Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 6, 1994 TAG: 9404060014
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Tech is one of 16 teams included in the event that begins Nov. 15. NCAA rules limit schools to one appearance every four years in a preseason tournament such as the NIT.
All-Metro Conference selections Jenny Root (first team) and Christi Osborne (second team) return for their senior seasons after leading Tech into the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 1993-94.
"We really wanted to be in this coming year," she said.
Alfano said there is a chance Tech could host a second-round game, although tournament officials have said games in each round will be hosted by the team drawing the best crowd in the previous round, which eliminates visiting first-round teams. Tech's first game is Nov. 15 at Maryland. Depending on who wins and loses in the first round, Alfano said, second-round home games could go to a visiting first-round team.
Tech is bracketed so that if it wins, its second-round opponent will be either Southwest Missouri State or Marquette.
\ ON THE DIAMOND: The Hokies have 13 road games left, including six Metro Conference games, in which to reverse an unsettling trend. Tech, which is 5-1 at neutral sites, lost its first nine road games this year . . . Outfielder Popeye Smith had a 16-game hitting streak broken Saturday against Virginia Commonwealth, but as of Monday he had hit in 17 of 18 games . . . Outfielder Bryan King returned after missing 12 games with a shoulder injury and has three home runs and 17 RBI. Tech hopes his bat strengthens what has been an inconsistent offense . . . Walk-on reliever Charlie Gillian from Beckley, W.Va., continues to bail out the Hokies. In 14 innings, he has not allowed a run, has walked three, struck out 19, allowed 10 hits and had five saves . . . Pitcher Brian Fitzgerald has a 1.29 earned-run average in 14 innings against Metro Conference competition, and rookie shortstop Mike Terhune is hitting .393 (11-for-28) in Metro play.
\ TENNIS LADDER: In the March 15 Rolex Collegiate Rankings, put out by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, Tech freshman Oliver Mayo entered the singles ratings at No. 54, tied with Old Dominion's Christian Dalzell. In the doubles rankings, Tech's Scott Cuppett and Miki Pusztai dropped from 18th to 37th.
\ ETC: Tech's golf team, after finishing sixth in the 24-team Furman Intercollegiate tournament March 25-27, next will defend its Metro Conference championship April 15-17 in Haines City, Fla. Curtis Deal, who leads Tech with a 72.9 stroke average, broke a string of three straight top-10 finishes when he wound up 47th at the Furman outing. Brian Sharp, who had finished 10th or lower in his other three tourneys, was seventh at Furman.
Tech coach Jay Hardwick said he thinks as many as six of the Metro's seven teams have a legitimate shot at winning the title at what he described as an extremely difficult course at Grenelefe Resort.
Freshman Johli Carscallen broke the Tech record in the hammer throw for the second straight week at the Colonial Relays in Williamsburg. Her 139-foot throw was nearly eight feet better than the 131-foot, 3-inch throw she registered two weeks ago at the Wake Forest Relays . . . Senior Chris Williams notched his second victory in a pole vault competition last Saturday at the 32nd annual Ford's Colony Colonial Relays.
\ UPCOMING IN BLACKSBURG: Baseball (at English Field) - Old Dominion, 3 p.m. today; North Carolina A&T, 3 p.m. Friday; Howard (2), 1 p.m. Saturday; Howard, 2 p.m. Sunday; Louisville, 3 p.m. April 15; Louisville, 2 p.m. April 16; Louisville, 3 p.m. April 17; James Madison, 3 p.m. April 19. Women's tennis - UNC Charlotte, 2 p.m. Friday at Burleson-Burrows Tennis Complex; East Tennessee State, 1 p.m. April 9 at Burleson-Burrows Tennis Complex.
by CNB