San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec

San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec




San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec

Youth, lack of veterans lead to re-building year

Matt FitzGerald, Staff Photographer

Not every season can be glorious for every team. Sometimes you just have to keep your expectations in check and concentrate on re-building for next year.

This was the theme for the 2004 San Diego State women’s volleyball team. SDSU finished the disappointing campaign with a record of 4-25. The Aztecs were swept in 21 of their 29 matches, including their final three.

“The best thing when you go through times like that is you go through things with your teammates that nobody understands,” junior middle blocker Ashley Bowker said. “We kept light of things and kept having fun. We have a core group coming back, we’re going to keep that team unity as the foundation for next year.”

The Aztecs had dropped their first 13 matches before finally defeating Wyoming to earn the first victory of the year.

“For a program that has a long history of success, finishing with this record is hard to take,” head coach Mark Warner said. “But the positive attitude from the players still made it rewarding. They practiced hard and they’re still practicing hard. I have to give them credit _ they hung in there.

Despite his team’s rough finish, Warner still felt the hard work and dedication it put in could have merited more wins. On the flip side, he also acknowledges the tough times any team would go through if the majority of theIR roster consisted of underclassmen.

“I felt we could have had double – if not more – wins than we did, but we knew it was going to be a struggle,” Warner said. “A new team with a freshman setter is going to be difficult, but still I never envisioned this record.”

Said sophomore outside hitter Melissa Stapley: “We were disappointed with this season, but you have to look at it as motivation to work harder for next year. We’ve gotten better in some areas, but we’ve really been an up and down team.”

Stapley finished the season averaging 3.13 kills per game and 1.66 digs per game.

The four Aztec victories this season came against Wyoming, New Mexico and twice against Air Force.

However, the match in which Warner and Bowker felt SDSU played its best was against Utah.

Although the Aztecs got swept on the Oct. 9 matchup, they stuck with the then-No. 20 Utes.

“We played well together and we almost shocked ourselves with how well we played,” Bowker said. “We stuck with the teams that we were supposed to get killed by.”

Said Warner: “That was the best we had played at Utah in the past couple years.”

With an already young and inexperienced team going into this year, losing senior team captain and outside hitter Kara Moriarty to a knee injury for part of the season only made things tougher. The outside hitter finished the year averaging 3.33 kpg and 2.13 dpg.

“This season was tough on (Moriarty) with getting injured early, but she still did a good job of being a leader,” Warner said. “The best thing (Moriarty) did was serve as a really good role model. She is a good person, a good student and a good player, and I think the other girls will follow that.”

Warner said he thinks the role of leadership on the squad will be taken over by Stapley and Bowker.

“Filling in for Kara is going to be hard, but we have more of a team effort leading now,” Bowker said. “Kara was the only girl on the team with any real experience at the start of this season. She was a quiet leader who said the right thing at the right time.” Bowker ended her season with a hitting percentage of .237 and finished with 110 blocks, averaging 1.26 per game.

With the expectations for this year already achieved as a re-building season, perhaps the loss of Moriarty for part of the season will help this young team in the near future.

“Not having (Moriarty) in the beginning of the season made a big difference,” Stapley said. “We all had to step up and we’ve become more familiar with each other for next year.”

With almost the entire team returning in 2005, inexperience should be non-existent, as a major benefit gained from this season was experience.

“We’re going to work hard, we’re doing a lot of conditioning in the Spring,” Stapley said. “We’re going to focus on getting better and just go all out.”

Another strong positive aspect from this year was the performance of freshman defensive specialist Aime Cordeiro. Cordeiro averaged 3.46 dpg, and will undoubtedly be a key member to next season’s squad.

Warner said his goals for next season include dramatically improving the overall record and to keep building for the future.

“The girls know they have to be smarter and more consistent,” Warner said. “But they’re very knowledgeable and realistic with what they have to do. They are very committed and determined. I like this team a lot – we just have to not let what happened this season happen again.”

Activate Search
San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913
Youth, lack of veterans lead to re-building year