Volleyball Opens ACC Season At Wake Tuesday

Sept. 20, 1999

Clemson (9-0) opens the ACC season on Tuesday at Wake Forest. The Tigers hold an 11-1 series advantage over the Deacons. The two teams split last year, with Wake Forest taking a 3-1 win in Jervey Gym and Clemson winning 3-2 in Reynolds Gym.

The Tigers will take on Duke in Durham Wednesday night. The Blue Devils lead the series 20-11, but the Tigers have won the last five matches between the two teams. Clemson won 3-2 at home and 3-1 on the road last season.

On Sunday Clemson will face #20 Arkansas in Jervey Gym. The match will be the first meeting between the two schools. Tigers Win Clemson Invitational

The Clemson volleyball team, ranked 15th nationally, won the Clemson Invitational in Jervey Gym last weekend. Clemson senior Alison Coday was named tournament MVP after hitting .535 with 25 kills, two errors and 43 attempts in the tournament.

Clemson defeated Illinois State 3-0 (15-13, 15-3, 15-11) Friday night. Coday led the Tigers with 17 kills, two errors and 31 attempts for a .484 hitting percentage. Freshman setter Jessi Betcher led the team with 49 assists and added three kills off seven attempts, with no errors for a .429 attack percentage.

Sophomore Jodi Steffes and senior Cindy Stern paced the team with 12 digs each. Steffes had 12 kills, and Stern had 11 kills, while senior Emily Gorla added 11 digs and seven kills. Freshman Mallory Benson led the Tigers with three block assists. The Tigers defeated Furman 3-0 (15-0, 15-4, 15-2) Saturday afternoon. Coday led the team, hitting .667 with eight kills, no errors and 12 attempts. She had five service aces and five digs in the match.

Stern was named to the all-tournament team. Against the Paladins, she had 14 kills, two errors and 23 attempts for a .522 attack percentage. She also added six digs and three blocks for the Tigers. Betcher also represented Clemson on the all-tournament team. For the tournament she had 69 assists in five games, for an average of 13.80 assists per game. Against Furman, Betcher led the team with 20 assists and seven digs.

Three Tournament Trophies Clemson has won all three tournaments the team has competed in this season. The Tigers defeated then #16 Texas A&M, preseason #22 Michigan State, Cleveland State and Eastern Kentucky at the Michigan State Volleyball Classic to open the season.

Clemson won the Big Orange Bash by defeating Kentucky and #30 Notre Dame, then beat Illinois State and Furman to win the Clemson Invitational.

By the Numbers So far this season the Tigers are outhitting their opponents .353 to .117. Clemson has 59 service aces in the seven matches, while Tiger opponents have just 22 aces in the span. Clemson has 28 block solos, compared to eight from Tiger opponents, and the Tigers have 63 total team blocks versus 44 total team blocks by opposing teams.

Tigers Riding 27-Game Winning Streak Clemson has won all nine of its matches in three games this season. The 27-game winning streak is the third-longest in Tiger volleyball history.

Longest Streaks of Consecutive Games Won 39 September 5, 1992 to Sept. 25, 1992 30 First 30 games of 1994 season 27 First 21 games of 1999 season (Active) 23 Oct. 23, 1994 to Nov. 18, 1994

Clemson Ranked Among Nation’s Leaders The Clemson volleyball team is ranked 15th nationally according to the latest AVCA Division I Coaches Preseason Poll, moving up from an 18th-place ranking last week. The team received 618 votes in the national poll.

Other ranked teams on Clemson’s schedule include 20th-ranked Arkansas and 27th-ranked North Carolina.

At the Michigan State Volleyball Classic, the Tigers defeated Texas A&M, ranked 16th in the preseason, and Michigan State, ranked 22 in the preseason. In the Big Orange Bash the Tigers defeated 30th-ranked Notre Dame.

Clemson Sweeps ACC Weekly Honors Clemson’s Cindy Stern and Jessi Betcher earned Atlantic Coast Conference Player and Rookie of the Week honors, respectively, for the second consecutive week after leading the Tigers to a 3-0 record and the Big Orange Bash title.

Stern was chosen tournament MVP after hitting .383 with 25 kills, seven errors and 47 attempts over the two matches. Betcher led the Tigers with 81 assists in the tournament, averaging 13.50 assists per game, and eight service aces.

Tigers Preseason ACC Favorites Clemson was selected by the league’s nine head coaches as the preseason favorite for the upcoming 1999 ACC volleyball season. The Tigers collected 77 votes out of a possible 81. The complete poll is as follows:

   1   CLEMSON        6   Wake Forest   2   Virginia       7   Duke   3   Georgia Tech   8   Maryland   4   Florida State  9   NC State   5   N. Carolina

Tigers Seeking Records Several Tigers are among Clemson’s career leaders in many categories. Senior Cindy Stern ranks second in block assists (379), third in kills (1332), fifth in block solos (133) and fifth in attempts (3080).

Senior Alison Coday ranks fourth in kills (1269) and fourth in attempts (3137), while junior Missy Kudelka is in fifth place on the Clemson all-time list with 1543 assists.

Hoover Holds Clemson Coaching Record Head Coach Jolene Jordan Hoover, now in her seventh season as the Tigers’ head coach, became Clemson’s all-time winningest volleyball coach last season. She holds a 152-60 record at Clemson and is 245-91 for her career.

Hoover has a stellar 67-35 record in ACC matches for a .676 winning percentage, best among active league head coaches.

Hoover is being inducted into the Illinois State Hall of Fame this year. Hoover, the 1997 ACC Coach of the Year, was a three-time All-Gateway Conference performer during her playing days at IIllinois State and the league’s player of the year in 1985. The Redbirds won Gateway titles and made NCAA appearances in all four of her seasons.

Over her final three seasons, ISU was 101-30 and was ranked as high as No. 9 nationally. Hoover still ranks among Illinois State’s all-time statistical leaders in nine different categories, including block assists, block solos, total blocks, service aces and assists.

Fabulous Freshmen Clemson’s two freshmen are making quite an impact in their first month on the team. Setter Jessi Betcher of Boulder, CO, is averaging 14.55 assists per game. She has 13 service aces in 22 games, for a 0.56 average per game. Betcher has been named to the all-tournament team of all three tournaments the team has competed in this season.

Middle hitter Mallory Benson of Angola, IN, is leading the team with a .500 attack percentage (41 kills, six errors, 76 attempts). Benson has five block solos and 13 block assists for 18 total blocks, second on the Clemson team.

There’s No Place Like Home The Tigers have a 5-0 record in Jervey Gym this season. So far, 4,010 fans have come out to watch the team at home, an average of 802 fans per match.

Clemson recorded a 12-2 record in Jervey Gym last season and ranked 26th nationally in home attendance. Under head coach Jolene Jordan Hoover, the Tigers are 77-19 (.802) in Jervey Gym.

The Tigers will #20 Arkansas at home on Sunday. Admission is free to all Clemson home volleyball matches.