Nicholls State University - La Pirogue Yearbook (Thibodaux, LA)

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Vo lleydal sch? ve: fhfercolleyflvfe .cfafur First year volleyball team has winning seasong finishes in 4th place at Louisiana State Tourney lim Volleyball Taking the set-up from Celeste Tate, Linda Becnel makes a spike for a point. The volleyball team finished with a 20-10 record, by Kevin Fambrough With the highly publicized passage of Title IX by Congress last year, the area of vvomen's sports seemed destined to be enlarged and increased at most colleges. Nicholls was no exception, with the formation ofa women's volleyball team in the fall of 1974. Recognized as a club sport at first, the team and its coach, Marion Russell, newly named vvomen's athletic director, faced the problems of starting any sport from scratch. A limited schedule and financial resources, homemade uniforms and the problems of transportation were not uncommon. A front-line blocker, Rene Hunt tries to stop a spike. Rene was one of seven women who returned from the club team last year Pennington i i l i l l 1 . l

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point after with 12:28 left for a 24-21 lead. The defense stiffened and stopped the Statesmen from coming back to score. An interception with nine seconds left gave the Colonels the ball and the fans a good reason to pour onto the field. After only four years in intercollegiate com- petition, the Colonels had their first champion- ship and the fans had the joy of tearing down the home goalpost to mark the occasion. Statistics at season's end showed Gerald Butler led the team in receiving with 25 catches, one short of the season record, for 450 yards and five touchdowns. Steve Stropolo was the rushing leader with 761 yards on 210 carries and seven touch- downs. Ted Bergeron completed 87 of 180 passes for 1206 yards and nine touchdowns. He also rushed for 105 yards on 114 carries and scored four touchdowns. On defense, lineman Allen Danos and line- backer Busty Bebowe were the leading tack- lers with 86 and 81 respectively. Gary Barbaro was the leading interceptor with six while Fred Ftaiford had four. Stropolo was the scoring leader with 48 points on eight touchdowns, while Magee made 16 of 18 extra points and five of 18 field goals for 31 points. The 1975 season had ended and a ,title had been earned. The outlook for 1976 is the same with the return of quarterback Ted Bergeron, runningbacks Stropolo and Lovell, and the return of 14 out of 22 starters. Fourteen Colonel players started out as freshmen four years ago. After three years of more losses than wins, and many disappoint- ments, they closed their careers as champions. For the returning players next year, the experi- ence will be there for another title. Exhausted, but not the loser, sophomore quarterback Ted Bergeron rests during the River Bell Classic against Southeast- ern La, as the Colonels made their first appearance in the New Orleans Super- dome.

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When announcements were made for tryouts this Septem- ber, several improvements had been undertaken. The club sport had been promoted to the intercollegiate level to represent Nicholls State against other colleges in the state. New uniforms were purchased and another intercollegiate team at Nicholls was preparing for its first year, With the return of seven women from the club team, the women's volleyball squad finished with a 20-10 overall record, the third highest won-loss record in Louisiana. Ms. Russell concentrated the team's effort in tournaments more than match play against individual colleges. Competition in this manner gave the Lady Colonels two first place finishes, one at Northeast La. and another at their own tournament in Thibodaux. The team also took second place at the LSU. tournament in Baton Rouge, finishing with 15 wins and 8 losses in six tournaments. Only seven individual matches were scheduled with Nic- holls winning over Tulane, Southwestern La. and twice over the University of New Orleans, The Lady Colonels lost a best two-out-of-three series to Southeastern La. and finished with a 5-2 match record. Captain Celie Fraiche, the only senior on the squad was named the most valuable player, A New Orleans native majoring in special education and speech therapy, she received a five-year pass to all future athletic events, Recognized as top spikers on the team were Linda Becnel and Patty Bubrig, Patrice Hidalgo and Tina Satterlee were also recognized as top servers on the 12-member team. Next year will see the expected return of ten members of the first year Nicholls team They are Julie Alleman, Linda Becnel, Patty Bubrig, Mary Cavell, Beverly Foret, Patrice Hidalgo, Rene Hunt, Helena l.aRoux, Tina Satterlee and Cel- este Tate, Highly spirited during the season, the first intercolle- giate volleyball team won two firsts and a second place finish in six tournaments volleyball 105