Thursday, September 1, 1988AThe Battalion/Page 9
Sports
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Lady Ags return 6 starters;
depth may lift team in SWC
By Doug Walker
Sports Writer
With the return of all six starters
from a team that gradually im
proved last year, the Texas A&M
volleyball team looks to make a big
jump in the Southwest Conference
standings this year.
Led by senior All-SWC outside
hitter Cheri Steensma the Lady Ag
gies, 15-22 overall (4-6 in the SWC),
should improve on a fourth place
finish as Coach A1 Givens begins to
establish his program after heavy
losses to graduation in the past.
Givens (38-36 at A&M) is entering
his third year at A&M and expects
his team to contend with Texas, win
ner of six straight SWC titles.
"We’re gonna be extremely disap
pointed if we don’t finish in the top
two in the conference this year,”
Givens said.
With a balanced starting lineup
consisting of two seniors, two juniors
and two sophomores the team
should not experience a major drop
in talent for the next few years. This
should enable Givens to establish the
power he has hoped to produce
since coming to A&M from Missis
sippi three years ago.
“I think it’s real important to keep
a degree of balance,” Givens said.
‘‘With two seniors and two juniors
we’re only looking at replacing two
of our personnel in the next two
years. We’re going to be good this
year. But we’re going to be better
next year and even better the year
after that.”
The two seniors lead the retur
nees.
Steensma, who led the league in
kills average (4.05 per game), was
third in hitting percentage (.322)
and fourth in digs (2.92 per game).
The three-letter senior from San Ra
mon, California, is the centerpiece
of a team that struggled last year af
ter losing five starters to graduation.
Vivian Viera, a former junior col
lege All-America, is set to start at
middle blocker after finishing
fourth in the SWC in kills average
(3.33) and among the leaders in digs
average with 2.78 per game.She is
optmistic about the season and feels
the Lady Aggies will improve be
cause of depth and experience.
“We have more depth and we’re
not as young (as last year),” she said.
“I’m just gonna take it one game at a
time and try to reach my potential.”
A pair of second-team All-SWC
performers are the junior starters.
Setter Yvonne Van Brandt led the
SWC in assists average (11.22) and
digs per game with 4.08. However,
she is expected to miss the first four
weeks of the season with a knee in-
jury.
Kelli Kellen, middle blocker (MB),
is the other junior performer. Kellen
was fourth in the SWC in hitting
percentage with a .280 percentage
and fifth in blocks with 2.94 per
game.
Sophomores Krista Hierholzer
(setter) and Amy Cumings (MB)
should battle for the remaining
starting positions with redshirt
freshman Lara Rupf (OA).Rupf is a
former top 50 recruit from Amarillo
who has made a full recovery from a
knee injury suffered in her senior
year in high school.
Sophomore Melanie Rother
should provide help in a reserve role
at outside attacker.
Newcomers include junior trans
fer Lynn Ponder from Texas Tech
(OA) and freshmen Sheri Hermes-
meyer, an outside attacker who
Givens is particularly excited about.
“Sheri is a gifted athlete who was
named as an ESPN scholar athlete
and was one of 36 selected to the
Olympic elite team last year before
she sprained an ankle,” Givens said.
“She was selected to the top 12 of
that team. She’s an explosive player
and has a 31-inch vertical jump.”
Outside attackers Raychelle Mich-
alke and Alysia Gonzales join middle
blocker Cindy Kleinhenz to round
out the roster.
In an effort to generate interest in
the sport at A&M, Givens has de
vised a tough schedule for the squad
in which the Lady Aggies will face 16
See Volleyball, page 10
V-ball looks ‘sweet’
to enthusiastic Viera
By Jerry Bolz
Sports Writer
Vivian Viera is looking for
ward to a “sweet” season for the
1988 Lady Aggies volleyball
team, she said Wednesday, using
her favorite word.
Viera is in her second year at
A&M after two seasons at Miami-
Dade Community College, South.
Even after winning a national
championship two years ago at
Miami-Dade, and having a losing
season here last year, there is no
lack of enthusiasm on Viera’s
part.
“We have so much depth this
year it’s incredible,” she said. “1
don’t think there is any weakness
that would hold us back.”
She said the freshmen this year
have a lot of talent and shouldn’t
be a weekness.
Viera had 15 offers to play
when leaving Miami-Dade which
she narrowed to three choices be
fore choosing A&M. She was
drawn to A&M by the efforts of
third-year Coach A1 Givens.
She said Givens impressed her
with a visit to her home in Flor
ida.
“I knew I could talk to him if I
Vivian Viera
had a problem,” she said. “He
wouldn’t be just a coach. He had a
very good heart.”
There have been no regrets for
See Viera, page 10
So how do you pick an MVP?
Controversially, that’s how
It’s an annual argument.
As the baseball pennant races
heat up, one of the most
popular topics of conversation
among baseball fans involves
the selection of the Most
Valuable Player (MVP) awards
in the American and National
Leagues.
The argument usually
centers around what the
? [ualifications are (or should be)
or a player to win the award.
So what determines a most
valuable player? Batting WalkGT
average? Runs batted in?
Leadership?
If there were a perfect way to determine the MVP,
there would be no need for a vote. Certainly, a player’s
contributions are made up of his entire game.
To win the MVP award, a player must usually play
for a league championship team and lead the league in
RBI. Sixty-eight of the first 100 MVPs selected by the
Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA)
played for the team that won the pennant. Of the last
42 recipients, 20 led their league in RBI.
Few pitchers, and no designated flitters, have won
the award. The writers usually vote for everyday-
position players.
A good illustration of the controversy is the story of
two the games greatest players: l ed Williams of the
Boston Red Sox and Joe DiMaggio of the New York
Yankees.
Williams and DiMaggio were the best American
League players of the 1940s. Their careers overlapped
from 1939 to 1951. Of the 10 seasons they were in the
league together (neither played from 1943-45 because
of military service) DiMaggio won three MVPs and
Williams won two.
DiMaggio’s contribution to many Yankee pennants
helped him win the award.
Williams won in 1946, when Boston won the
pennant, and in 1949. The latter year Boston lost the
pennant to the Yankees on the final day of the season.
However, Williams had three great offensive seasons
in which he didn’t win the award: 1941, 1942 and 1947.
In both 1942 and 1947, he won the rare Triple Crown
by leading the league in three statistical categories:
home runs, RBI and batting average. In both of these
years he was second in the balloting.
The most controversial MVP vote was in 1947 when
DiMaggio beat Williams by a single point in the closest
non-tie ballot ever.
In 1941, both men had probably the best year of
their respective careers and it made for another tough
choice for MVP.
Williams’ offensive statistics were superior to
DiMaggio’s. He batted .406 for the year. No one has
batted.400 or over since.
DiMaggio hit in an incredible streak of 56 games, a
feat believed to be one of the most unconquerable in all
of sports.
To predict this year’s MVPs one only needs to look at
the top of the division standings and find that team’s
top offensive player. Chances are that person will be a
leading candidate.
Following the record of the past, I think the winners
in each league will be Oakland’s Jose Canseco in the
American League and Darryl Strawberry of the New
York Mets.
My vote, if I had one, would go to the Detroit Tigers’
See Column, page 10
? , W
Donna Sayers/Sharon Storey
Welcome Back Ag’s!
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style shop
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formerly Ramada
call 846-1843 for appt.
walk-in’s always welcome
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ore
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