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MEN’S VOLLEYBALL


The family that plays together


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Sweet home Chicago for golfer Vrdolyak


at the highest level at a Big Ten school, and so she was excited to accept a scholarship at the University of Iowa. But after a year in Iowa City, Vrdolyak became homesick for Chicago. “I realized I was a city girl,” Vrdolyak says. To Loyola’s good fortune, she transferred


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in time for the Ramblers’ 2009-10 season. Now Vrdolyak, 21, a senior marketing major, is regarded as a team leader, and is viewed as a key con- tributor in the women’s golf team’s bid for its first-ever


WOMEN’S GOLF


NCAA Tournament selection this spring. “Ann leads by example,” says Jason Calhoun,


interim coach for the women’s golf team. “She played in the Big Ten and has Big Ten talent. She leads by her play and her approach to the game.” Vrdolyak is having the best season of her


college career, posting a 76.7 stroke average and winning three of the five events in which


fter a successful career at Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, Ann Vr- dolyak was ready to test her golf skills


she competed in the fall. A highlight was shoot- ing a team-low 78 to lead the golf team to a first-place finish in the October 22 Chi-Town Showdown. Vrdolyak also tied for second with a two-round 157 (79-78) at the season-opening Green Bay Fall Invitational, and third with 152 (78-74) in the NIU Huskie Classic. While she carries all the bona fides to the


links, Vrdolyak is modest about her accomplish- ments and prefers to focus on the team. “We have a solid group of eight girls, and any


one of them can compete for the top five spots on the team,” she says. Vrdoylak is especially glad to be at Loyola


now that athletes can train in the new Nor- ville Center for Intercollegiate Athletics. The women’s team has been spending a lot of time lifting weights and hitting golf balls in a training room where their swings are videotaped for review by the coach. “We’ve gained a lot of confidence with what


we’ve done in the fall,” Vrdolyak says. “We’ve been working hard all winter and I think we’re going to be very competitive this spring.”


ometimes it’s a particular word. Other times, it’s a certain look in the eye. No matter how the message is delivered,


it’s a signal to back off. It is a special form of communication shared between brothers. And it’s playing out this season on Loyola’s men’s volleyball team, where outside hitter Dainis Berzins is coached by his brother, Kris. Dainis often is described as fun-loving and relaxed. Kris is characterized by his intensity and thundering voice. To avoid clashes on the court, the brothers have developed a secret code that’s employed when Dainis thinks Kris is coming on too strong. While this discrete dialogue is taking place, the Berzins brothers are helping propel the men’s volleyball team to national prominence. The Ramblers are a nation- ally ranked team and a peren- nial contender in the NCAA Tournament. Dainis Berzins, 20, a sopho-


more biology major, is having another strong season after an impressive freshman year in which he recorded 124 digs and 113 kills. He was named to the Midwestern Intercol- legiate Volleyball Association Academic All-Conference team. Kris Berzins, 24, joined this season as an assistant coach following a year playing professionally in Greece and Austria. While an outside hitter at Loyola, Kris became one of only seven Ram- blers to amass more than 1,000 kills and 500 digs over the course of his collegiate career. In 2010, he was named Loyola’s Male Athlete of the Year. The Berzins brothers come by their volleyball


Kris Berzins, above, and brother Dainis Berzins, below


talent naturally. Their father, Aldis Berzins, was a star outside hitter at Ohio State, and a member of the U.S. National Team that won a volleyball gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Meanwhile, brother Mik Berzins, 22, is a senior outside hit- ter for the 2011 National Champion Ohio State Buckeyes.


SPRING 2012


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