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	Metro volleyball setting sights on regaining respect

	By Michael BeDan The Metropolitan

	Reality is a tricky concept to those involved in sports. Goals, expectations and visions of grandeur tend to cloud the senses. Coaches and athletes predict greatness at the onset of a given season only to look foolish when the dream crumbles. Look no further than the womenגs volleyball team at Metro. For two straight seasons (1994 and 1995) the coach proclaimed her squad to be the דbestה sheגd ever assembled and predicted NCAA tournament success. When the NCAA Division II volleyball tournament got underway at the end of each of those seasons, Metroגs Roadrunners were making Christmas vacation plans ק not playing volleyball. In 1995, the Roadrunners finished with a losing record for the first time since 1985. The team didnגt fare much better last season under the guidance of a new coach but showed signs of life by winning six of its last eight games. And for a team accustomed to success ק five NCAA berths in the past 10 years ק it was a dose of the past that enabled it to start moving forward. Now, as women sweat, set, spike and sprint through the Auraria Events Center, a sense of purpose has been restored and the 1997 volleyball season might offer a glimpse of things to come.

		When coach Joan McDermott returned to Metro in 1996, she saw nary a trace of the squad sheגd led to consecutive NCAA Division II Regional tournament berths in 1988 and 1989. Instead, she found a team in shambles. דI thought ־well I can come back, Metro will be good,ג and I got back and it was like ־gosh, what happened?גה McDermott said. The answer to that might be that McDermott left in the first place. In 1990, she bolted for Briar Cliff College in Sioux City, Iowa, and coached her team to a 33-12 record (the most wins in school history). From 1991-1995, she served as head coach at Morningside College, also in Sioux City, guiding the team to a 115-63 record and a top-10 national ranking. Meanwhile at Metro, coach Rhonda Williams enjoyed success for four years before the wheels started to come off. Williams inherited a stellar freshman class from McDermott and made three NCAA tournament appearances. With the athletes McDermott had recruited and the good fortune to discover players like Crissy Canada, a 6-foot superstar walk-on who would rewrite the Metro record books, Williams posted a 118-51 record in her first four seasons. Canada graduated in 1994 with career records in kills (1,493), solo blocks (317), total blocks (764), blocks assisted (447) and attack percentage (.369). But, as Canadaגs career ended, it was the beginning of the end for Williams. The Roadrunners finished 23-14 in 1994 (Canadaגs last season) and missed the NCAA tournament. Metro dropped to 13-20 in a tumultuous season that included Williams being suspended for two games for paying a playerגs rent in 1995. Williams resigned at the end of the season. Re-enter McDermott. With little time to recruit, she slapped together a team with just three seniors and all the signs of a hangover from the Williams fiasco. The team finished 13-21. However, a late-season surge that included a win over Regis ק a top-20 team that made it to the NCAA Tournament ק the Roadrunners sneaked into the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament. דIt took us a while to get going,ה McDermott said. דProbably partly because I was new and brought a new system. And (the 13-21 record) is deceiving because my first two years here (1988 and 1989) we had really good records (30-11, 39-12). דBut last year we won six of our last eight matches, and once we got going we were pretty good.ה McDermott begins her fourth overall season at Metro (her second in the 90s) with the hope of brighter days and, if her track record is any indicator, the coaching acumen to produce. McDermottגs lifetime record as a college volleyball coach is 371-185. דOur goal is to be in the top four in the conference,ה McDermott said. דRegis and Colorado Christian return their whole starting lineup, so thatגs pretty tough. We did beat both those teams at the end of last year.הThe Roadrunners will blend a mix of returning players with McDermottגs first legitimate recruiting class since returning to Metro. The biggest holes left from last season come at two primary positions ק setter and outside hitter. Kerry Beidleman and Stacey Hoyt led the team from the respective positions last year and both graduated. Senior Laurie Anderson will carry the load at setter and junior college transfer Audra Littou, a 5-9 junior from Glendale Community College in Tempe, Ariz, will be an outside hitter. ד(Littou) is a really nice player,ה McDermott said. דSheגs really here to replace Stacey Hoyt.ה With nine new players on the active roster, McDermott said the biggest key to the season will be how well the returning players gel with the infusion of new talent. דThe game has changed,ה McDermott said. דEverybody is bigger. If you are not bigger and stronger, youגre going to get eaten up. דWe donגt have that one stud, but we have five or six good hitters.ה While freshman Kenni Swan (5-11, Woodlin High School), Michelle Edwards (5-11, Summit High School) and senior Shannon Ortell (6-0) give the Roadrunners good size on the outside and in the middle, the leadership role will be Andersonגs. Anderson has seen both sides of the coin, playing her first two seasons under Williams, and the difference is night and day, she said. דI like (McDermottגs) philosophy a lot more,ה Anderson said. She said the team is better-organized under McDermott and that the women respond by working harder than ever. דI really believe in conditioning, and my first two years we werenגt in the shape we needed to be,ה Anderson said. דWe work really hard, and we might be really sore but itגs what we need.ה McDermott said she is hoping the extra conditioning will translate into mental toughness as well as physical fitness. Senior Holly Rice (5-10), sophomore Janaina Peruzzo (6-0) and sophomore Jacquelyn Peterson (5-10) will be major contributors, McDermott said. With the absence of a Canada-caliber superstar, Metro will rely on a balanced attack with a focus on defense. דThey lucked out with (Canada),ה McDermott said. דShe was a walk-on, and these days itגs tough. But thatגs what weגve got to do ק find sleepers like her.ה As for the future, McDermott plans to see the rebuilding process through. דI plan to be here a long time,ה she said. דI like Denver.ה And for this season? דI donגt think we can win the conference, but you never know,ה she said. דWe want to be better than .500 and surprise a lot of people. דThatגs being realistic.ה