9:00am | Necessity is the mother of invention; Maria is the mother of our volleyball setter. Nadia is the mother of Adrianna and the mother of soccer comebacks. Translated, the hot sporting moments this fall are WOW upside down, or MOM.
Friday afternoon there was drama on the soccer field when the amazing energizer bunny Nadia Link was sandwiched between two UNLV defenders and went down like a rag doll. And stayed down. Then a couple of trainers got her standing and over to the bench. Tied at 0-0 it was a dark moment not only for the team but also their best player.
It was almost half time so the fans in the stands couldn’t see what was happening. The grade school kid booters played the intermission. One minute in and before you could settle back there was Nadia, in the scrum next to the Rebel goal and up from the grave, putting the biscuit in the basket thanks to an accurate throw-in by Sidney Garza on the right side of the box. Link juked her defender before floating a beautiful shot to the upper left corner. She would score again later and is now tied for sixth in 49er history, or herstory, with 18 goals and a season and a half left in her Beach career.
The volleyball freshman setter is Erin Juley who on Saturday night had a career-high 57 assists. Erin’s work these days is also difficult. Two of her hitters are MIA, two senior captains Michelle Osunbor and perhaps the best player on the team, All Star Caitlin Ledoux. Friday night UCSB danced on the LB logo when odd rulings (and the missing stars) cost the Niners in five. Saturday night the mother of invention, head coach Brian Gimmillaro cooked up a new look.
“I think the coaches stayed around till about 1 a.m. trying to figure out a new lineup. I finally got out of there about 4 a.m. and wanted to talk to somebody so I almost called Bob (Keisser).” BG did finally get an audience about 5:30 p.m. when the team showed up. His news, you go here, you go there, move the serve to back here. Gimmillaro continued: “Bre Mackie for example, played right side. She has never played one play at the right side in her life and here she is playing right side as a freshman.” Oh and some almost forgotten sophomore, Delainey Aigner-Swesey, came to play left side for the first time since maybe junior high. Her previous career high was 10 kills entering the night; she had 12 in the fourth set alone, and finished with 29 kills on 63 attempts.
Mix in the usual jumping and jacking of Junior Janisa Johnson (she got her eighth double-double on the year) and there is optimism for when the ‘Niners return to Big West action against Cal State Northridge at the Matadome on Friday night at 7 p.m. and at UC Riverside Saturday. The Beach dropped to #26 in the polls and will get Ledoux back for the Big West trophy chase.
Last add Erin, her Mom Maria was down from Illinois to see her kid, leaving behind Erin’s very talented 15 year old sister Hannah. After the SLO match Maria got her picture taken with another Niner setter of note, some older gal named Misty May. Misty is on rest and relax time and perhaps visiting the bank. She has won $2,077, 088 in prize money and at least equal that in endorsements.
DUSTING THE IN-BASKET — Kate Walters is the sister of the SLO head coach Caroline Walters who listed three setters on her roster. Surprise, sister Kate got the start.
In Women’s Tennis the Beach played at the UNLV Invitational led by Junior Anna Jeczmionka who won the singles championship in Flight Two but the whole team played well. Next up the ITA Riviera All-American event in LA Friday-Sunday.
Women’s Soccer now heads north for road visits to UC Santa Barbara Friday, 7 p.m. and then to Cal Poly Sunday, at 1 p.m. The ‘Niners are confident for a reason this season because they lead the Big West in points (78) and goals scored (26). LBSU, which has faced six opponents who qualified for the 2010 NCAA Tournament, has 12 more goals than it did this time last year and is on pace to break its single-season record of 44 set in 2008.
“We are feeling great and can’t wait to start playing [Big West Conference opponents],” said senior defender Nicole Hubbard, who has scored four of her five goals in the last two games, moving her into a tie for 10th in the LBSU all-time scorers list with (14). “We had a tough nonconference schedule, but it helped us prepare for conference games.”
The California baseball karma has been stolen by one of those rogue robots. The Angels are now gone and the four other golden state entries are also packed up and to storage this week. Our man in the majors, Jered Weaver, said “I don’t remember playoffs too much growing up as a kid. But there always seemed that there was a California team that was a contender,” Weaver said. “Times change and things change.”
The best current college athlete in the state is Tyler Gaffney who reports to David Shaw (Stanford football coach) and to the longtime Cardinal baseball coach, Mark Marquess. Both are flexible with schedules and understand there are times when the best thing for Gaffney is to get off his feet. They have to keep a careful tally to make sure he stays within the N.C.A.A. 20-hour weekly limit on team activities.
It was not hard to get Shaw on board. He was Gaffney’s position coach before being promoted when Jim Harbaugh left to coach the San Francisco 49ers. A former wide receiver for the Cardinal, Shaw also appeared in a varsity basketball game and a track meet during his college career. Marquess played first base and football for Stanford and is among a small group to have reached the College World Series as a player and as a coach. I think Tyler will do just fine. — DR. DAN