Volleyball players are used to erecting walls. With arms extended high over the net, players build them to deflect opponents' shots.

Since January, University of New Hampshire head coach Jill Hirschinger has been busy constructing walls of a different sort in an effort to help one of her student-athletes battle cancer.

After receiving news that freshman volleyball student-athlete Holly Young had been diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a type of bone cancer. Hirschinger wanted to do something to help Young.

"Awhile back, we talked about our players painting a brick of their own in our locker room as something they could come back and look at for years to come. From this idea, I thought of doing bricks for Holly," said Hirschinger, who also was inspired by the many articles she had read on positive thinking and prayer. "I just wanted to do something to give Holly strength and hope."

The four-time America East Conference coach of the year e-mailed every Division I program asking for teams to print a copy of their logo and have members of the team sign it, say a prayer for Young and send it back. Hirschinger laminated each "brick" and taped it to the wall of Young's hospital room.

Hirschinger formed the first "Wall for Holly" with the more than 90 bricks she received in the first 10 days of the project. A second wall of about 80 bricks was erected a short time later. Currently, the 26-year veteran head coach has constructed five walls totaling close to 300 bricks.

The project has extended beyond Division I schools to include nearby Division III volleyball programs. Even several professional volleyball players have contributed. The Student-Athlete Advisory Council representative at New Hampshire also sent a request for bricks to the national SAAC. Several schools have sent one brick from each of their athletics teams.

"The response to the wall of strength and hope has been very powerful for my team, and for Holly," Hirschinger said. "We are all very appreciative of the support she's received."

Additional bricks may be forwarded to Hirschinger at 145 Main Street, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire 03824.

Arkansas-Monticello has multisport mentor

University of Arkansas at Monticello head softball coach Alvy Early notched his 300th career victory earlier this season. While the plateau was lofty, it also was familiar ground for the veteran coach.

Early is credited with 425 career wins as the Cotton Blossoms' head women's basketball coach from 1979 to 2000.

A part of Arkansas-Monticello's athletics department since the 1960s, when he was a three-sport letter-winner in football, baseball and tennis, his collegiate coaching career began in 1979 as head women's basketball coach at the school. In 21 seasons, Early guided teams to 18 winning seasons, including 11 with at least 20 victories.

Early took over the softball program in 1997, the same year he assumed responsibilities as director of athletics at the school. He led the Cotton Blossoms to five consecutive Gulf South Conference West championships between 2000 and 2004.

He also has been an assistant football coach at Arkansas-Monticello.

NZAA record?

The third round of the Division I Women's Tennis Championships likely produced a record for the highest percentage of Z names ever in an NCAA championship match. Five of the 12 student-athletes competing in the University of Florida's 4-2 victory over Baylor University on May 19 have either their first or last names (or both in one case) start with the letter "z." They included Zerene Reyes of Florida and Baylor's Zuzana Cerna, Zuzana Krchnakova, Zuzana Zemenova and Klara Zrustova. Zemenova may have been at the rear alphabetically, but she was at the front competitively, winning the Division I singles championship (see related story, page 9).

-- Compiled by Leilana McKindra

Number crunching

Looking back

 40 years ago

Here's what was making NCAA news in the spring and summer of 1965:

• The NCAA and ABC agree to a two-year, $15.6 million television-rights contract for college football broadcasts. The agreement includes regional coverage of the four College Division championship games each December. The NCAA football package had been broadcast by NBC the previous two years. In a telegram to Television Committee Chair Asa Bushnell, NBC Vice-President for Sports Carl Lindemann Jr. says he is "shocked at the shoddy treatment" of NBC by the NCAA's decision to negotiate only with ABC. Lindemann says he fears that the NCAA shunned NBC because of the network's rights to broadcast professional football games (the AFL). Bushnell responds that his committee's selection was made because of its "firm belief that ABC will treat NCAA football as its top sports program."

• James J. Corbett of Louisiana State University is elected the first president of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.

• The NCAA Track and Field Rules Committee decides the 1965 Cross Country Championships will be contested over a six-mile course for the first time. Previous events were four-mile races. The committee also awards hosting responsibilities to the University of Kansas, the first host other than Michigan State University in the history of the meet.

• The NCAA Extra Events Committee approves nine postseason football bowl games for the 1965 season. Besides the Rose, Sugar, Orange and Cotton, other bowls are the Bluebonnet, Gator, Liberty, Sun and Mineral Water bowls.