Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 10, 1993 TAG: 9311090101
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-10 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
She may even be coaching in the NCAA tournament.
That's because her last Radford team is one of her best. The Highlanders ended the regular season with a 22-10 record and finished in a three-way tie for first place in the Big South Conference, which is holding its tournament this weekend at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C.
This is the first year the Big South tournament champ gets an automatic berth to the NCAA championships, making this the most important volleyball tournament in which the Highlanders have ever participated.
"Our goal all season has been to win the Big South," said Dobbins. "We're very excited."
A Big South championship and an NCAA berth would be a fitting way for Dobbins to end her distinguished career. Since becoming volleyball coach at her alma mater in 1972, Dobbins has posted a record of 366-218. She has the most wins of any coach in Radford's history.
Her teams in the 1970s were powerhouses at the AIAW and NCAA Division II levels. She stepped down in 1986 then returned in 1989 to make Radford one of the premier teams in the Big South. None of her teams has finished lower than fourth in the Big South and the 1990 team won the tournament title.
Her teams are successful off the court, too. Last year's squad had a team GPA of 3.3, the highest of any team in any sport at Radford.
Unlike the 1990 championship squad, which was an underdog heading into the tournament, this year's team will be one of the favorites to reach the finals. The group is led by an outstanding senior class that features Anne Fontaine - a former Timesland athlete of the year - Eva Turpin, Yvette Brailler, Laurel Tanner Frink, Patty Bitner and Carla Ponn.
Knowing that this team had a chance to go far, Dobbins scheduled difficult non-conference opponents to toughen her squad. Radford beat highly-regarded teams such as UNC Charlotte, East Tennessee State and Appalachian State and also played Virginia, George Mason and West Point.
"I prepared the toughest schedule I could," said Dobbins. "We played only one non-Division I team. I think the schedule showed us how good we could be." Radford finished in a tie with Towson State and UNC Greensboro, but was seeded third because it lost to both those teams during the season. That means the Highlanders face a tough first-round tournament match against two-time defending Big South champion UNC Asheville Friday night.
Two years ago, UNC Asheville was selected for the National Invitational Volleyball Championship, a tournament that may take Radford if the Highlanders don't win the conference tournament.
Even though Radford athletic director Chuck Taylor presented Dobbins with a rocking chair Saturday during the last home match of the season, Dobbins isn't ready to sit back and wait for retirement.
"I'm too `up' for the rest of the season," said Dobbins. "There are two seasons each year - the regular season and the post-season. I hope that [the post-season] is a long season."\
RECRUITING: The national early-signing period begins today and Radford's men's RECRUITING: The national early-signing period begins today and Radford's men's basketball team is expecting to get letters-of-intent from 6-9 Eric Parker of Decatur, Ga., and 6-7 Kevin Robinson of Richmond. Radford is still waiting to hear from 6-4 Jared Stinson of Hyattsville, Md., who visited in October . . . The women's basketball team is expecting letters-of-intent from 6-0 Rebecca McNeil of Christiansburg, 5-7 Wilma Walton of Wheeling, Va., and 6-2 DeDe Logemann, a native of Fullerton, Calif., who's transferring from Yavapai Junior College in Prescott, Ariz.
\ ROCK SHOW: Radford and Virginia Tech will stage their annual battle for the New River Rock when the two men's soccer teams play in Radford Thursday at 7 p.m.
by CNB