tl20011004-000 "I www.thetowerlight.com Wer ht Published twice-weekly by students of Towson University 10/4/01 50 students join diversity retreat 3 'Aircraft' making debut at Towson 7 Tigers end loss streak with 2-0 win 13 TU victorious vs. the 'Ville 14 Departments News 3 Campus briefs 4 Nation 5 Police Blotter 6 A&E 7 The High Road 8 In a Theater Near You 8 Comics & Comics 9 Sports 13 In This Corner 13 Fast Break 15 Punt, Pass and Pick 15 Op/Ed. 18 Bumping the record to 15-1 Tigers emerge as conference favorites with stellar start; 1st America East victory Tara Legath The Towerlight The Tigers began the season with a record-setting nine-game win streak. And after four weeks of play and only one loss, they continue to show they aren't done setting records. Towson dominated the com-petition Tuesday, defeating Drexel 3-0 in their first America East match of the year and bringing their record to 15-1. ""I thought we played really well,"" junior outside hitter Kristen Ostro said. ""I know we expected to come out and win and I thought we really came out the first two games and squashed them."" The Tigers cruised to 30-13 and 30-21 victories in the first two games, but the Dragons (7- 8, 0-1) upped the level of play in game three. The Tigers (15-1, 1-0) wire down for most of the third game until they mounted a comeback, tying the Dragons at 26. Towson pulled away from there for a 32-30 victory to clinch the match. ""We didn't crush under pres-sure,"" Ostro said. ""We had some changes in the third game, but that's normal, because changing around people changes the whole situation of the game. I was really proud we stuck it out in the end."" LaBlanc kept dishing out assists, adding 31 more to her record total in the Tiger victory. Junior setter Lisa Chapman complemented LaBlanc's efforts by adding five assists of her own. ""We made a lot of serves, so we weren't struggling making a See TIGERS, page 16 Jelin VeenhalThe Towarlight Senior setter Andrea LaBlanc (2) had 31 assists in the Tigers' 30-13, 30-21, 32-30 victory in their America East opener against Drexel. Their 15-1 start is the best in school history, eclipsing their 13-2 start in 1993. Former RESI director wins suit Chris Terry The Towerlight Michael Conte, former direc-tor of the Regional Economic Studies Institute at Towson, was awarded $927,000 Friday by a Baltimore County Circuit Court jury that found the University breached its contract with Conte when he was fired in 1999. Conte, 54, was hired as direc-tor of the newly-formed eco-nomic institute in March 1996. According to a document delivered to Conte at the time of his termination, he was fired because of ""management incompetence, willful neglect of duty and intentional failure to comply with Maryland law and regulations."" ""You failed competently to manage RESI, causing it sub-stantial and perhaps irreparable harm,"" former Provost Dr. John D. Haeger wrote in a December 1998 letter to Conte. ""The jury did what they felt was fair ... It's not as much as we had hoped for given our expert's testimony, but that's why we have juries � to figure out what's fair."" Philip B. Zipin attorney In his suit, Conte claimed the University violated several sec-tions of his five-year contract, which began in 1996, by failing to pay bonuses and wrongfully terminating his employment. Conte's lawyer, Philip B. Zipin, said Friday's verdict was a ""tremendous outcome."" ""I think it's complete vindica-tion for my client,"" Zipin said. ""For three years he's struggled to clear his name and set the record straight after his wrong-ful termination. I think there's no other interpretation but that the jury awarded him a resounding victory."" Zipin said they were pleased with the outcome, even though the jury did not award Conte the full $1.6 million he requested. ""The jury did what they felt See VERDICT, page 6 Today High 81 Low 57 Friday High 77 Low 51 Saturday High 65 Low 40 Sunday High 58 Low 36 "
