Pirate Volleyball Concludes Spring Season
April 26, 2006 | Volleyball
April 26, 2006
GREENVILLE, N.C. - The East Carolina volleyball team concluded its 2006 spring schedule this past weekend splitting four matches at the University of Virginia's spring tournament in Charlottesville, Va. In addition to the Pirates, the tournament included host Virginia, Virginia Tech, Appalachian State and VCU.
The Pirates opened the tournament with a 2-0 loss to the 2005 Colonial Athletic Association Tournament Champions and NCAA participant VCU. ECU then bounced back to knock off in-state rival and 2005 Southern Conference runner-up Appalachian State in two games before taking down ACC member Virginia Tech, 2-0. The Pirates' record on the weekend finished at 2-2 with a 2-0 loss to host Virginia in the tournament finale. All tournament matches were best-of-three.
"I was very pleased with the things we were able to do this tournament," head coach Chris Rushing said. "For the lack of numbers in this spring's practice season, due to injuries and such, I am extremely impressed with what we were able to accomplish. We had spurts of good runs of points and good enthusiasm.
"Overall, we are stronger and have more confidence in ourselves and each other. Our skills are improving and will only get better as time moves forward. Kelley (Wernert) had a good passing weekend, something she has been working to get better at. Kim (Jefferson) had an incredible hitting and blocking tournament. Heidi (Krug) ran a great offense vs. Virginia Tech, resulting in a team hitting percentage of .463. Those were some, of many, highlights throughout the day that we can build upon for next season."
The Pirates return seven letterwinners from last season's squad that finished 20-11 overall and 9-6 in Conference USA play and also welcome six newcomers to the program for the 2006 season.
"This group continues to get better and I can't wait to mesh all of our future 2006 and 2007 classes with our current players," Rushing added. "It is going to be awesome."
The ECU volleyball team will return to the court in the fall when the 2006 season opens in August.
