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CP Sports B4 sports editor brian cremo ▪ friday, sept. 17, 2010 ▪ [email protected] From Page One O’Connell is the way the new players have in- tegrated into the team “The cohesiveness is amazing,” O’Connell said. “We had a great preseason and the freshmen who came in last year are com- pletely dedicated as well as the other return- ers and the new kids need experience, but they are athletes, so as far as the bond of the team goes it has worked out really well.” This weekend the Lady Cards will host their home tournament, the Cardinal Classic, against Keuka College, Norwich University and SUNY Cobleskill. “I think we will play really well,” junior Chyresse Wells said. “We have a lot of time to warm up and we are all really excited.” If the Lady Cards are to be successful this weekend, it will take a team effort. “As long as everyone steps up and we com- municate (we can win),” Wells said. “Every tournament we go into, we get excited.” Home tournaments can put extra pressure on players for different reasons. “I think they are going to be nervous be- cause it’s going to be a weekend tourna- ment and they will have family here,. Hope- fully they get the jitters out against Clarkson.” O’Connell said. The Lady Cards will be facing Norwich for the second time this year, the Cadets handed the Lady Cards a 3-2 loss. “We learned from what we did and ev- ery team out there is beatable, so I think the girls need to relax, play their game and make sure that they do what is necessary to win.” O’Connell said. Alongside O’Connell on the bench this year will be two new faces on the coaching staff. John Marinello will be taking on the role of volunteer assistant and Andy Mink will be the head assistant to O’Connell. “They both played volleyball,” O’Connell said. “That’s important. They’re younger, so they’re gung-ho at wanting to help out and be ready for our games. I’m very excited that they’re here and that I have another pair of eyes that can maybe see something different than I can.” The Lady Cards open the Cardinal Classic today against Keuka at 2 p.m. and then they take on Norwich at 8 p.m. They return to Memorial Hall on Saturday to face SUNY Co- bleskill at 10 a.m. The medal match game of the tournament will be either 2 p.m. or 4 p.m. VBALL: Lady Cards a ‘cohesive’ group Gregg Twergo/Cardinal Points The Lady Cards may have gotten off to a 1-7 start, but they feel their closeness as a team will be a strong contributor to their success once the SUNYAC games begin. PLATTSBURGH Keuka Norwich COBLESKILL TENNIS: PSUC sees low-ranked players from 2009 move up in ’10 From Page One singles as well as in No. 2 and No. 3 doubles. The theme for PSUC this season is young players. The Cards have five underclassmen, including two freshman, and only four upper- classmen, only one of whom is a senior. Both Hodnett and Paquette are sophomores and look to im- prove on their freshman campaigns. Along with freshmen Fasciano and Politano, transfer Caitlin Belladone is also a new-comer to the team and will generally fill in at No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles. While PSUC is certainly a younger team, Stata is hoping that inexperi- ence won’t be a problem this sea- son. “The younger group that we have seems to come in pretty strong,” Stata said. Stata also doesn’t concern him- self with inexperience because each year he hopes the team members get stronger physically and mentally. One reason why inexperience may not be an issue is the team chemistry the players feel. “I think everyone has a really good chemistry,” Belladone said. “We all communicate well and ev- eryone gets along really well too.” Belladone also pointed out how the team is able to call each other out if they see a mistake and they work to help each other correct those mistakes. Hodnett agreed there is strong team chemistry. “We like to make each other laugh so that helps…we keep every- one positive,” Hodnett said. PSUC is 2-3 so far this season, with their two wins coming in non- conference games. So far the Cards are 0-3 in SUNYAC play, a trend which they will look to reverse today against Oswego. The two squads have only played one com- mon opponent this season, SUNY New Paltz. New Paltz shut out both teams 0-9. Oswego’s biggest threat from last year, Tiarra Garrow, graduated, leaving them a void at the number one spot. Garrow, who is an assistant for the Lakers (0-4), was a standout under Stata until she transferred to Oswego. The spot she left behind has been filled by Lauren MacHose who, as of September 12, had won only a single match this season. It was also the only winning match the Lakers posted through Sunday. Despite the Laker’s struggles, the Lady Cards know that it is still a big rivalry game. “I’m looking forward to playing Oswego because they are the rivals,” Belladone said. Today’s match begins at 3:30 p.m. at the Fieldhouse. Jeff Carpenter/Cardinal Points Meghan Ryan lunges after a ball in practice last week at the Field- house. The tennis team hosts Oswego this weekend. XC: Lynch keeping teams focused on training goals From Page One ranked 23 and the women’s team ranked 28. “It’s nice to know that other people respect both our teams,” Lynch said, “but we were also ranked to start the season last year and didn’t finish where we should have. We’re going to take the early rankings with a grain of salt, and not let it go to our heads.” Cardinal runners Mark Heymann and Bobby Grim finished first and second, respectively, for the men’s team, with a total of six Cardinal men finishing in the top 10. Stefanie Braun led the women’s team with a second place finish. The women’s team had eight total runners finish in the top ten. All were under the 20-min- ute mark. “The women’s squad especially showed an excellent performance in the Cardinal Classic,” Lynch said, “The most finishing in the top 10 before this year was four. This shows we have great depth on our women’s team.” The Cardinals competed in their second meet against run- ners from Clarkson, St. Lawrence, SUNY Potsdam, SUNY Canton, and the hosting Paul Smith’s Col- lege in the North Country Invita- tional. Both the men and women squads rested their top eight runners in the meet. The men were lead by Rich Adickes, who finished 11th over- all with a time of 17:51. Michael Schram finished just behind Adickes, coming in 12th overall. Dylan Hedderman and Ethan Waite both finished in the top 20 for the Cards. Jasmine Boncore came in 6th overall with a time of 22:13 to lead the women’s team. Sarah Pope finished 12th with a time of 22:46. “It was a tougher course than we’re used to at Paul Smith’s in some unfavorable weather conditions, which re- sulted in some slower times.” Lynch said, “Our athletes ran well none- theless.” In his 5th year as PSUC’s head coach of track and field and cross country, Lynch has some new goals for his team this sea- son. “This year, I want our team’s to focus more on training goals, rather than competition goals,” Lynch said, “This will limit our stresses on both sides. I be- lieve both squads have athletes with the ability to get to nation- als, and focusing on the proper training goals is what will help get them there.” Lynch Heymann Record Kills per set Assists per set Aces per set Errors per set Digs per set Blocks per set stats unavailable Record Kills per set Assists per set Aces per set Errors per set Digs per set Blocks per set 1-7 5.60 5.24 .74 16.64 7.03 .91 2-3 8.87 1.67 2.27 12 9.07 1.47 4-2 9.20 7.90 3.40 13.32 11.08 1.20 Record Kills per set Assists per set Aces per set Errors per set Digs per set Blocks per set
