Sports Information Department – 112 Dods Hall
Phone (716) 673-3100 / Fax (716) 673-3136

CONTACT: Jerry Reilly,
Sports Information Director

DATE: Thurs., Oct. 4, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Weekend Preview

Volleyball tourney, men's soccer on campus

FREDONIA, N.Y. -- A five-team volleyball tournament and two men’s soccer matches are on the books during another busy weekend on the Fredonia State campus.

The Fredonia State Volleyball Invitational in Dods Hall will feature the Blue Devils and teams from Oneonta, University of Rochester, Penn State Behrend, and College of Mount St. Joseph’s.

Matches are 4 p.m., 6 p.m., and 8 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m., noon, and 2 p.m. Saturday.

The host Blue Devils (14-10) will be looking to continue their recent good play. They were riding a seven-match winning streak before a loss to Skidmore in the Oneonta State Tournament last Saturday.

A complete tournament schedule is available on the Fredonia State athletics home page.

Meanwhile, the Fredonia State men’s soccer team will entertain two SUNYAC opponents at University Stadium. The Blue Devils (6-5-0, 4-1-0 SUNYAC) will face Oswego at 4 p.m. Friday, and Cortland under the lights at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Winners of five of their last six matches, the Blue Devils enter the weekend in a three-way tie for second place in SUNYAC. Cortland is part of the tie, while Oswego is tied for fifth place.

“Oswego and Cortland also present a different set of challenges with their size,” head coach P.J. Gondek said. “We must compete in the air for every ball. In the big picture, if we could get to 6-1 we put ourselves in a great spot to get a No. 1 or No. 2 seed with four games to play.”

As part of homecoming weekend festivities, the team will host an alumni game at 3 p.m. at University Stadium. Also, there will be a half-time presentation of the 2005 Elite Eight banner with members of the team present.

Saturday is also the final home game for six seniors: Scott Bergen (Schenectady/Mohonasen), Rob Esposito (Dover Plains/Dover), Trevor Ianni (Rochester/Gates Chili), Jeff Morsch (Fairport), Andy Sharman (Kenmore/St. Joseph's), and Lee Wilson (Fairport). They will also be honored during halftime.

In road action this weekend:

WOMEN’S SOCCER – The Blue Devils erupted for seven goals in each of two SUNYAC home wins last weekend. They will need to keep finding the net this weekend against two teams they are chasing in the SUNYAC standings. Entering play in seventh place, Coach Chris Case’s team faces Oswego at 4 p.m. Friday and Cortland at 1 p.m. Saturday. Those teams are in second and third place, respectively, entering the weekend.

“We have been playing good soccer lately,” Case said, “and getting goals which was our downfall early in the season. These two games will play a huge part in the playoff picture.” The top six teams qualify for the conference tournament. The Blue Devils are riding a four-game winning streak.

CROSS COUNTRY – The Blue Devils will compete Saturday at the Nazareth Invitational. The men will run six kilometers starting at 1 p.m. The women’s four-kilometer race is a 1:45 p.m. start. It is also the final tune-up before the SUNYAC Championship meet Oct. 20 at Potsdam.

Led by then-freshman Jessica Bennett (Rochester/West Irondequoit), the Blue Devil women won the meet in 2006. Bennett was the first overall finisher last year. She and her teammates will be hard-pressed to repeat. “Our top three are running very strong,” head coach Nolan Swanson said, “but our freshmen are yet to fill in sufficiently to give us a shot.”

On the men’s side, Swanson believes the Blue Devils should contend for the Nazareth team title. To do so, they will have to beat out host Nazareth, which enters the meet ahead of Fredonia State in the NCAA Atlantic Region and the New York State Collegiate Track Conference rankings. “The competition for the individual win will be tight, too,” Swanson said. “Tom Williams has been looking good and with a solid run could win it. Our men are looking to narrow the time gap between first and fifth on our team.” Williams is a sophomore from Queensbury.

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For more information:

2007 Fredonia State Volleball Invitational webpage

NCAA Atlantic Region cross country rankings

New York State Collegiate Track Conference cross country rankings

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