By Compiled By Olson Barthelemy
PLAYING HOST
By virtue of having the best record in the conference, the Pride will be hosting the 2005 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Tournament as the top seed. Along with the hosting privileges, the Pride, along with No. 2 William & Mary, will receive first round byes.
Tomorrow, No. 4 Virginia Commonwealth University (19-11, 11-7 CAA) faces No. 5 Georgia State University (11-17, 9-10). Later that night, No. 3 Towson University (26-6 14-4) will face No. 6 James Madison University (14-12, 8-10). On Saturday, William & Mary will face the winner of the Towson/James Madison match, while the Pride will entertain the winner of VCU/GSU. The winners of those two matches will face off at 2 p.m. Sunday to determine the CAA champion, who also receives an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament.
Despite not knowing the identity of its opponent, the Pride is confident.
“We have an idea who we’ll face since it’s one of two teams. We’ll just focus on the next match. The most important team we prepare for is us,” head coach Fran Kalafer said. “They’re all good. All season I’ve been saying we have the strongest conference. There’s a lot of talent depth. The second half of the season featured so many five game matches that show just how strong the conference is.”
OGOSHI AGAIN
For the third time this season, sophomore Pride setter Shellane Ogoshi was named the CAA Player of the Week. The award comes after Ogoshi led the Pride to a 3-1 win over Northeastern during the weekend. Ogoshi posted match highs in assists (50) and match and career highs in digs (32).
SPHAR HONORED
For the second year in a row, senior outside hitter Tessa Sphar was named to the ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District I first team. Sphar is also eligible for Academic All-America honors by virtue of making the first team.
“When we recruit, I like to think we recruit the person first,” Kalafer said. “I needed to recruit a high level student so they would have success here at Hofstra and be eligible for scholarships. It’s important to be good on the court and in the classroom.”