Reflections Magazine Issue #50 - Spring 1999 | Page 12

Volleyball
Despite a sub-.500 record (21-23), the
women’s varsity volleyball team made
their first appearance in a WHAC
tournament last fall. Finishing second at
the league tournament, the Saints
advanced as the #11 seed in the 12-team
NAIA Great Lakes Regional. The Saints
went 2-2 in the regional, making it to the
quarterfinals
before being
eliminated.
Senior setter
Krista Purvis,
who earned AllRegion honors
for the Saints,
was the first
volleyball player
from Siena
Heights to earn
national recognition when she
was named to the
NAIA AllAmerican
honorable
mention team.
She was one of
only three WHAC players named to the
NAIA All-America teams.

Women’s Soccer
The Saints went 17-4-1 this season and
won both the regular season and league
tournament championships under the
direction of coach Aldo Zid. Sophomore
forward Nicole Tobin was named the
team’s “Most Valuable Player.” Junior
goalkeeper Corey Kibit earned NAIA
All-America Scholar-Athlete honors with
a 3.90 grade point average as a biology
major.

Cross Country
The women’s cross country team,
coached by Don Kleinow, finished in
third place in the eight-team WolverineHoosier Athletic Conference with three
runners—juniors Katrina King and Gina
Watson and senior Amanda Tabb—
named NAIA All-American ScholarAthletes. The men’s cross country team,

coached by Tim Bauer, won the WHAC
title and finished 8th at the NAIA
National Championships, tying their
best team finish ever. Junior Kevin
Schultz placed 20th in the nation and
earned NAIA All-American honors.
Carl Spina, a junior, earned NAIA AllAmerica Scholar-Athlete honors with a
perfect 4.0 GPA.

Men’s Soccer
Aldo Zid’s men’s team
finished the season 174-1, the best record ever
for a men’s soccer team
at Siena. Freshman
forward Sam Skeels
established new singleseason records for goals
(28), assists (17) and
points (73), and was
named the team’s “Most
Valuable Player.”
Sophomore goalie Nick
DeKam earned AllWHAC, All-Region and
honorable mention AllAmerican honors for the
season.

Women’s Basketball
In the pre-season coaches’ poll, Siena’s
women’s basketball team was picked to
finish last in the league. That poll
became a motivating force for
fifth-year coach
Susie Wickham and
her team as they set
out to prove the
WHAC wrong. The
Saints succeeded by
finishing third in the
league with a 9-5
WHAC record and a
16-15 overall
record, Siena’s first
winning season in
women’s basketball
since 1981-82.
Sixteen wins is the
second-best in the
history of the

program, with only the 1978-79 team
(27-2) recording more wins. Junior center
Bevin Malley led the Saints in scoring
(12.1) and rebounding (8.3) and was
named to the All-WHAC Team. Senior
guard Netarsha Napier became the
Saints’ all-time assists leader; also
ranked #3 all-time in steals, she was
named to the WHAC All-Defensive
Team. Malley (3.64 GPA) and juniors
Crystal Starkey (3.46 GPA) and Ehrika
Kaweck (3.25 GPA) were named to the
All-WHAC Academic Team.

Indoor Track & Field
The men’s indoor track and field team
finished 13th at the NAIA Indoor
National Championships in February. For
the fourth time in Siena’s history, the
Saints had an individual event champion
as senior sprinter J Nyack won the men’s
200-meter dash with a time of 21.9
seconds. Nyack has earned NAIA AllAmerican honors three times in the last
two years. Three other Saints also
earned All-American honors. Junior
Jason Gurzynski earned All-American
honors for the third straight year with a
5th-place finish in the 800 meters at
1:57.15. Freshman Matt Miller was an
All-American with a 5th-place finish in
the 1000 meters at 2:29.85. The Siena
Heights women’s team had one AllAmerican in sophomore pentathlete
Jessica Hawkins who
placed sixth with
3,265 points; her
throw in the shot put
(37-2) ranked first
among all pentathlon
participants.

Men’s Basketball
The men’s basketball
team went 25-5 in the
regular season—the
best regular season
winning percentage in
the program’s history.
Coach Fred Smith