Issue date: 2/22/10 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Chevon Earl

Media Credit: Chevon Earl

Media Credit: Chevon Earl

The PUC women's volleyball team got its first taste of actual competition in a scrimmage Thursday night when they hosted a team from the Hammond Women's Volleyball League at the FRC.

Head Coach Natalie Shadowen, a PUC alumnus, said her team was anxious to get some new opponents since they have only been playing against one another in practice.

"They are going to give us some competition," Shadowen said. "We hope that the ladies who come tonight might create a schedule and play with us once a week or so through the end of the semester."

Assistant Coach Erin Zeller said they still have work to do, but the team is coming together well and the girls are putting in a lot of hard work.

The two teams agreed to make it a best-of-five scrimmage and people in the FRC that evening migrated to the center court to watch the team in action.

The Peregrines lost the first match 25-14 but came back to win the second 25-21. That was the only match the Peregrines would win that evening but both Shadowen and Zeller saw a lot of positive come out of the scrimmage.

"We played well. Their level of intensity tonight is more than you're going to get out of them at practice," Shadowen said. "We have a lot to work on but seeing the team in action put a smile on my face."

Shadowen said recruiting for the team started last October when she was trying to find women on campus who were interested and she even came to some intramurals to find some of the girls she now has on the team. The recruiting process has been going on ever since.

"Just the other week we had a girl who walked into our open gym and asked me if this was the women's volleyball team," Shadowen said. "I told her 'yeah we're working on it,' she said she was interested so I told her to jump in and play and now she played with the team tonight."

Shadowen said the current team has about 12 women who she can guarantee a spot on the roster through the fall, but they ultimately hope to have at least double that.

"We're definitely looking for girls who are a 2.5 GPA or higher. We want people who are going to be serious about their education," Shadowen said.

Shadowen said any women interested in trying out for the team can contact her or the athletic office, or just come to any of the team's open gyms. She also wanted to thank everyone who helped make this happen.

"The Chancellor and Vice Chancellor made this happen," Shadowen said. "None of this could have happened if the administration hadn't put together a taskforce three years ago to bring more sports here."

"We truly want to thank the group of women who volunteered to help better our growing program," Shadowen said.

Jennie Garcia-Pruitt of the Hammond Women's Volleyball League said women in her league were happy to help when Shadowen asked her if they had any women willing to come out and play.

"It gives them a boost that they can still compete with college level players," Pruitt said.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools