9:20am | When you sail your sporting ship into the season the last thing you want to hear is someone shouting “SOS” from the wheel house. In the case of the 49er femmes of the Fall it may well be that in the matter of SOS (translated Strength of Schedule), Beach volleyball and soccer can now give first hand testimony.
We do this at the end of a weekend where the story is gleaned partly by looking through the rear-view mirror and partly by using the GPS to chart the course the Beach travels this coming week.
Volleyball hosted Top 25 University of San Diego on Friday night and for the fifth consecutive year the Toreros kicked sand in the face of the 49ers who spent more time in the locker room than on the court. The pre-game topic of the day was who should start at setter. In Game One, Ashley Lee came back and used the Debbie Dump (a soft toss by the setter to an open spot). The play was perfected by LB’s former setter coach Debbie Green Vargas and Lee used it to pace the team to a 25-21 win in Game One. USD Associate Head Coach Brent Hilliard, whose jersey hangs in the rafters from his days as a ‘Niner All-American, said postgame, “We knew that play and we adjusted.” Games 2, 3, and 4 were all Torero, 25-21, 25-22, and 25-21 despite a last second-sub in by Ashley Vazquez who started the season as setter.
Student reporters who time the post game chats said that the ‘Niner coaches spent the first 35 minutes behind closed doors with the team before a “players only” session went on for the next 40 minutes. Official game time and unofficial chalk talk were both over an hour but the Saturday result was positive, a three-game Vazquez-led sweep of Virginia and a buffed up record of 6-2 as the team climbs the mountains for four matches in Colorado. It starts Friday against weak sister Virginia Commonwealth, followed later that evening against powerful Colorado State. On Saturday, LBSU goes down the mountain for two similar games in Denver against the host UD side, and perennial NCAA partier and Sun Belt champ Middle Tennessee. Cleaning up your roster, Coach Brian Gimmillaro gets the last word on the setter switch from Vazquez to Lee to Vazquez “I thought she [Lee] came in and was good… she just needs time, she needs practice. It got overwhelming for her. We talked about it before the match, ‘Don’t score every point on one play’.”
Next up on the SOS front also has to do with scoring: Was the Beach soccer offense hijacked somewhere on the road to the Bay area? Friday the ‘Niner gals (4-3-1 after a 0-0 tie against Sac State) were shutout 1-0 by Top 25 Saint Mary’s and 6-0 at #18 California. The Bears rained six goals and 19 shots on the Beach, a disappointing departure from their last road trip when LBSU earned a pair of 2-1 victories over then-No. 21 Washington State and then-No. 16 Virginia Tech. Next up Mauricio Ingrassia dials his GPS for Glitter Gulch and games at the Rebel Invitational — Friday night against UNLV and Sunday morning with Akron.
SCATTERED DUST
Former Bag lefty pitcher Bob Cramer was called up by the Oakland A’s making him the 16th former Niner to reach the major leagues during this 2010 season… he had bounced from AAA to independent leagues now The Show… Long Beach State has now had 38 players log time in the MLB… My favorite football team name this season are lads from Arkansas Tech who hit the road for the first time in 2010 and couldn’t overcome six turnovers as the Wonder Boys (yes, Wonder Boys) suffered a 27-25 loss to Delta State (no, not Delta Burke) in front of a national television audience on the CBS College Sports Network. I did confirm that the women’s teams were known as the Wonder Girls and the Wonderettes before the PC police in Arkansas renamed them the Golden Suns… Mighty Texas volleyball went to the tourney at Florida and were swamped in both of their matches losing in five games to the Gators and three games to new No. 1 Stanford… Depending on when you read this, the tears and the beers will be or were flowing at Big Rec for the Dirtbag Golf tournament and an unofficial send off to the booster GM Houston Bob Pfansteil who has been recalled from Long Beach to the BP headshed in Texas… $250* per golfer/$1000* per foursome and dinner and raffle immediately following in clubhouse… Last add going and coming, latest team rosters show Allysa Starkey, a 5-7 guard from Cypress JC joining her brother, 6-4 guard Sean Starkey, shooting baskets in the ‘Myd… Their parents are the basketball star of years ago (1979-82) Sabrina Scuderio Starkey and former ‘Niner QB Kevin Starkey… Good genes for sure and a couple more season tickets… That leads to our commercial message that there are still some great season ticket deals from $50 up, call in at the clever ticket office number, 562-985-4949.