Volleyball team looks to not get blown out

0 Comments | USA TODAY, August, 2004 | by Ryan Mink

Starting a college sports team from scratch is difficult enough under most circumstances.

But the fledgling women's volleyball team at Florida Gulf Coast University has overcome a season's worth of tribulations just to step on the floor for its first-ever match Friday morning, against Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C.) at a tournament in Orlando.

Thanks to Hurricane Charley, the players were forced to practice at five different places, including three hours away on the campus of the University of Miami.

"We all found it pretty ironic that the Miami Hurricanes took us in to help the program when a hurricane threatened to destroy it," FGCU sports information director Jim Herlihy says.

Only three days after the Eagles' first practice Aug. 9, the Red Cross took over the...