Section B·Page 4
The University Daily Kansan
Monday, August 16, 1999
Knee injury sidelines new setter
Kansas middle blocker Amanda Reves goes vertical during practice. Reves, a senior, was one of the team's leaders last year. Photo by Eve Katz/KANSAN
Team members rely on seniors for leadership
By Shawn Hutchinson sportswriter @kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Misfortune caught up with the Kansas volleyball program Aug. 10, and someone ended up paying the price.
That someone was Amy Billings, the Jayhaws' highly touted freshman recruit, who suffered an injury to her kneecap during the second day of practice. After she underwent surgery two days later, the status of the 5-foot-10-inch setter was still in question.
That forces the Jayhawks, who are coming off a 15-27 season, into a binding situation. The team has only two setters on its roster, and with Billings out of action for an undetermined amount of time, pressure now falls on sophomore Molly LaMere to carry the load.
Second-year coach Ray Bechard said Billings' injury was tough to deal with.
"It itches you hard, and then you have to move on," he said. "It impacts the team from the standpoint that we only have two players in that position. But Amy's bound and determined to come back and contribute sometime this year."
Until then, the Jayhawks will have to make do with what they have — the new $3.8 million Horejsi Family Athletics Center in which to play, and 10 players returning from last year's squad, including five seniors. The Jayhawks also welcome six newcomers, who Bechard said can all contribute to the team in one way or another.
Among those returning is All-Big 12 Conference performer Amanda Reves. The senior middle blocker led the team last season in kills and blocks, en route to breaking Kansas' career block assist record as a junior. She enters the season ranked first all time with a 276 career attack percentage and fourth all time with 62 career block solos.
"As far as the team goes, we need to start getting things done right now." Reves said. "It's not an 'as if' year or a
'what if year or an 'almost'
year anymore. This is the
year to do it."
That urgency is sure to spill over to other Jayhawks. Senior middle blocker Anne Kreimer is recovering from off-season surgery on the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee, which she tore during drills last spring. The senior knows that getting back to 100 percent is vital if she hopes to contribute to the team this season.
"Right now I'm at like 75 percent," Kreimer said. "I need to get to about 80 percent, and hopefully I can get there in the next couple of weeks."
Kreimer posted 101 blocks and 29 aces last season, and ranks eighth on the career attack percentage list and 10th in career block assists.
Returning with Reves and Kreimer are seniors Mary Beth Albrecht, Tori Holtmeier and Kristi Kiyabu, which the team hopes is an equation that will add up to something special.
"The most important thing they provide is a great experience of work ethic and decision-making," Bechard said of his seniors. "They provide leadership, and that's what sets them apart from the rest of the group."
Last season the Jayhawks won 15 matches, their best win total since 1993. Despite tearing through the non-conference season, winning games at an 83 percent clip while compiling a record of 10-2, the Jayhawks fell flat in Big 12 play. A 5-15 record helped the Jayhawks freefall into a tie for eighth place in the conference.
If the first days of practice are any indication, the team is well on its way to curing its conference woes.
"I think our enthusiasm has surprised me a lot this year," Reves said. "There are a lot of people from different areas and a lot of new people on the team this year, but we've been really encouraging each other and working hard together."
Beachard said his team's main focus this season would be to duplicate last season's non-conference record, while trying to make an impact in the Big 12 standings as well.
"It's just a matter of us finding a way to win," he said. "That's the difference between the middle tier and the lower tier."
-Edited by Jennifer Roush
The new Horeisi Family Athletics Center will be the home for the Jayhawks volleyball team and will be a place for men's and women's basketball teams to practice. The building cost $3.8 million to build and is named after a private donor. Photo by Chad Cummings/KANSAN
New volleyball center ready for upcoming tournaments
By Shawn Hutchinson
sportswriter@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The most noticeable aspect of the new Horejsi Family Athletics Center is that it's not Allen Fieldhouse.
Count the Jayhawks volleyball team as the first to come to this realization. The team, after having called 16,500 seat fieldhouse home since 1975, now will play in the new $3.8 million Horeisi Center, which seats 1,300. Quite a change, indeed.
"It's heaven," senior middle backer Amanda Reves said. "It's incomparable. We're pretty blessed to have our own place."
Heaven was completed shortly after the finish of the 1998 volleyball season. The 16,500-square-foot arena, named after a private donor, is located between the Wagnon Student Athlete Center and Hoglund Ballpark. The Horejsi (pronounced HOR-ish) Center contains volleyball locker rooms, concession stands and a ticket booth, and also will serve as a place to practice for the Jayhawk men's and women's basketball teams.
The Jayhawks hope their new building will do its job in winning over the
fans.
"We know the hard-core fans who have followed us over the years will return," second-year coach Ray Bechard said. "But our goal is to have more students involved and make it an event.
"We know part of it is putting a good product on the floor, so we hope to hold up our end of the bargain."
If the fans do come, the Jayhawks will now have a decisive home-court advantage over their opponents, which was never possible in the fieldhouse.
"Playing in Allen was fun, but the crowd was kind of drowned out because the place was so big," senior middle backer Anne Kreimer said. "It is a lot more acoustical," she said of the Horeisi Center.
The Jayhawks will soon get the chance to hear those acoustics. The season opener will be Sept. 1 against Missouri-Kansas City, and the official dedication ceremony will be Sept. 11 prior to the Kansas-Auburn match in the Jayhawk Classic Tournament.
The Jayhawks will play one match this season in the fieldhouse Oct. 15 prior to the annual Late Night with Roy Williams basketball season kickoff.
—Edited by Ronnie Wachter
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