Pre-med sidelines four v-ballers in 2005

For four core members of the women's volleyball team, pre-med classes and volleyball just don't mix.

In addition to losing senior co-captain Serena Bountour to graduation in May, sophomores Martha Gardikas, Devin O'Fallon and Jennifer Wylie, and junior Vanessa Biegen - all key players in the team's trips to the NCAA Division III Final Four for the past two years - are departing the squad next year to focus on their pre-med studies.

Gardikas and O'Fallon, who both split time at the libero/defensive specialist position last year, are departing the team to study abroad in London this fall - the only time they could do so in order to stay on-track with their pre-med classes.

'Martha and Devin are definitely two of the best defensive players we had on the team,' said Martha's sister Jennifer Gardikas, a senior co-captain who plans to graduate in December. 'We're also losing a huge amount of personality on the team; they're both such funny girls.'

Biegen, who is taking pre-med classes, will also not return to the court next season, in order to concentrate her senior year on getting into veterinarian school.

'I'm going to be taking a lot of classes at night in order to volunteer and work during the day, which would interfere with practices, and I'll be visiting a lot of vet schools for interviews on the weekends, so that will interfere with going to tournaments,' Biegen said.

Wylie is currently taking pre-med classes at NYU, but will be transferring to a college with a program focusing on physical therapy, Jennifer Gardikas said.

There is no policy in the athletics department preventing NYU athletes from studying abroad while playing for a varsity sport or requiring to commit to a team for four years, Caesar said.

'This is NYU and we know it's academics first,' he said. 'I think the pre-med schedule is rough even without a sport. Once they start having to study for MCATs, then it becomes a problem for them. We all knew it was coming.'

The coaching staff has already recruited incoming freshmen Stacy Goto of California, Anne Bitzegaio from Indiana and Sarah Ansley of Texas to replace O'Fallon and Martha Gardikas on the defensive end.

After losses to Emory University, Washington University in St. Louis, Juniata College and the University of LaVerne last year, Caesar said the focus for next year's team has been to recruit taller players. The team is awaiting acceptances for Katie Cadden from North Carolina and Nicole Crnich, a transfer from the University of Notre Dame, both middle blockers who are over 6 feet tall, Caesar said.

'Those teams were just much more physical than us,' he said. 'The girls we have were very skilled, but we were undersized in every position.'

The current Violets started their spring season last week with that in mind.

'I know we have a solid team and having more size with taller girls could help,' Jennifer Gardikas said. 'We're just getting started and we hope to keep building our skills now so we don't have to start over again. We need to start jumping higher and have the skills that girls with a height advantage have and focus on that.'

NYU will kick off its 2005 season with the second annual NYU Labor Day Invitational in September.