2:45pm | Notes on My Napkin Time—(too many people and places to report on and too much TV tape to rewind.) While soccer is well beyond being a boutique sport, women’s volleyball has the history; tradition and crowd count in its favor. So we start with the Queens of Kill, and words from their skipper. “It’s not the speed we want, but it’s good enough,” said head coach Brian Gimmillaro after the 58th straight win over CSU Fullerton. When asked if the streak meant anything to him, the wry smile and then “No, no. Tonight means something, because they were ahead of us (in the Big West standings).”
The sigh of relief moment for the 49er faithful was the return of senior captain Caitlin Ledoux, who started fast with ten kills and five digs in sets one and two. Rusty, nah, revenge, maybe. “I really didn’t like not playing,” Ledoux told the media. “It felt good to be out there-that’s where I like to be.” Ledoux of course had to play Saturday night, what with the distribution of her snazzy All American candidate poster. Although their coach Carolyn Zimmerman was cheerful pre-match when I noted she and her team were the defending Big West Champions shortly after the first whistle they ran into a Beach buzz saw. The 49ers hit .387 and .265, and the Titans a woeful .105 and .086. Game three was a CSUF win and a scary moment for a key starter, the woman they call JJ went down but not off.
For an on court report we go to the Niner setter Erin Juley who took a peek at the limping pocket rocket, Janisa Johnson, and muttered out loud, “you are a tough girl and you can’t stop playing.” She landed on a Fullerton foot but did gut it out. (The other medical note was a nasty flu bug that ran around the locker room bugging Cerna and others.)
“Caitlin played great,” Brian Gimmillaro said. “You can see the maturity level of the team when she’s on the court, we are more in control. If anything, we probably let her do too much tonight.”
And Caitlin added about her three week time off, “I hated it. It was awful. But you can learn by watching. I thought I played with a little more patience. “Sounds like a future coach. 49ers are home this weekend for two matches, Friday against UC Davis and Saturday against Pacific.—Note to medics, That is two games in two days, lots of vitamins please….. Last WVB note, first place UCSB has a visit to SLO this week and a ho-hummer with Riverside in tortilla-tossing land.
Now to the 43rd ranked sweethearts of soccer and this comment from the franchise Nadia Link. “We came out flat and my legs were heavy,” said Link, who trained with the USA U23 Team this past week, and played 120 minutes in the Red, White & Blue. “But at the end of the day we fixed it and got the win… it’s a major moment for our program to beat a rival and protect our home turf.”Long Beach State (10-3-1) stays atop the Big West with nine points, and travels to Northridge on Friday and chippy Irvine on Sunday. The two second place BWC teams each have seven Big West points. Senior Nicole Hubbard scored the game-tying goal with 14 seconds left in regulation before assisting Link on the game-winner in overtime. My grandstand seat Saturday was next to a Titan grandma who never felt comfortable. At halftime she said “You know we were winning a game earlier this year and with 14 seconds left we lost.” History did repeat.
Superlatives: For the soccer Niners they notched their sixth 10-win season in the last seven years… Caitlin Ledoux had 17 kills and 11 digs in her return to the lineup on Saturday….Men’s Water Polo (11-5, 0-2) lost at USC, 14-3 and to Cal, 14-6. Dan Matulis and Nick Rascon scored two goals apiece.
Terry Rhodes is a generous patron of 49er tennis. The complex bears his name and on Monday afternoon I wish he could have given out a crystal elephant to the winner of the Fullerton Invitational which was moved to the Beach so the Titans, done and gone, could turn their courts over to skateboarders or hackey-sack. The tennis winner was Senior Rachel Manasse (6-3, 6-4) over talented Freshman Laura Bernard. Both won their semifinal matches in singles on Sunday, setting up the championship match. Long Beach State’s Julie Luzar also made the semifinals.
Numerology: She was busy this senior Kaitlyn Gustaves. The 5-9 goalie made nine saves for the 49ers to collect her 10th win over the year in goal but when the game was slipping away she dropped her gloves and sprinted down to the Carpenter Center end of George Allen Field and joined in the chaos of the last 14 seconds…and won the conference defender of the week award. Number 12 Nadia Link scored the game-winner in overtime, her 12th goal of the season. The crowd count was 712 for soccer, 1509 for volleyball and 4150 according to the ticket office, for that NBA all star party.
Sad Last Adds: While places like Pacific will have a “Midnight Mania” Friday night, LBSU will not. The Tigers show goes from 9:00 pm to 12:00 am. “FREE ADMISSION TONS of prizes and…” and the coaches hope no broken bones in the slam dunk contest. And the for the record, there will be no Big West basketball media day this year, another victim of the recession? Anyhow each school will provide a video of their head coach and maybe