November 12, 1998
November 12, 1998
Sherman Walters
Staff Writer
| The Appalachian volleyball team faces a must-win
game tonight at East Tennessee State. The Mountaineers have lost
seven out of their last nine conference games and are currently nursing
a six-game losing streak.
The Mountaineers started conference play this year with a five-game winning streak, winning each of those five games in Broome-Kirk Gym. ASU Head Coach Dave Markland said, “We have had to face an unusual and tough schedule this year.” The Mountaineers played seven of their first eight games at home, then went for almost an entire month without a home game. “Both the players and the coaching staff are exhausted from our lengthy road schedule,” said Markland. Coming out of September, the team was first place in the conference. Now, after a month on the road, they have dropped to fifth. After their long stretch of road games, they returned home on Friday night to face Tennessee-Chattanooga, the first-place team in the conference. “Chattanooga has got the best combination of talent and experience of all the teams in the conference,” Markland said. Chattanooga defeated the Apps, showing why they are at the top of the conference standings right now. On Monday, the Mountaineers got another chance at redemption when they faced Western Carolina, who is tied with Davidson at second in the conference. Western made the game a quick and painless
experience for the Mountaineers, taking them in three straight sets.
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With the loss, the Mountaineers are fifth
in the conference for the regular season, only one game behind Furman.
However, if the tournament were to start today, with ASU and Furman tied,
Furman would get the higher seed due to their win over Appalachian earlier
this season.
Furman came out of September dead last in the conference, as opposed to Appalachian’s first place start. The Paladins have gradually worked their way up the rankings after starting their season almost completely on the road. “Furman got the other end of this schedule,” said Markland. “We got the worst of it at the end of our season, and they got theirs at the beginning of the season.” The Mountaineers are finding themselves examining every part of their game, trying to identify their weaknesses and looking for the solution. They are capable of competing with any team in the conference, and tonight is the last opportunity to find those ingredients that have been missing for the past six games. The Mountaineers travel to Johnson City to
face an East Tennessee State team that is on the verge of making it into
the Southern Conference tournament next weekend. “Everything is in their
favor,” said Markland. “We have the better team, but it’s senior
night for them, and they just beat Radford, one of the Big South’s best
teams.”
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