UM volleyball player’s eligibility jeopardized

University of Maine senior volleyball standout Leah Voss’ particpation in a recreational league in Brewer may effect her future eligibility at the school.

Voss, an outside hitter from Gettysburg, Pa., was a first-team All America East selection last year in her first year after transferring to Maine from Baltimore Community College-Catonsville. Voss was a National Junior College Athletic Association Region XX All-American in 1999.

Maine coach Sue Medley, contacted Friday, said she knew nothing about Voss’ participation in the co-ed Thursday night league, which plays at the Brewer Auditorium.

“I’d have to say that I was unaware of her participation in this league, and what I’m going to do is look into it,” Medley said. “I’m not going to make any more comments about it other than to say that we’ll pursue it at our end, at the university.”

Voss is listed as a member of one team in the league and has signed her name to the release. Players in the league said Voss has participated in matches, though she did not play on Thursday.

According to the NCAA Division I Manual for 1999-2000, Voss’ participation may end her career at Maine.

Rule 14.7.2.2 states: “In Division I, a student-athlete in any sport other than basketball who participates during the academic year as a member of any outside team in noncollegiate, amateur competition becomes ineligible for intercollegiate competition for the remainder of the year and the next academic year … unless restored to eligibility prior to that time by the Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet. A student-athlete is permitted to practice on such a team.”

The University of Maine is not entirely unfamiliar with the rules on outside participation: In 1998, basketball player Nate Fox was suspended for the season-opening contest because he had played in a men’s recreational league game during the 1998 spring break.

Fox played the game during a school year in which he did not play for the Bears: He was sitting out the NCAA-mandated one-year period after transferring from Boston College.