The Johnsonian

Issue date: 11/7/07 Section: Sports

Seniors Tara Toepke and Kelli Kirkwood were both recognized this past weekend for their acheivments in their two years at Winthrop. Both Toepke and Kirkwood were transfer students.

Shannon Sitmann posted 35 kills over the weekend against Coastal Carolina and Charleston Southern. Sitzmann was named the Big South Player of the Week for the fourth time this season.

Coming off their first loss to a Big South opponent in over three years the previous week, the Lady Eagles volleyball team spiked back in the win column against archrival Coastal Carolina 3-0 (30-19, 30-28, 30-27) last Friday night.

Winthrop now improves to 15-10 (9-1) in the year while Coastal drops to 13-15 (5-5). This is the time of year where conference teams are jockeying for position for seeding in the conference tournament that is less than a couple of weeks away.

Leading the Eagles to victory over Coastal was Shannon Sitzmann with 19 kills and an attack percentage of .500. Kelley Taylor also recorded double figures in the kill category with 16. As a team the girls had an attacking percentage of .259 to Coastal's .159.

Defensively, seniors Tara Toepke and Kelli Kirkwood, and junior Pohai Nu'uhiwa recorded double-digit figures in digs. Nu'uhiwa led the way with 22.

"I am very proud of our players," Head Coach Sally Polhamus said. "We had a great week of practice. They really worked hard and they came out and executed the things we wanted to. We're still working on making adjustments during the games, but for the most part we had strong offense."

In the second match of the weekend, the Lady Eagles beat the Buccaneers from Charleston Southern 3-0 (30-23, 30-28, 30-17) on Senior Day last Saturday.

Senior's Tara Toepke and Kelli Kirkwood were both recognized before the match. Their leadership on and off the court has been a positive throughout the year as there are six freshmen on the roster coming into this year.

"They bring so much not only on the court but off the court," Polhamus said. "Their leadership, their experience and maturity, their mental part of the game, they bring that. They contribute quite a bit."

Offensively, the Eagles were led once again by Sitzmann with 16 kills and Kelsey Hall had 39 assists.

Defensively, libero Pohai Nu'uhiwa dug out 18 digs followed by Kirkwood's six.

"We still need to come out and play each game and make ourselves better, tournament ready," Polhamus said.

The Eagles improved their record to 17-10 (10-1) while Charleston Southern falls to 9-18 (1-9).

This past Tuesday, the volleyball team played against future Big South foe Gardner-Webb.

Even though the Eagles won 3-0 (30-28, 30-24, 30-15), it was a closer match-up than Polhamus thought.

"We still need to go back to serve, receive and just playing together as a team," Polhamus said. "Our system really has been broken down tonight and we pushed a win and finished games but we're not executing our system the tempo that we want."

Leading the Eagles in kills was Sitzmann (16) with a .577 attack percentage and Toepke (12). Toepke won the match clinching point to put away the Bulldogs with her final kill in the Coliseum. She also recorded three consecutive aces at one time in the second game. Hall also set up her teammates with 44 assists.

Defensively, four Eagles recorded double-figures in digs led by Sellers (15), and followed by Nu'uhiwa (13), Toepke (11) and Kirkwood (10).

The Eagles now focus to end the regular season this Friday at High Point to prepare for the Big South Tournament on Thursday, Nov. 15 in Lynchburg, Va.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools