Rosa Excels at 2009 World Grand Prix
Deep beneath the shadows of FIU Stadium where the Golden Panthers held their first football practice of the 2009 season, down the street, in U.S. Century Bank Arena, one of the top teams in the nation last year-the FIU Volleyball team-began preparations for its season, which begins August 28 at the University of Kentucky Classic.
Despite all its success in 2008, head coach Danijela Tomic looks at the 2009 season and the sites the challenges ahead.
"We still have something to prove to ourselves," she said.. "But we are beginning to build a name for ourselves and no one is going to take us lightly. I doesn't matter what happened last year. This is a new beginning."
The program took a number of positive strives last year under Tomic. The Golden Panthers set a new school record for the most wins in a single season (28), recorded a program-best 12 match win streak, entered the Sun Belt Conference Tournament as the No. 1 seed and made an appearance in the NCAA Tournament for only the second time in school history. They finished with an NCAA RPI of #27.
But FIU's quick exit from the NCAA Tournament after losing in the first round to No. 22-ranked Colorado State, left a bittersweet taste, one that wasn't entirely wiped away with a grueling spring practice season.
"We worked hard in the spring with an eye toward improving this fall," said Tomic. "This year, we're just not looking to get to the NCAA Tournament, we want to go farther. But it all boils down to maturity and you can't teach that. Last year's experiences will hopefully go a long way towards helping us not just get into this season's NCAA Tournament, but to go further."
The nucleus of the 2009 squad will center around senior All-American Yarimar Rosa, who was voted the Sun Belt's Player of the Year and its overall Female Student-Athlete of the Year. Rosa not only broke the school record for most kills in a season, but she also led the nation in that category (5.21 kills/set). She earned earned her third-consecutive AVCA All-America mantle, became FIU's first-ever CVU.com first-team Stellar Spike honoree and earned a spot on the Puerto Rican National Team that went on to qualify for the 2010 FIVB Women's World Championships.
"Yari is the heart, soul and leader of this team," said Tomic. "She has done so much for this program, and this year, with more talent around her, we're expecting her to have an even-better senior season."
Indeed, Tomic's squad features eight returning letterwinners from 2008, five talented freshmen and one returning senior Olga Vergun, who sat out last year, after being named a first-team all-conference performer in 2007. Overall, the team returns better-than 90-percent of last year's total kills, 96-percent of its assists, 87.4-percent of the team blocks and 81-percent of aces made in 2008.
With numbers like those, look for the Golden Panther volleyball team to step from out of the shadows...and quickly.
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FIU's Yarimar Rosa ranks among the top-50 scorers at the 2009 World Grand Prix with 38 spikes and four blocks. |
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One noticable absense at Monday morning first practice was Rosa, who is competing with the Puerto Rican National Team competing in the 2009 World Grand Prix, last weekend in Osaka, Japan. She is the first FIU volleyball player ever to be selected to play for her country's senior national team.
Last Saturday, Puerto Rico pulled off a stunning upset by beating world champions Russia 3-1 on their sixth match point at Osaka Municipal Central Gym.
Puerto Rico came into the match with an 0-4 record but outlasted Russia 25-17, 25-22, 22-25, 28-26 to record its first victory ever at the elite international women's tournament.
The Puerto Rican team moves onto Round 3 matches in Bangkok, Thailand from August 14-16 along with Team USA, Russia and Thailand. The six-team Final Round is scheduled for August 19-23 in Tokyo, Japan.
With 38 spikes and four blocks through the weekend, Rosa ranks among the top 50 scorers in 12 team competition.
