Dominating the NCCA A Division II Tournament, the Lady Flames reveal their fighting spirit

I"1 he Lady Flames volleyball team •*•highlighted theirseason bycapturingfourthplace inthe Virginia Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women State Tournament losing WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL1980 the hard fought final game 13-15 to George Mason, who placed third in thetournament

In theirsecond year ofcompetition inDivision IItheteam posted a22-18 record finishing their second straight season with more than 20 victories

"The competition was much tougher this year compared to last year," said Brenda Bonheim, who is in her fifth year of coaching the team

The team began the1980season by defeatingLongwood College, Virginia Commonwealth and Virginia State. Courtinga3-0recordthe teamentered theGeorge Mason Tournament. After losing the final match to DivisionII foe James Madison the Lady Flames went away with fourth place in the localtournament. William and Mary, another Division II opponent, dealt the team their next loss 12-15 and 915.

The team won four and lostfour, including victories over Bridgewater, Virginia Intermont, Hampton Institute and Randolph-Macon, before facing the formidable Virginia Tech, who wasconsideredby many tobe the best DivisionI team inthestate. They defeatedthe Lady Flames13-15,11-15 and 5-15 The teams record improved astheyfinishedthemonth ofOctober by winning seven of elevenmatches After defeating Eastern Mennonite

College the Lady Flames traveled to Grantham, Pennsylvania, for the NCCAA District IIMessiah Tournament. The team easily defeated Easternand Houghton then outlastedGeneva toadvance tothe finalround of play. The Lady Flames faced Bethel College in the championship game aftertopping thehost team, Messiah, with scores of 14-16, 15-1 and 16-14 The Lady Flames were down 8-12 in the third game but reversed theflow of the contest coming out on top1614. This match characterized theLady Flames' fighting spirit during the season The LBC team outlastedBethel in thenextmatch tosecurefirst place in NCCAA District II. Lori Keller was honored by being chosen to the alltournament team

The good showing at the Messiah Tournament and the Lady Flames 2114recordhelped set thestagefor their second contest with Virginia Tech LBC hosted the important match and theteam gained thesupportof enthusiastic fans The Lady Flameswon the first game of the match 15-11 but responsible fortwo oftheteam's reg(continued onpage104)