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(09/05/03 6:08pm)
It was clear after IU women's rowing lost coach Mark Wilson, it would need to fill his spot with someone who had both knowledge and experience with the sport, which is exactly what they got. Since 1996, Stephen Peterson has been a member of the U.S. Olympic Rowing Team, the women's rowing coach at George Washington University, as well as the United States National Team Coach from 1999 to the present. As coach of the National Team, Peterson's pupils have accumulated four silver medals and one bronze. In terms of the IU rowing program, Peterson seems very enthusiastic.\nEven though Peterson said it may take some time to make the program top notch, he thinks the team is capable of competing in the Big Ten this year. \nHe said he does not feel there is any secret to competing at the top level, and he feels that as hard-working as the team is willing to be, that will determine how far the team will go. \nFor the Rhode Island University graduate, his 18 years out of college has already led to an extensive resume.\nIncluding college and post-college competitions, Peterson has received over 50 medals. From 1989-92 and 1995-96, Peterson was a member of the U.S. National Team. Some of his highlights during that time included winning the bronze medal in 1989 for the men's quadruple sculls at the championships in Duisburg, Germany, as well as winning the men's double sculls in Tasmania, Australia. He also won the 1990 Vesper Cup Award. One U.S. National Team member receives this award yearly, which is given "for outstanding and inspirational achievement in international competition." \nFrom 1989-91, Peterson was not only a member of the U.S. National Team, but he was also the main coach for RIU's men's and women's rowing team. During this short period of time, he led one of the women's teams and two of the men's teams to first place finishes.\nDuring his years spent at GWU, Peterson was named Atlantic Ten Conference coach of the year twice, and his women's team never finished lower than second place in the league standings. His highest accomplishment as the GWU women's coach was the team reaching the 1998 NCAA Championships. \nPeterson recently competed with his other national team athletes in the FISA World Rowing Championships in Milan, Italy that took place the week of Aug. 24. The IU rowing team is eagerly awaiting his return on Sept. 8.
(03/07/03 7:35pm)
March began with high hopes for the men's volleyball club team as it hosted the Hoosier-Illini Classic on March 1. \nThe team was coming off three- straight match wins and said it did not expect anything short of a fifth- straight Hoosier-Illini Classic championship win. \nThe team played pool play matches Saturday against the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Wittenberg University and Eckerd. \nJunior and club president Chris Reilly said the team's performance this weekend was overall good and they served well, played good team defense and did not play down to the other teams.\n"We play every point like it's a championship point, and I think that is the most important thing we took out of today," Reilly said. \nThe team was recently ranked No. 1 in the nation, according to the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association ratings. Reilly said the team is completely satisfied with how it's been playing in terms of potential.\nReilly was not the only one excited to talk about the team's overall effort in Saturday's pool play.\nJunior Topher Soya said Saturday's play prepared the team for Sunday's tournament. Soya was also excited everyone on the team got to play, which doesn't always happen. Soya went on to say he enjoyed having the tournament at IU. He said the HPER is a big gym area, which is good because it can host a lot of teams. \n"It is challenging to try to run the tournament and play at the same time because we have to worry about concessions, we have to worry about the set up, we have to worry about the all star game, reffing assignments, and playing ourselves," Soya said. \nSenior and club secretary Jeremy Levy said the team needs to work as a team for the upcoming matches. \n"I know how good we can really be as long as we stick together and we stay focused throughout every match," Levy said. "If we continue to do that, we're really a lethal team. It's gonna be hard to stop us." \nLevy said in volleyball it's most important to have teamwork because you rely on all the players on the floor. In the Eckerd match Sunday, Levy said senior Jeff Foott really contributed a lot.\n"Jeff has the ability to be one of the best middle blockers in the country," Levy said. "When he's on, he's absolutely impossible to stop. It was really nice to see him step up during that match and take over."\nFinally Levy said he felt the team did well Saturday overall, and they were the No.1 seed going into Sunday. \nBut the excitement and energy the Hoosiers displayed Saturday didn't help because the team was upset in the semifinals for the second year in a row to Lakeland College. \nIU defeated James Madison University in its first match of the day, but failed to get over the hump as it lost to Lakeland 23-25, 30-28, and 17-19 in three hard-fought battles. \nThe Hoosiers' next tournament is Friday and Saturday at the Great Western Shootout in Las Vegas.
(02/19/03 4:42am)
Ten wins and three ranked teams later, the IU men's volleyball club team is ranked No. 1.\nThe team beat the University of Arizona in an exhibition game on Feb. 7 and went on to win the Desert Thunder tournament later that weekend. After playing well in pool play on Saturday, the team was ranked No. 2 in the Gold Division heading into Sunday's elimination round. On Sunday, IU defeated U.C. Davis in the quarterfinals, a team that senior captain Jeremy Levy said would be a tough test before the tournament.\nEventually, IU went on to face Pierce, the No.1 Junior College team in the nation, in the finals. IU had already beaten Pierce on Saturday night. In the finals, Pierce battled with IU until the third game of the three-game series. IU barely won the first game 25-23, and Pierce took the team to their limit in the second game, beating them 36-34. But, IU came back to win in the third game 15-10 and captured the tournament championship and the No. 1 ranking in the nation. \nOn Friday, the Hoosiers officially got their No. 1 ranking, their highest ever. The team is now seeded ahead of both No. 2 Arizona and No. 3 Providence. \nJ.T. Gripe said the ranking is a reflection of the team's play. \n"I feel really good about our No. 1 ranking, but the thing I feel the best about is how we played in the tournament," Gripe said.\nGripe said the squad played the best as a team the whole weekend as they had all year. That pleased Gripe and teammates sophomore Dave Reid and Levy the most.\nReid, in his second year on the team, played a vital role in the tournament. On the court, Reid is an outside hitter, and he said that his main role in the tournament was to "provide offense and intensity." \nThe squad's team mentality was vital to the victory, Reid said.\n"We played better as a team then we ever have," he said.\nReid said the win over Pierce to clinch the tournament not only was a great victory for IU, but a great victory for the Midwest region as a whole. \nLevy said that for him the most exciting part of the tournament was having the opportunity to play Arizona in front of a packed house of 1,000 people. In terms of the tournament itself, Levy, as captain, served a dual role in the tournament. He had to focus on his role as a defensive player, and he also tried to keep the team focused on its goal. \nThis tournament gave IU an idea of where they fit in the seedings and where they stand as a whole. Levy said he knew all along his team had the ability to come this far. \n"I knew we had it in us -- we just all had to step up to accomplish it," he said. \nThe positive attitude and winning did not stop in Arizona as IU came home ready for their next tournament. The team remained hot in its next tournament, winning the Big Ten Regular Season Tournament for the second year in a row. IU went 8-1 in this tournament, hosted by Purdue University, with its only loss coming against Ohio State. IU went on to beat Illinois in the last game to take the title.\nThe Hoosiers will look to continue their unbeaten streak in their next tournament on March 1 and 2 when they host the Hoosier Illini Classic at the School of Health and Physical Education.
(02/07/03 6:16am)
Thursday night, the No. 3 IU men's club volleyball team boarded the plane toward Arizona for their first out of region tournament of the season. The team will play an exhibition against Arizona on Friday before the actual tournament starts in which Arizona will be participating as well. The common consensus between the players, senior Jeremy Levy and junior JT Gripe, as well as coach Ryan Theis, is that playing the No. 1 ranked Arizona will be the team's biggest challenge. \nLevy, who is currently in his third year as captain of the team, is happy to be going out of region for this tournament, especially in Arizona where the weather is beautiful. \nThe team did not get a chance to play Arizona last year during the season, but Levy said he looks forward to stepping up to the challenge of playing Arizona. \nAfter the exhibition game today, the team will go into tournament play on Saturday and Sunday. The tournament is set up as pool play. For example, on Saturday each team is in a pool with four or five other teams, and each team plays the others. Then each team is seeded for the single elimination round on Sunday. Therefore, depending on how well each team does on Saturday determines where they will be seeded on Sunday. \nSunday will be a Sweet Sixteen. The teams who make it to the Sweet Sixteen will have to win four matches on Sunday to become the champions. Levy said he doesn't think it should be a problem making it into this tournament, considering that IU is the second highest ranking team in the tournament after Arizona. \nLevy said Saturday and Sunday will bring a lot of good teams, including No. 7 ranked UC-Davis, and of course No. 1 Arizona. \n"It will be a huge challenge for us, kind of a measuring stick to see exactly where we are out of region," Levy said. "(Arizona is) number one again this year in the nation, so that's gonna be a lot of fun, a big test." \nLevy was not the only Hoosier excited about this tournament. Fellow teammate and roommate Gripe was also anxious about the tournament. \n"First of all, I can't wait to get a shot at Arizona. I mean they're No. 1 and we're No. 3 ... you know we've got something to prove," he said. "They're a great, great team, and it'll be fun to see how we match up against them. I mean, they're the perennial No. 1. If we're gonna accomplish all our goals, they're who we have to go through." \nTheis, who is in his fifth year coaching the team is also looking forward to beating Arizona. \nTheis said his players are well prepared although Arizona's players are physically stronger. \nHe said he was going to work his players harder than normal in preparation for the Wildcats. He said he was going to use some tough equipment to account for the physical players that Arizona has. \nDuring Tuesday's practice Levy and Gripe both said this year the team has the most potential to succeed. \n"I'm just really excited for this year," Levy said. "It should be a lot of fun, it's my last year and I'm looking forward to good things with this team"