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Wake-Up Call: USF to host major college volleyball event

The tournament begins on Friday, Sept. 11 at the USF Sun Dome with Washington facing Minnesota.

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By JOEY JOHNSTON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 17, 2009

Updated: 06/17/2009 09:00 am

The Wake-Up Call greets you each weekday with news, views and a few Tampa Bay area sports offerings to anticipate for the day and night. We encourage suggestions and contributions.

Good morning!

The NCAA's Division I women's volleyball national championship will be decided in Tampa this season.

To set the stage, the University of South Florida is hosting what might be the most impressive in-season tournament – of any sport – in the school's history.

It's called the "Tampa Twice'' tournament – and the participants would obviously love a return trip to Tampa for volleyball's Final Four.

"It's a tremendous opportunity for our program and it's a chance to really grow the sport in our area,'' USF coach Claire Lessinger said. "For people who are into volleyball – or for anybody who wants to see the sport played at its highest college level – this is going to be something worth watching.''

The Tampa Twice field includes Washington (ranked No. 5 at the close of 2008), Florida (No. 10), Minnesota (No. 14) and USF (which finished 17-14 last season).

It begins on Friday, Sept. 11 at the USF Sun Dome with Washington facing Minnesota at 6 p.m., followed by USF against Florida at 8.

Saturday, Sept. 12 is a full day of volleyball at all levels. The college players will hold a two-hour clinic for kids at 9 a.m. Elite high school teams Berkeley Prep and Venice meet at 3 p.m. Then the Tampa Twice event concludes with Florida against Washington at 6 p.m., followed by USF against Minnesota at 8.

Interesting subplot: Lessinger and her USF assistant, Nikki Shade, played for the Gators and Coach Mary Wise. More than anyone, they know the quality of UF's program.

The Gators have won at least a share of 18 consecutive SEC championships – or each season of Wise's tenure, which began in 1991. Wise is 578-61 in her UF career.

A few seasons ago, when UF was gunning for its second straight men's basketball national championship, Gators coach Billy Donovan was presented with an all-too-familiar question. Could Florida, the football school, also become a basketball school?

"Actually,'' Donovan said, "we are a volleyball school.''

The Gators have experience at volleyball's top level – Lessinger herself was on three Final Four teams at UF – but she would like to see the sport's depth develop even more.

"Our hopes are to contend for the Big East championship and make the NCAA [field],'' Lessinger said. "We know to be the best, you have to play the best, and this tournament fits right in with that goal.''

Another goal is to increase volleyball exposure in Florida, which is hosting the NCAA Final Four for the first time. Lessinger and Rob Higgins, executive director of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission, which is helping to put on the event, said they are developing a state-wide network of coaches and volleyball supporters to help promote the presence of the sport's highest-profile event.

"The Tampa Twice is a nice launching pad and we want to keep that drumbeat rolling right up until the Final Four,'' Higgins said. "We had a preseason event for women's basketball [when the Women's Final Four was in Tampa for the 2007-08 season] and we heard that the players from Tennessee had posters of the Tampa skyline in their lockers. They knew they wanted to come back here, and we think the same mindset could develop for volleyball.''

Gainesville will hold one of the four regional events with the winner advancing to the Final Four on Dec. 17 and 19 at the St. Pete Times Forum.

For information on the Tampa Twice tournament, go to www.gousfbulls.com.

Brown is an All-Star

Outfielder Corey Brown (Plant) of the Midland RockHounds has been selected for the Texas League's All-Star Game on July 1 at Frisco, Texas. Brown, a first-round supplemental pick by the Oakland Athletics in the 2007 draft, is batting .331 with five home runs and 29 RBIs. He also made the Midwest League All-Star Game last season while playing for Kane County.

Coghlan hits his stride

Florida Marlins rookie left fielder Chris Coghlan (East Lake) has his batting average up to a season-high .271 after going 9-for-18 in the past four games. Coghlan has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games.

Welcome back

Atlanta Braves first baseman Casey Kotchman (Seminole) was activated off the 15-day disabled list and singled in his first at-bat on Tuesday night against the Cincinnati Reds. Kotchman went on the DL with a strained right calf on June 7.

Rays on the move

The Rays moved from No. 13 to No. 6 in the weekly baseball power poll produced by The Sporting News Today. But that's relative. Tampa Bay's two prime American League East rivals are in the top four.

The top 10:
1. Dodgers
2. Red Sox
3. Phillies
4. Yankees
5. Rangers
6. Rays
7. Tigers
8. Brewers
9. Cardinals
10. Angels

Coming attractions?

Tampa's Raymond James Stadium is on the short list of U.S. facilities being considered for World Cup soccer, if the United States gets the event for either 2018 or 2022. The football stadiums in Jacksonville, Miami and Orlando also are being considered.

The United States used stadiums in nine cities when it hosted the World Cup in 1994.

Final stadium selections are expected by May 2010. FIFA will announce the World Cup host nations in December 2010.

The World Cup candidates for 2018 and 2022 are the United States, Australia, England, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico and Russia, along with joint bids from the Netherlands-Belgium and Portugal-Spain. Meanwhile, Qatar and South Korea have applied exclusively for 2022.

Gators honored by Accusplit

Two University of Florida men's track and field relay teams received awards from Accusplit, which recognizes eight different relay events with the nation's top times entering the NCAA Championships. UF's 4x100 team, including Calvin Smith (Freedom), and the shuttle hurdle relay team, including Kallinka Pitt (Largo), received the awards from Accusplit, which has recognized top relay teams for 27 consecutive years.

Area swimmers head to FSU

Florida State University recently announced its newcomers for men's and women's swimming – and the list included eight athletes from the Tampa Bay area.

For the men, FSU signed Tyler Ball of Apollo Beach (distance freestyle/IM), Cameron Chambers of St. Petersburg (distance freestyle), Mark Cox of Nokomis (butterfly/IM), Brad Morrison of Land O'Lakes (butterfly) and Tyler Reed of Palm Harbor (sprint/middle distance freestyle).

For the women, FSU signed Corey Allison of Bradenton (distance freestyle), Katie Coleman of St. Petersburg (butterfly) and Marissa Harrington of Bradenton (distance freestyle).

Birthday wishes

Happy birthday to Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Michael Jenkins, a graduate of Leto High School who was a first-round draft choice in 2004. Jenkins was a valuable member of Ohio State University's national-championship team in 2002, converting on a fourth-down pass play in overtime that kept alive the Buckeyes' hopes against the University of Miami. Thursday, Jenkins turns 27.

The Answer Man

Here's the answer to Tuesday's trivia question:

Harold Ricks (Plant) is the only graduate of a Hillsborough County high school to score a touchdown from scrimmage in a regular-season game with the Bucs. Ricks, a running back, scored with a 1-yard run on Oct. 4, 1987, for Tampa Bay's replacement team in a 31-27 victory at Detroit during the 24-day NFL players strike.

Wednesday trivia

Here's our daily sports trivia question, featuring a Tampa Bay/Florida spin. Try your luck by commenting below.

Who was the University of Florida's volleyball coach before Mary Wise took the job in 1991?

Check for the answer in Thursday's Wake-Up Call.

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