Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 9, 1993 TAG: 9312080153
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR.
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Following its 15-2 15-6 15-1 loss to 13th-ranked Southern Cal last Wednesday in the first round of the NCAA volleyball tournament, the Highlanders capped their most successful season with a day trip to Tijuana. From Big South champs to South of the Border.
As for the match itself, it lasted just 50 minutes and marked the end of Jannell Dobbins' 19-year coaching career.
"I never thought my last match would be in Los Angeles," said Dobbins, who announced her retirement from coaching earlier this season.
Since Radford actually led the first game 2-1, assistant sports information director/part-time comic/spin doctor Mike Ashley dubbed Southern Cal's victory a "come-from-behind win."
\ ANNE OF TWO SPORTS: Anne Fontaine, whose stellar volleyball career ended with the NCAA appearance, should be suited up with the basketball team for Thursday's game against Charleston Southern.
This will be Fontaine's second season with the women's basketball team. The former Timesland Athlete of the Year from Wytheville lettered in both volleyball and basketball last year. She was on the bench for the basketball season opener against Appalachian State, although she was not in uniform.
\ HER MAN, HERMANN: Big South player of the year Sue Williams is one of 12 finalists for the 1993 Hermann Trophy, which goes to the country's top male and female soccer players.
Williams set Radford's single-season records with 18 goals, 19 assists and 55 points during the Highlanders' 15-3-2 campaign. A native of Medford, N.J., led the Big South and was second in the nation in scoring at the end of the regular season. She holds Radford's career records for goals (57), assists (32) and points (146).
\ FIRST MEET, THIRD PLACE: The men's gymnastics team opened the season by placing third in the four-team Metro Judges Association Open at James Madison last weekend. Radford's best individual performances came from junior Ari Goldstein, who won the parallel bars with an 8.55 score, and senior Jerrell Steele, who was second in the all-around competition with 51.05 points.
James Madison won the meet, followed by Pitt, Radford and William and Mary.
\ HIGHLANDER HIGHLIGHTS: When the women's basketball team beat Appalachian State 85-83 on Nov. 27, it was the first time the Highlanders had won a season-opener since 1988. Tough nonconference opponents normally dot Radford's early-season schedules, a tradition that continues this year. The Highlanders, who have lost at perennial power Old Dominion, will play in a tournament in Orlando later this month that will include North Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Florida State, Richmond, East Carolina and Central Florida . . .
Despite a disappointing 15-16 record last season, the men's basketball team placed some individuals among the national leaders in several statistical categories. Doug Day, who finished with NCAA Division I career records of 401 3-pointers and 1,068 3-point attempts, was rated fifth in the nation with an average of 3.7 threes per game last year. Don Burgess had the country's ninth-best free throw percentage (87.9) and Brian Schmall was 17th in assists per game (7.0) . .
Anthony Walker's 39-point outburst in Radford's 99-81 win over George Mason on Monday established a new scoring record for a Radford freshman nearly four years after Day set the mark. Day, who was in attendance for Walker's scoring barrage Monday, scored 29 points against Florida International on Dec. 4, 1989. Walker, a freshman from Columbus, Ohio, also set records for the most points and most field goals (16) ever in a Dedmon Center game.
\ IN RADFORD: Men's basketball, Dec. 18, Western Maryland, 2 p.m. Women's basketball, Dec. 9, Charleston Southern, 7 p.m.; Dec. 20, Coastal Carolina, 7 p.m.
Ralph Berrier Jr. covers sports for the Roanoke Times & World-News' New River Valley bureau.
by CNB