Next great Niner volleyballer—you might like Alma Serna. Photo courtesy of LBSU Media Relations.
Maybe it is the 2012 So Cal shake and bake—earthquakes and really high heat—but this version of Notes on My Napkin has a theme, we call it “Past, Present and Future.”
The salute to the past of course focuses on the pig-tailed terror Misty May who went into rehab in January 2004 and came out with a healthy body and a husband—MLB veteran Matt Treanor after the pair wed in November 2004. Meanwhile in merry old London the chardonnay sipping, quiche-eating Trojan fans figured that the back to back Olympic gold medal run of Misty and Kerri would end this year. Not so.
In a relatively dominant pair of 21-16 wins for the WAMA team (Walsh-May). For the stat geeks, the American duo once again dominated the sand to round off their career together with a perfect Games record of 21-0, having lost just a single set (earlier in this year’s Games) along the way. Too old, 35 and 33, not at all. There would be no passing of the torch this summer.
Now Kerri plans to partner with another 33 year old, Nicole Branagh, who had time with the US National team in indoor play and a short stint with Misty in the summer of 2010 when they didn’t even own matching bikinis.
May-Treanor is done, preferring to leave the sport on top, and plans to dedicate herself to family life with as much effort as she pursued athletic glory. “Now it is time for me to be a wife,” May-Treanor told the media. “I want to be a mom. Our families sacrifice more than people realize and this is about getting back to that. My mind says it’s time, my body says it’s time. It’s the right time.” Last of the past, the almost but not quite teams from men’s indoor volleyball as coached by LBSU’s on leave skipper Alan Knipe and the suit twisting dinosaurs of men’s water polo (Ryan Bailey being the poster boy). The other local names can be found in other Post coverage so let’s jump from the past to the present.
First on the calendar are a couple of ladies teams, Brian Gimmillaro and his defending Big West Champions, Long Beach State women’s volleyball who now has Hawaii in the conference and was picked second in the Big West Coaches Poll. The Beach got 88 points, and finished behind incoming member Hawaii.
The Rainbow Wahine, returning to the Big West in 2012, received nine first-place votes and earned 99 total points, with one second place vote. The 49ers, with 88 points, were picked second by at least eight coaches in the conference.
Cal State Northridge, after a surprising 2011 campaign, was picked third with 72 points, while Pacific and UC Santa Barbara finished in a tie for fourth with 60 points apiece. Cal State Fullerton was picked sixth, while Cal Poly was picked seventh on the strength of the final first-place vote. Rounding out the list was UC Davis, UC Irvine, and UC Riverside in eighth, ninth, and tenth respectively. The 49ers begin the 2012 season on August 24, traveling to Lexington, Kentucky to play three matches over the opening weekend of the season (Libscomb, North Carolina and Kentucky). Eager for a sneak peek? The new-look Beach plays their alums on August 18th in the sauna known as the Gold Mine and check out the secret future of Forty-Niner volleyball 6-3 sophomore slammer Alma Serna. Combining with front row pal Haleigh Hampton (6-6 Middle Blocker) the Niners should shut down the opposition.
The other defending Big West champs are in soccer who won the conference tournament title in 2011, advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight year, third in four seasons. Long Beach recorded the programs first postseason victory continuing to the NCAA Elite Eight. They wrapped up the season ranked No. 14 in the nation by the NSCAA, concluding its 18-6-1 season. Their sneak peek is this Friday vs. San Diego State (scrimmage) under the new lights at George Allen Field. In the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) the NCAA Division I Women’s College Preseason Rankings have Long Beach State tabbed No. 18. Nine new members will be joining the Long Beach squad led by Big West 2012 Preseason All-Conference selections, seniors Nadia Link and Alex Balcer. The season will kick-off for the Beach taking on Pac-12 stalwart Arizona next Thursday, (August 17) at 7 p.m.
CLOSING NOTES—Former LBSU #2 AD David Benedict, who became the interim athletic director at Virginia Commonwealth University, has decided to join his former VCU boss at Minnesota and will not be a candidate for the permanent job in Richmond.
Benedict has accepted an offer to join Norwood Teague’s staff at Minnesota. Teague, who announced in late April he was leaving VCU to become the Gophers’ AD. Benedict was successful in his VCU assignment “Since his arrival in January 2010, David has been instrumental in the success of our athletics program,” VCU brass said. “Annual giving to the athletics department more than doubled under his leadership. In his role as interim director of athletics, David guided VCU through the completion of our move to the Atlantic 10.”
Niner hoop hero Casper Ware has signed with an Italian league team Casale to start his pro career abroad. The Italians are please with his NCAA career average of 17.4 ppg. Casale was established in 1956 and has also been known as Krumiri Casale Monferrato (2003), Bistefani Casale Monferrato (2003-04) and Curtiriso Casale Monferrato (2005-06). [3] Their best result was 4th place in the 2008/09 league season. The other guards are 6-4 Matt Janning from Northeastern (15 ppg) and 6’6″ guard, Garrett Temple who played at LSU.
CLOSING QUOTES—from Miami columnist Dave Barry…London’s opening Olympic ceremony, “…the audience was led to believe that actor Daniel Craig and the Queen of England jumped out of a helicopter and parachuted into the stadium. It has now been revealed that it was, in fact, a stuntman, wearing a costume, who played the part of Daniel Craig. The Queen did her own jump. She’s a wild woman, the Queen. Don’t let her near the cockerel.”—DR. DAN