Scorps drop first two games of season

It's not all that surprising the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College volleyball team is in a state of transition to start the season.

There's a new coach, quite a few newcomers on the roster, and the team's top player, Talita Milasauskas, a 6-foot-2 All-America middle blocker from Brazil, is out with an injury.

So when UTB-TSC opened the season Friday in the South Padre Island Challenge Volleyball Tournament, the result was an 0-2 showing as the Scorions were swept in three games by Doane College (Neb.) 25-20, 25-17, 25-13 and Oklahoma City University 25-23, 25-15, 25-23.

The two-day, nine-team tournament is being played at Rivera High School because of damages caused by Hurricane Dolly to the SPI Convention Centre, the original site. Nine more tournament matches are scheduled today at Rivera beginning at 10 a.m.

The Scorpions had some standout moments by senior outside hitter Katie Japp and a few more by junior setter Chelsea Spadaro and sophomore middle blocker Jacque Touchet, but there were also too many unforced errors and a lot of lapses on defense.

"There were times we looked pretty good and there were times when we looked like we had a bunch of freshmen on the court, which we did," first-year UTB-TSC head coach John Barnes said. "We were kind of nervous in the first match (against Doane), and once the players worked through that and realized we can play with pretty much anybody, they stepped it up and played three really close games in the second match.

"Especially for our freshmen, it's a matter of getting used to the college game, which is a lot faster," Barnes added. "Right now, we're kind of in an adjustment period for the ones who haven't played at the college level before. I believe that every time we step on the court, we're going to get better and get closer to where we need to be."

Today marks the tournament's final day as the Scorpions play Morningside College at 2:30 p.m. and Dordt College at 7 p.m.

Along with Doane, Iowa schools Briar Cliff University, Dordt College and Morningside College each went 2-0 Friday.

Before defeating UTB-TSC, Doane triumphed over OCU 25-22, 23-25, 25-20, 25-12.

Dordt defeated Malone College (Ohio) 26-24, 25-23, 32-30 and Our Lady of the Lake University of San Antonio 26-28, 25-14, 26-24, 25-15.

Morningside downed Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.) 25-21, 25-14, 25-16) and Malone 25-20, 25-18, 26-24.

Briar Cliff opened with a 25-14, 25-20, 25-17 victory over Our Lady of the Lake before prevailing in the last match of the day, a five-game thriller over Olivet Nazarene. Briar Cliff won 25-27, 25-17, 25-14, 27-29, 15-7.

"I think it's really important (to start off 2-0) because it kind of sets the tone for the year," Briar Cliff head coach Mary Schroe-der-Miller said. "They (ONU) are ranked, so that was a motivation for us because we would like to be ranked, too. It we play a good tournament this weekend, we hope we can break into the (NAIA) poll."

In the recently released NAIA preseason national poll, Morningside is 13th, UTB-TSC 19th, Dordt 20th and ONU 23rd.

In today's 10 a.m. matches at Rivera, it's ONU vs. Malone and Morningside vs. Our Lady of the Lake. At 12:15 p.m., it's Dordt vs. OCU and ONU vs. Doane. At 4:45 p.m., it's Malone vs. Briar Cliff and Our Lady of the Lake vs. Doane.

Along with the UTB-TSC match vs. Dordt at 7 p.m., it's OCU vs. Briar Cliff.