Dayton Daily News
Thursday, November 20, 2006 

Edison’s rookie volleyball team takes 2^nd in national tournament

With a new coach and eight freshman, the community college team won 28 matches this year.

By: Steve Jacoby, Contributing writer

Piqua- It didn’t take long for Edison Community College to serve up a winner. In its first season back following a two-season hibernation, the Edison women’s volleyball team-a rookie program with a newcomer coacher overseeing eight freshman-capped an improbable run by finishing second at the Nation Junior College Athletic Association Division III tournament in Rochester, Minnesota.

            “It’s more that we hoped for or expected, “ Said Carrie Snider, a former team MVP at the University of Dayton who guided the program to within one match of the national title in this, her maiden season.

            “We certainly surprised not just ourselves but a lot of people at the national tournament,” said Chip Hare, another UD graduate and Edison’s athletic director.

            The Chargers did all that—and so much more—in their first season back from the brink, winning 28 matches, their first regional championship and advancing all the way to the final of the NJCAA, where they fell to champion Ridgewater Community College of Willmar, Minn., in three games.

            Not bad, considering that when she was hired in the spring, Snider’s goals were of the more modest variety. “It’s been awhile since I’ve seen the movie  Bad New Bears, but I thought that might be us in the beginning,” she said. “ I wondered , ‘What am I going to do with all these kids?’ But you know what? Anything’s possible. I really believe that.”

            The Chargers began the season with a flourish, winning five matches in the opening weekend to equal the win total from the team’s final season of 2003. The team sprang to a 9-0 start behind a youthful roster heavy on area talent and light on experience—only Mindy Pearson, a sophomore from Versailles, remained from the dark days of 2003—and rebounded from a midseason slum in which they dropped 4 of 7 matches to coalesce down the stretch.

            In a six-week stretch beginning September 27 and carrying through a dramatic upset against Howard (Md.) Community College, Edison won 13 of 14 matches, six of them three-game sweeps.

            Along the way, Edison defeated Columbus State University for the third time in as many meetings this season, 38-36, 30-28, 25-30, 28-30, 15-10, to capture the Region XII, Division III volleyball championship and pave the way for a showdown at Howard.

            “I kept asking our girls, ‘Are we lucky or are we good?’” Snider said. “In order to be good, you need to be consistent. And if you beat teams two and three times, then you’re good. When we started beating teams ( in conference) the second time around, and then we defeated Columbus State, things started to click and we started to think we might have a shot at nationals.”

            The Chargers made the most of the opportunity, unending Howard – previously unbeaten at home this season – in another five-game marathon, 30-23, 24-30, 30-16, 28-30, 15-12, to qualify for the NJCAA national tourney.

            Once there, Edison advanced out of pool play by triumphing over No. 2 ranked Harper (ill.) College and Suffolk County (N.Y.) Community College, both in three games.

            The chargers then met Brookhaven (Texas), the two-time defending NJCAA champions, in the national semifinals.

            “Getting to the national tournament is a fantasy for any school,” Hare said, “especially one that hadn’t been there before in any sport, much less volleyball. So you’d think that we’d just be happy being there. But that wasn’t Carrie’s mentality. She was there to win it.”

            “You could feel the tension building all week long,” said Snider, whose team stayed in the same hotel as Brookhaven, which was aiming for an unprecedented third-straight national title.

            “They were trying to do something that had never been done before, but in the backs of their minds, I think they knew that the wildcard Edison had a chance (for an upset). Our girls new they had a chance.”

            “It was kind of a David vs. Goliath matchup,” Hare said.

            Edison rallied from a 15-5 deficit in the first game to take down Brookhaven in another three-game sweep, 30-24, 30-20, 30-22, and moved into the national championship match opposite Ridgewater.

            “It was like Duke beating UNLV,” said Hare, a former UD basketball player, calling upon the Blue Devils’ famed 1991 upset of the then-beaten Runnin’ Rebels.

            “Everybody in the gym was happy for us. The girls were physically, mentally and emotionally spent after that,” Snider said. “The girls were crying, parents were crying. And we had one more match left.”

            Edison’s Cinderella season, however, fell one step short of the national title with a 30-21, 30-25, 30-22 loss to Ridgewater.

            As Snider noted, “You can only ask for so much from your players.”

            The defeat, though didn’t dampen the enthusiasm – and progress- of a program that went 5-36 in 2003.

            “What a fairy – tale season this team had, it being our first year back and with eight freshman,” Hare said. “This is great for our program, but it’s also great for our institution and for our community.

            “From the administration’s perspective, the expectations were to put together a team that was competitive,” Hare continued. “We didn’t have any goals for wins or losses. Carrie took it as a challenge to be more than just competitive; she wanted to be a championship-level team. We knew it was a volleyball hotbed here (in the Miami Valley), with strong high school programs and Junior Olympics followings. We knew we had an opportunity, and we felt in a couple of years that we’d be competitive on a national level. We didn’t think it would happen as quickly as it did, but we thought we’d get there eventually. Carrie’s determination and insight and ability to get a group of young people to work toward one goal completely shattered what anyone and everyone thought this team would do this year.”

            Except for Pearson, the program’s lone holdover, the rest of the team – including All-Tournament standouts Jessica Girod (Houston), Roshelle Watercutter and Claire Frantz (both Lehman graduates) – should return intact and hungry to complete the mission they began this season.

            Other prospective returnees include Natasha Selle and Laura Deaton (Piqua), Elizabeth Schulze (Russia), Nicki Spilizweski (Miami East), and Janell Houck (Fairlawn).

            The team’s added exposure form its extended tournament run can only help in the recruiting process, where Edison may stand front and center in the minds of local volleyball talent.

            Noted Hare, “They certainly raised the bar for next season and other seasons to come.”

            “We’re hoping for a repeat performance,” Snider said. “You might see our record be a little bit different, because of the need to play a little more competitive schedule. So on one hand, our record may not be the same, but our experience and competitiveness might be higher. It all boils down to getting back to the national tournament.”