Mary Washington College head volleyball coach Dee Conway started the 1997 season with a team that possessed three indeterminable qualities: the Eagles were young, experienced, and very talented. This blend of qualities would eventually lead the Eagles to a 22-12 finish, including a 6-1 mark in regular season CAC matches (which gave MWC the top seed in the CAC Tournament for the first time since 1993).
With just one senior on the roster (All-CAC setter Hilary Clark), the Eagles relied on a battle-tested group of sophomores and juniors, and that group responded with overwhelming success. Led by sophomore first team all-conference hitter Lisa Skaggs and juniors Katie Forthofer and Katie Wallace, MWC was able to finish the regular season undefeated at home.
The Eagles flew high from the start of the season, winning seven of their first eight matches. Included in that run were impressive wins over Christopher Newport University, Johns Hopkins University, and Randolph-Macon College. After dropping a match to eventual champion Ithaca, the Eagles rebounded to beat Rutgers-Newark for third place in the New Jersey school's own tournament.
Mary Washington had similar success at the prestigious Gettysburg College Tournament, downing regional foes Lycoming College, Washington MD, and Seton Hill College and finishing in fourth place. Skaggs and Forthofer were at the Eagles' center of activity all season, as both ranked among the conference leaders in kills, attack percentage, and blocks. Forthofer hit .338 (good for third in the CAC), with 267 kills and a team-leading 89 solo blocks. Skaggs was equally effective, hitting .268 with 57 service aces and 85 solo blocks.
Wallace had 300 kills from her outside hitter position, and added 207 digs as well. Rising seniors Deanna Heckman and Tamara Hinton provided quality play all season, with Heckman leading the team with 224 digs and adding 26 service aces, while Hinton had 136 digs and 42 blocks at outside hitter. Both were nominated for academic All-America honors for their stellar work on the court and in the classroom. Rising sophomore Chrissy Stoehr contributed mightily to the Eagles' attack in '97, with 232 kills, 37 service aces, and 135 digs.
In addition, the Eagles received quality late-season play from rising junior Kristel Blauvelt, who had seven kills in seven attempts in MWC's conference tournament semifinal loss to Salisbury. With thisreturning talent and an injection of one of the top recruiting classes in the past few years, the Eagles will look to return to the NCAA National Tournament in 1998.