February 25, 2008

MEN'S VOLLEYBALL: Metheny impressing for Rutgers-Newark

Freshman outside hitter Grant Metheny (LAHS '07) had nine kills, hit .571 with nine kills and added five digs and two assisted blocks but Rutgers-Newark fell to Princeton 3-0 (30-19, 30-28, 30-28) on Feb. 19.

Metheny, who earned a scholarship to Rutgers-Newark after his performance at last summer's national Junior Olympic tournament, also had some good highlight video footage in Rutgers 3-0 win over East Stroudsburg on Feb. 16

• Metheny, Rutgers video footage

Paul Lotman continued to make believers as he turned in strong back-to-back performances for Long Beach State in wins over Ohio State this past weekend. Lotman dominated the weekend's matches, scoring 57.5 total points. His command Friday gave him a career-high 32 kills. He also had eight blocks and 10 digs for the weekend.
Lotman had a season-high 28 kills helping lift third-ranked Long Beach State to a 30-24, 31-33, 30-22, 39-37 win at USC the week before.

• Long Beach State volleyball
• Long Beach 3 USC 1 recap

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL: Rowe earns AA Honorable Mention at MIT; Moss, Urango, Vargas invited to US national team tryouts

Looking at the somehow we overlooked this department... former Griffin Katie Rowe (LAHS '06) had a great sophomore season at MIT, earning Honorable Mention All-American honors, as well as all-New England Conference and being named MVP at two tournaments, and making the all-tourney team at three during the season. En route to this Katie led her team in points, and kills, and set a school single season record in blocks. She also finished 20th in the nation in hitting percentage, and was her Conference Player iof the Week for September 16, 2007.

Former Griffins Rachael Moss (LAHS '06) and Geena Urango ('07) are among the invitees to the The U.S. Women’s National Volleyball Team Open Tryouts which were held last week at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Another local, Nicole Vargas (Seal Beach, St. Joseph '05) was also invited to the party.

113 athletes participated in the training sessions -- hoping to earn a spot on the U.S. Women’s National and Olympic Teams, along with the Senior A2 Team. The USA A2 Team, which will tentatively be two teams of 10 members each, will train and compete in the USA Open Championships in Atlanta between May 18-28.The tryouts continue through Sunday.

• USA Volleyball press release

Feb 13, 2008

Lotman's volleyball career at LBSU a long road to success

LB Daily 49er — Senior outside hitter Paul Lotman can't envision life without volleyball, even though his initial intentions for playing were to help him develop as a high school basketball player.

As a freshman at Los Alamitos High School, Lotman decided to play volleyball to enhance his jumping ability - he immediately fell in love with the sport.

complete article

Grgas, Hawaii ready to face UCLA

Feb 1, 2008

Ex-Griffin Grgas post good numbers but Hawaii falls to UCSB

Steven Grgas led Hawai'i at the net with 11 blocks, but UCSB outlasted Hawaii in five game in a Mountain Pacific Mens volleyball match.

Box score

Jan. 23, 2008

Grgas getting shot at starting middle for Hawaii

Honolulu Star-Advertiser — The Hawai'i volleyball team hopes a new lineup and new schemes will mark a new beginning when it hosts UC San Diego tonight in the Stan Sheriff Center.

The Warriors, 1-4 and 0-2 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, will open with Sean Carney and Joshua Walker at outside hitter, and Steven Grgas in the middle. (full article)