Sept. 11, 2004
Box Score
EASTON, Pa. (www.lafayette.edu) - Lafayette won the de facto title match of its own tournament on Saturday at the Kirby Sports Center, defeating Fairleigh Dickinson, 3-1, in the weekend's final match.
Lafayette (6-3) won its first two matches 3-0, while FDU (2-4) went five games to pull out victories in its first two contests. The Leopards won the first two games against the Knights, 30-20 and 30-23, before dropping their first set of the weekend, 30-25 in the third. Lafayette rebounded to claim the fourth game, 30-26, and push its season record to a nearly unprecedented 6-3.
The early success of this team hasn't been seen on College Hill since 1982, when the Leopards opened up with an 8-1 record. Lafayette won one match each year from 1999 through 2001, the season before head coach Terri Dadio Campbell arrived at Lafayette, now the squad has claimed three victories in less than 24 hours.
"We have already matched our six wins from last season," Campbell said. "We're really optimistic and excited with the progress that we've already made, and we're looking forward to getting into our Patriot League schedule. We're going to work to make sure that our success and our confidence continues throughout the season."
The first game against FDU was similar to those against Howard and Sacred Heart - early Leopard domination as they pounded out 18 kills and just two errors. With the score 10-7 FDU, Heidi Olichwier and Veronica Canto-Ponce put together seven-point runs on their serve to open up a 21-11 lead.
Canto-Ponce, who collected a team high 20 kills, had seven of them in the second game. A scoring run of nine straight points on the serve of freshman libero Karla Barbiche turned an 18-14 deficit into a 23-18 advantage.
FDU claimed the third game, 30-25, after putting together their best attacking performance of the night.
However, Canto-Ponce and the Leopards proved to be the stronger team in the fourth game, as she drilled nine kills, including a huge shot to make the score 26-25 and give Lafayette momentum to close the match.
Senior Heidi Olichwier continued her strong play with 46 assists and 13 digs, while Canto-Ponce had five aces and 10 digs. Freshman Michaela Donohue turned in a double-double of 11 kills and 20 digs.
Lafayette won its first match of the day, 3-0 against Howard, as Donohue led the Leopards' season-best attack with 13 kills.
Fairleigh Dickinson defeated Sacred Heart, 3-2, in the day's second match as four Knights were in double-figures in kills. Sacred Heart was paced by 21 kills from Heather Brooks, 16 kills from Brenda Bailey, and 56 assists by Michelle Clark.
Howard got a four-game against Sacred Heart two hours later. All six players for Howard posted double-figures in digs, while Shannon Grant had 46 assists.
Lafayette will host the Leopard Tri-Match on Saturday, Sept. 18, with the squad opening up against Hofstra at 11 a.m. The Leopards will travel to Wagner on Staten Island on Thursday, Sept. 16 for a 7 p.m. match.
