Coach Jojit Coronel has had to rebuild his team. Of the 13 players on his roster, 12 are freshmen or sophomores, leaving Coronel and his new assistant coach, Amy Bambenek, looking to create a new identity. Five new starters will join sophomores Ruth Lazzari and Lauren Dunning, who will be looked upon to lead the Colonials the next three seasons. Lazzari is the only returning regular, playing in 106 games before an injury plagued her after the A-10 Tournament. Dunning, this year’s team captain, appeared in 88 of GW’s 112 games as a freshman last season, tallying 81 assists and 122 digs mostly in a defensive role.

After last week’s match versus La Salle, the Colonials hit the road for nearly a month, facing A-10 rivals Temple, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, before returning to the Smith Center on Oct. 12 to face Xavier.

Cross Country Hosts Invitational Sept. 29
The GW Cross Country Invitational is slated for Saturday, Sept. 29, at Bull Run Park in Centreville beginning at 10 am. Head Coach Deb Hasfurther’s squads will host the following schools: American, Coppin State, Gallaudet, Georgetown, Gettysburg, Howard, James Madison, Johns Hopkins, Loyola College, Mary Washington, Miami (OH), Norfolk State, New York University, Pennsylvania, Radford, Rhode Island, Richmond, Seton Hall, Shippensburg, St. Peter’s, Syracuse, and Towson.

Leading the GW men this season is junior captain David Talbird and sophomore Darrell Andruski. Hasfurther, and new Assistant Coach Brian Beil, expect a healthy men’s team to compete for the top spot in the A-10 after being slowed by injuries in 2000.

Senior captain Eileen Kickish and juniors Jessica Gross and Mackenzie Jessen will lead the women on the paths this year.

GW Rowing Represented in Switzerland
Three former and current members of the GW rowing program were part of the 92-person US team that went to Lucerne, Switzerland last month to race at the World Rowing Championships.

Jen Edwards (’97) raced in the women’s lightweight quadruple sculls coached by current GW Head Coach Steve Peterson. Edwards, Peterson, and the team earned a silver medal in the event, marking the best finish ever for a GW rower at the World Championships. The team fell short of the gold by three minutes to Australia.

“I thought Jen and the rest of the crew did a great job,” Peterson says. “The only thing we couldn’t do was to go stroke for stroke with the Australians.”

Aquil Abdullah (’95) raced in the men’s heavyweight quadruple sculls and his squad placed fifth, the best finish ever for the US in that event since 1996.

“Aquil and his crewmates finished a very respectable fifth place in the grand final,” Peterson says. The US is not known for fast men’s quads...but you could see them getting faster and faster with each row.”

Catlin Nets Rookie of the Week Honor
GW men’s soccer sophomore Jeremy Catlin made quite an impression in his first collegiate soccer match. The midfielder from Clarksville, MD, came off the bench and tallied two goals in GW’s 9–1 victory against Howard on Aug. 31. The Atlantic 10 Conference named Catlin as Rookie of the Week for Sept. 4.

Conference Responds to Crisis
In response to the tragic events of Sept. 11, A-10 commissioner Linda Bruno announced that each institution would make its own decision regarding the resumption of athletic schedules, “once safety and logistical issues have been addressed.”

“This is a time of national mourning and a time for each of us to offer our prayers to the victims and their families of this horrific act,” says Bruno. “We understand that athletic competition is the furthest thing from anyone’s mind.”

GW postponed men’s and women’s soccer games, as well as the GW Volleyball Invitational, originally scheduled between Sept. 14–16.

 

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