Expectations high for
volleyball team
By Eric Boyum
Daily Forty-Niner
While most universities
exceeding 25,000 students hope to make it to a college football bowl game
this winter, Long Beach State is hoping to make it to Hawaii, where the
1999 Women's National Volleyball Championships will be held.
With a perfect 36-0
season last year, The Beach has the challenge of not only repeating as
national champions but also maintaining its undefeated record.
Any sports fan can
watch with great interest as this story unfolds.
The five-game championship
final against Penn State last year will be remembered as a classic. But
that was last year and now fans at self-proclaimed "Volleyball State" must
face the reality of no longer having the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the
Year, Misty May, as its setter and team leader.
Add the losses of
two other starters in Jessica Alvarado and Benishe Dillard from last year's
team, and the forecast for a smooth flight to Hawaii does not appear without
obstacles.
How Head Coach Brian
Gimmillaro and his young team weathers the storm during the early part
of this season could determine if The Beach has a chance to defend its
title.
The season forecast
looks cloudy. Even with The Beach having more than 10 players with national
championship experience, the prognosticators have ranked The Beach no higher
than No. 5 in preseason polls.
Early-season home
games against No. 23 Kansas State on Sept. 1 and No. 21 USC on Sept. 4
should shed some light on what life will be like for The Beach without
May -- not the month, but the graduated 49er setter. |
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