THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 26, 1997 TAG: 9701260223
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PATTI WALSH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 64 lines
Sun, sand and surf. What more could a 22-year-old guy from Virginia Beach want in the dead of winter?
Mike Duckworth, a 6-foot-6 graduate of Kempsville High School, could have been having fun in the Hawaiian sun this year, but decided to stay in what he calls the ``Fairfax depression zone'' at George Mason University, where he's one of the few male volleyball players in the country with a full scholarship.
Duckworth, a red-shirt junior at George Mason, looked into transferring to Hawaii last year after ranking among the NCAA leaders in kills. He caught the eye of the Hawaii staff while playing for an AAU team in the USA Open National tournament last summer.
``Sometimes I wonder if I would have been happier at Hawaii,'' Duckworth said.
``If you want gray and gloomy skies, move to Fairfax. At Hawaii, the coach told me I would have only been about a mile from Waikiki Beach.''
Although the Patriots were blasted by No. 5 Penn State last week and Duckworth admits to being frustrated by a new offensive game his team is trying to learn, he said he is confident he made the right decision.
That's because he's playing for Avaldo Acosta, an alternate on the 1988 Olympic team who was voted the world's best defensive player in 1991. Acosta is in his first year as George Mason's head coach.
``I thought, `Hey, why do I need to transfer when I can become the best volleyball player I can learning from this guy,' '' Duckworth said.
NORFOLK STATE NEWS: Dieon Woods, a 6-1 freshman from Lansing, Mich., recently broke into the men's basketball starting lineup. Woods, who's started the last five games, is averaging 13.5 points per game while making 35 percent of 3-point shots. That's quite an improvement from his reserve days when he averaged just 10 minutes in 10 games with .8 points. . . . Marcus Johnson, the Spartans' lone senior wrestler, is 6-0 in dual matches, placed second in the Pembroke State Classic and was the 190-pound champ in the Old Dominion Invitational.
ODU TIDBITS: The ODU men's and women's swimming and diving teams dropped a pair of meets to the University of North Carolina this week, but had several individual winners.
Freshman Jimmy Sullivan won the 1,000-meter freestyle, junior John Wenham captured the 200 individual medley title and junior Matt Craven was first in the 100 meter freestyle. On the women's side, Kari Kleinburd won the 1000 meter freestyle, sophomore Jamye Stickney topped the 50 meter freestylers and sophomore paced the pack in the 500 meter freestyle.
WESLEYAN REPORT: Virginia Wesleyan Sophomore Jason Nickerson (Kempsville) is leading the Old Dominion Athletic Conference in basketball field goal percentage (63%), is second in rebounding with 7.1 boards a game and ranks sixth in scoring (15 ppg). . . . Reserve Tim Petrillo is tops in the league from behind the 3-point arc, shooting 48 percent. He's also led Wesleyan in scoring four times coming off the bench and had a career high 26 points against Salisbury State last week. . . . Sophomore LeeAnna Lillefloren, a Green Run graduate, is second in conference scoring with 19.7 and she's third best in field goal percentage (54%). . . . Senior Amy Shindle leads the ODAC in assists (5.9) and steals (4) per game. ILLUSTRATION: Photos by MIKE HEFFNER, The Virginian-Pilot
Old Dominion sophomore pitcher Mathan Travis speaks to Caitlin
Keroack and Jay Hobbs while Tyler West, Zane Taylor and Sonny Turner
examine a glove. Travis worked at the ODU Baseball Clinic Saturday,
in which the featured speaker was Arizona Diamondbacks manager Buck
Showalter, right.