click logo for homepage
 
 

	Vol.7, No 52, November 30, 1999
	LBSU 6th in nation By Elyse Medlin Daily Forty-Niner Long Beach State women's volleyball Head Coach Brian Gimmillaro anxiously watched a local sports bar's television Sunday night as, one by one, the women's volleyball NCAA tournament match-ups were announced. And the proud coach of the defending national champions was pleased with what he saw.  "This is nationwide prestige," Gimmillaro said. "It's a good position on an incredibly difficult road." Out of more than 300 of the top Division 1 universities in the nation, the 49ers snatched the No. 6 seed, beating out such heavy-hitting schools as USC, UCLA and BYU.  "We are David in the story of David and Goliath," Gimmillaro said. The first step on the road to kill the proverbial giant will take place Friday as LBSU (27-3) battles it out with Florida A&M (23-8) in first round action at The Pyramid. Arkansas (29-6) will take on Georgetown (27-4) immediately before the LBSU-Florida match, the winner of which will advance to second round Saturday. If the 49ers beat Florida and the winner from the Arkansas-Georgetown pairing, they will fly to Hawaii the next weekend to unleash on the team that halted their 42-game winning streak, the University of Hawaii. "We're going to have to go through their house to get to the Final Four," Gimmillaro said. The 49ers are excited about another shot at the Rainbows. "We're fired up," record-setting sophomore setter Keri Nishimoto said. "We have a chance to get better at practice this week and win." Gimmillaro tentatively predicts a second round match against Arkansas, third round against Colorado State, followed by Hawaii in the fourth round.  "All we want is to be there," Gimmillaro said. "I don't care who we play."  The 49ers got a tremendous amount of playtime last weekend as they hosted the LBSU Thanksgiving Tournament.  In typical 49er shut-out fashion, LBSU pummeled Colgate and then Oral Roberts University in three games Friday and repeated the same feat Saturday by sweeping University of Cincinnati and James Madison University. A new plan of attack involving senior outside hitter Veronica Walls may have been key to the victories. In matches over the past two weeks, Gimmillaro specifically instructed Nishimoto to utilize senior outside hitter Veronica Walls.  Gimmillaro said Walls has not been highly involved in previous matches, as she should have been. He said he will continue to run a similar offense this weekend. "It keeps the defense on the other team off-balance," he said. "Veronica is very threatening." This year's bid to the NCAA tournament is the 13th consecutive for the 49ers. LBSU has donned the national championship crown three times with victories in 1989, 1993 and 1998. Gimmillaro was coach for all three titles.		Jason Steinberg/Daily Forty-Niner Outside hitter Anja Grabovac pounds out a kill in a Thanksgiving Day  tournament held last week in The Pyramid. The top NCAA ranked women's volleyball teams nationwide: 1. Penn State 2. Stanford 3. University of Hawaii 4. University of Pacific 5. Florida State 6. Long Beach State 7. UC Santa Barbara 8. Pepperdine 9. UCLA 10. University of Nebraska                                           LBSU 6th in nation   CSU budget to pass $244 million due to enrollment Surf makes you ill   Many reasons to be thankful   Pokemon won't have long run Electronic band scores with sound Men's water polo team drowned at MPSF tournament; finishes seventh   Men's hoops struggles Fall 99 ISSUES DAILY 49ER HOMEPAGE
Forty-Niner Publications, Department of Journalism, California State University, Long Beach ©1999 All rights reserved.