Men's volleyball rolls over tourney opponents

The Wildcats used victories over Iowa, Iowa State, Illinois State and Utah Valley State to win the championship. Utah Valley State, one of UA's conference opponents, had knocked off No. 5 Minnesota in the quarterfinals of the tournament.

"I thought we played really well," assistant coach Skip Greenburgh said. "The guys that we needed to show up really showed up. After the first game we just rolled through the tournament."

Junior middle blocker Mike Wagner was named to the all-tournament team. Wagner also had the distinction of being the only player who received 100 percent of the votes for his position on the team.

Greenburgh said he thought sophomore middle blocker Vince Rooney and junior outside hitter Jared Dastrup deserved to make the team as well.

"I think both of them had great tournaments," he said.

With the win in the tournament, the Wildcats - who were ranked 19th in the preseason poll - should climb in the new poll, which will be released later this week.

The tournament followed up a loss to Graceland (Iowa) College. The preseason No. 8 team could be No. 1 in the next poll, Greenburgh said.

The Wildcats were swept 15-10, 15-10, 15-11 in what Greenburgh called a "quality loss".

"All three games we were right with them and towards the end we had some passing breakdowns and some communication breakdowns," Greenburgh said.

"We just installed a new offense and blocking scheme. The whole newness of it had something to do with it."