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| The Independent Collegian | Wednesday, September 4, 2013
VOLLEYBALL
UT volleyball squad splits four matches at Blue/Gold Invite By Austin Henry Sports Reporter
The Rockets began their volleyball season with a 2-2 showing at the Blue/Gold Invitational this past weekend, with losses to Marist and West Virginia and victories over Loyola (Chicago) and Eastern Illinois. Toledo took the first game on Friday against Marist, but lost the next three (25-18, 14-25, 22-25, 21-25) to lose 3-1. UT started hot and took a quick lead with multiple kills early in the match. Aided by several service errors from Marist, Toledo made quick work of the Foxes with 25-18 Victory. Marist woke up in the last three sets, repeatedly catching the Rockets out of position to rack up kills, lowering their attack percentage to 56. Even with the defeat, seniors Dakota Harkins and Lauren Rafdal managed to keep the Rockets in the match with 19 combined kills. “In the first two games we didn’t really play ‘our game’,” Rafdal said. “When we got in the locker room we pulled it together, tried to let the first two go and came back and played well.” Freshman Alyssa Ehrhardt earned six kills and a .250 attack percentage. In the second half of UT’s double-header against Loyola, the Rockets earned their first win of the season in a five-setter (23-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-23, 15-13) against Loyola. Loyola took the first two sets and put the Rockets in a deep hole.
UT freshman Ellen Hays led the comeback charge with her stellar defense, registering 17 digs. As the third set began, the teams’ seniors continued to step up to the challenge. Harkins came up with seven blocks and eight kills, and made easy work of the Ramblers to force a fifth and final set. Head coach Greg Smith was impressed with Harkins’ ability to not only play, but excel through an injury. “Dakota sprained her ankle in the first match, and she played through it,” Smith said. “She found a way to manage her pain and play fine.” The Rockets held a slim 14-13 advantage late in the fifth set. Loyola’s attempt to tie it up was denied with a match-ending block by Rockets outside hitter Lauren Rafdal. She totaled 21 kills in the match raising her attack percentage to .340. “It was a very emotional game — up and down a few times,” Rafdal said. “Blocking was totally a game changer. People stepped up and they did what they had to do.” Coming off the victory, the Rockets continued their roll by knocking off Eastern Illinois in five sets (21-25, 25-21, 25-22, 21-25, 15-10). The Toledo defense came to play with 78 team digs and seven blocks. Toledo’s Becca Reidy, Ehrhardt, Rafdal and Harkins continued their hot streaks and brought the Rockets’ attack percentage to .196. “It just feels good that our team is clicking now,” Reidy said. “I was just going out
there and hitting the shots we take in practice.” The victory raised Toledo to a 2-1 overall record. On Saturday, the last day of the tournament, UT’s match against West Virginia would decide the winner of the Blue/Gold Invitational. The Mountaineers made easy work of Toledo (25-19, 25-19, 25-22), eventually leading to Toledo’s second loss of the season to bring their record to 2-2 through the first weekend. “West Virginia is a solid team,” Smith said. “We got them out of their system, but we struggled when they were in system. They are such a fast tempo offense and we struggled with that a little bit.” The highlight of the match from Toledo’s perspective came from Rafdal delivering four straight blocks. “Lauren had a great game, but she also had a great weekend,” Smith said. “She was consistent throughout all four matches.” Rafdal tried to keep the team alive in the third set and brought the score to 24-22, but the Mountaineers took the win on a service error from the Rockets. “We just have to take care of our side of the net and just lay it all out on the line,” Smith said. “Matches like these are good because we have a good mix of freshman and seniors on the floor right now, and they need to learn how to win.” The Rockets will return to the court this weekend when they travel to Youngstown, Ohio, for the YSU Invitational.
Soccer
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“We had to really dig deep for the whole 90 minutes but we had a weak two and a half minutes,” Evans said. “I don’t fault the players’ effort, they worked their tails off.” The Wildcats controlled the ball by keeping possession for the majority of the match.
SEC
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stopping that run game is extremely important,” said sophomore linebacker Trent Voss. “Missouri’s really going to focus on spreading us out and try to take advantage of the outside of the field and do everything they can to widen our defense.” One Tiger on the outside whom the Rockets will have to account for at all times is sophomore receiver Dorial Green-Beckham. Rivals rated him as the No. 1 overall recruit in the class of 2012 and many prognosticators believe the 6-6, 225-pound freak is poised for a breakout season in his second full year. Green-Beckham had four catches for 83 yards including a 44-yarder against Murray State. “[He can cause] big problems,” Campbell said. “He’s a guy that can go up and get it, he’s really skilled and he’s a guy who demands your attention. “He can win oneon-one coverage, so we’re going to have to do a great job. It’ll be a great matchup for a guy like Cheatham Norrils, a guy who we feel can do a lot of things at a high level as well.”
Pinkel
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assistant coaches were also arrested for DWI. Not exactly the image of a program on the rise. The Rockets, on the other hand, have gone through two head coaches — Tom Amstutz and Tim Beckman — since Pinkel’s departure. “Toledo Tom” Amstutz, as he is still affectionately called, went 57-38 during his eight-year stint as head coach, taking UT to two MAC championships, four bowl appearances, two bowl wins and two MAC West Division crowns. Amstutz coached the likes of Bruce Gradkowski, the all-time leading passer in Toledo history with 9,225 yards and 85 touchdowns. One of his favorite targets was receiver Lance Moore, whose 25 receiving touchdowns top the school record book along with Eric Page. Moore’s 222 catches and 2,776 yards still rank third in UT history. The Rockets became known for knocking off teams from the BCS conferences under his leadership, doing so five times, including wins over No. 9 Pittsburgh in 2003 and Michigan in 2008. Unfortunately for Amstutz, his recruiting pipelines dried up, leading to five-win seasons in 2006 and 2007. He was forced to relocate
“[Kentucky] put us under a ton of pressure, and we knew they would, but the team did a good job competing and almost getting an equalizer in the closing minutes.” The Rockets’ game plan of keeping the majority of the players behind the ball did not allow for many chances on the attack but did allow a ‘bend but don’t break’ defen-
sive tactic. Toledo was able to score in the 86th minute thanks to Kristen Catloth with an assist coming from sophomore midfielder Geri Siudzinski. UT had one final chance to score in the closing minute with a shot by Siudzinski in the 87th minute that went wide as UT fell 2-1.
Green-Beckham will be featured in multiple spread formations with three, four or sometimes five wide outs. With a contrasting scheme compared to last week, Voss will have some different assignments. “I’m not going to be in there trying to stuff the run and going up against these 275, 280-pound tight ends,” he said. “I’m going to be out there making sure that we’re not leaving our corners on as island. We’ve got to have support over with our safeties and under with our linebackers.” Offensively, Toledo is looking to make the most improvement from week one. The Rockets mustered just 205 yards of offense, well below their 2012 average of 445 yards a game. Florida’s spectacular defense played a role in keeping UT from finding a rhythm, something that prevented them from playing at the tempo they prefer. Terrance Owens will be counted on to turn in a more productive performance following a 17-for38, 155 yard and one-interception effort. “It was a little bit of a roller coaster throughout the game,” Campbell said. “What I appreciate from
T.O. is his attitude, his effort and his leadership never left. Sometimes, you’re going to have those days. When you really sit down and watch the game, he’s probably an inch off here or there on a couple throws. Again, their defense probably has a lot to do with it.” UT’s meeting with the Tigers this weekend marks the first time the Rockets will compete against former head coach Gary Pinkel. Upon his arrival in Colombia, following the 2000 season, Pinkel sent his offensive staff to Bowling Green State University to learn elements of the spread offense — a place Campbell had just started working as a graduate assistant. “It certainly has become a great foundation to maybe their turnaround at Missouri,” he said. “They had a great quarterback [Brad Smith] at that time, a tremendous player who came in and probably the perfect guy to put the spread in with. I give a lot of credit to their staff because they came in and learned the nuances of what we were doing and really took it to another level.” Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CST and the game can be seen on ESPNU.
to a UT alumni position and give up his head coaching perch in 2008 after a dismal 3-9 season. The program was in a bad place when Tim Beckman took over the job in 2009. Toledo would only finish 5-7 during Beckman’s first season, but he would bring them into the spotlight by defeating Big 12 member Colorado 54-38 during a nationally televised home game. Beckman was on his way to bringing Toledo football back up from the ashes. The Rockets won eight games a year later — UT’s first winning record and bowl berth in four seasons. It seemed there was a bright future ahead. Like Pinkel’s departure for Missouri a decade earlier, Beckman would also leave UT for what he considered a bigger stage. He took over at the University of Illinois following UT’s 2011 season, and the Rockets promoted their relatively unknown offensive coordinator to the head coaching position. That coordinator, current head coach Matt Campbell, was believed by many to be far too young and inexperienced for the job. He silenced all the critics with a 42-41 win against Air Force in the Military Bowl — the Rocket’s first bowl victory since 2005. Campbell and his Rock-
ets would go 9-4 the very next year. His 2013 recruiting class would be the fourth in a row ranked No. 1 by at least one major recruiting service. There’s only question left for Campbell: how soon will he lead the Rockets back to Ford Field for the MAC Championship? He is a young head coach on the rise with a team eager to prove they can compete with the best in the nation. When Pinkel left the Glass Bowl, there was a lot of uncertainty left behind. But other than a few bad years at the end of the Amstutz era, the state of Rocket football hasn’t really wavered. Missouri, on the other hand, is starting to resemble UT towards the conclusion of Amstutz’s reign — a program without the right amount of talent to sustain it. Pinkel may not be cleaning out his desk just yet, but he might not be so safe if the Rockets leave Faurot Field Saturday with a win. His Tigers are desperate to prove that their induction into the SEC wasn’t some sort of mistake, but they’ll have to do a lot better than 5-7 this year to convince anyone. Pinkel may finally be in the spotlight he was searching for — but now, with so much to prove, all he can feel is the heat.