Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 2, 1990                   TAG: 9006020097
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ROAD TO OLYMPIC VOLLEYBALL MAKES PASS THROUGH ROANOKE

As it is, he'll have to settle for working with four former NCAA Division I players of the year. Kim Oden, a middle blocker who is one of four '88 Olympians still with the team, won the award in '84 and '85 while at Stanford. Her sister, Elaina, won in '86 at Pacific.

The team also has two players who swapped and shared the award from 1987-89. Teee Sanders of Hawaii was named the nation's top player three years ago, Tara Cross of Long Beach State won it in '88 and the two were co-winners in '89.

"I feel they are going to be very good internationally," Liskevych said of Cross and Sanders. "But it's going to take them 1 1/2-2 years. We're expecting miracles from people who have not played at this level."

To prepare for Olympic qualifying matches in August '91, the team has played in tournaments in Cuba, Canada, Hungary and Spain this year. At the Spanish tournament, the U.S. team qualified for the 16-team World Championships to be held in late August in China.

The group also tours in the United States, and on Monday will make its first appearance in the Roanoke area. The U.S. team will face Japan's national team, considered No. 4 in the world, in an exhibition match at 7:30 p.m. at the Bast Center on the Roanoke College campus in Salem.

Tickets are $8 and can be purchased at the Virginia Amateur Sports office in the Shenandoah Building downtown. Any profits from the game will be shared by the U.S. team and VAS.

For Cross and Sanders, the '92 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, will be on their minds. Both said that's the reason they joined the national team, which pays players a stipend for living expenses. The team's marketing director, Ken Grosse, said that amount usually is $10,000-20,000, but that the players can supplement their incomes with endorsements.

Cross and Sanders have more in common than Olympic desires and player-of-the-year backgrounds.

Both are California natives who played together at a Long Beach volleyball club when they were 13 years old, and they became closer while playing for the U.S. "B" team last summer in preparation for joining the national team. Because of her credentials, neither player had to try out to make the national team, and both have moved into the starting lineup. Sanders is married; Cross will be later this year. They room together, and they are both particular about their first names. The first syllable of Tara is pronounced like "car," and Cross can get cross if her name is mispronounced. As for Teee, well . . .

"When I was younger, I used to spell it either `T,' `T-e-e,' or `T-e,' " said Sanders, whose given name is Tonya. "After a while, you're walking down the street and you see people with names on their shirts. You never see it with three e's."

Sanders said she wanted her name to be unique; Liskevych said he may have a couple of unique players on his hands. Sanders set Hawaii career records for kills and digs, and Cross set a Big West record with 779 kills in her senior year and is Long Beach State's all-time leader in digs.

"They're as good as most players we've had here, no question, athletically," he said. "They just need what I term the rites of passage. A lot of people are very impatient. . . . There is no magic about being good internationally. [First] you get great players, [then] retain those players for at least 2 1/2 years."

The U.S. team has been riddled by defections since the '88 Olympics. Liskevych said other opportunities available to volleyball players - such as pro leagues in Europe or on U.S. beaches - lure away players before the U.S. team reaches the experience level of other international teams such as China and the Soviet Union. Liskevych said he's negotiating with former team members Karen Kemner and Rose Magers-Powell to rejoin the team. Magers-Powell was a starter on the '84 Olympic team that won a silver medal in Los Angeles.

Even Cross and Sanders, who say they have dreamed of playing in the Olympics, aren't sure they'll be with the team past '92.

"I don't know how many Olympics I want to be in," Cross said. "I'll re-examine after '92 and see if I have any new goals."

The long trips and grueling playing schedule sometimes wear on a player.

"That's how I push myself when I feel like I should be giving up on myself," Sanders said, referring to the Olympics.

Both Sanders and Cross, who joined the U.S. team five months ago, said the team has progressed well. Salem is the third stop on a six-match tour with the Japanese team, after matches in Asheville, N.C., on Friday and Greensboro, N.C., today. The exhibition tour finishes with matches in Gainesville, Fla., Tallahassee, Fla., and Atlanta.

"We have a lot of fight and a lot of heart on the court," Cross said. "Even playing against some of the best teams like the Soviet Union, Cuba and China, we do really well. But we haven't beaten 'em yet."