
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 1, 1994                   TAG: 9403010062
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Staff report
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

TECH COACH TAKING LEAVE

Virginia Tech women's soccer coach Sam Okpodu will take a leave of absence to try out for the Nigerian national soccer team that will play in the 1994 World Cup this summer at sites in the United States.

Okpodu, who played for the Nigerian team in 1981 before leaving that country to attend North Carolina State, will leave Tech on March 3 and is schedule to return to Blacksburg in April.

The Nigerian team will be playing in the African Cup of Nations in March. The World Cup begins in June.

"I am very excited to be playing for my country again," said Okpodu, a native of Warri, Nigeria. "To get a chance to play in the World Cup is every player's dream."

In other regional sports:

Ferrum (3-0) defeated Hanover (Ind.) 7-2 to clinch the championship of the Reebok Invitational college baseball tournament in Atlanta.

Jason Wilson's three-run home run in the first inning sparked the Panthers. Anthony Smith pitched six innings for the victory.

A team representing Virginia Tech finished second in the BRINE Southeastern Invitational volleyball tournament this past weekend in Greensboro, N.C.

The Tech team, competing in the `A' division, was runner-up to the University of Tennessee.

Teams also finishing second were from the University of Virginia (`B' division) and Martinsville (co-ed `A' division).

by CNB