Spikers win another match

Despite injuries 49ers defesat team from East Coast

Despite being plagued by injuries, the Cal State Long Beach women's volleyball team still managed to sweep the William and Mary Tribe, 15-8, 16-14, 15-1, Saturday night at The Gold Mine.

Sophomore setter Heather Hofmans played with a fractured finger, while freshman outside hitter Kristin Harris nursed a hamstring injury and freshman setter Lori Price sat out with a sprained ankle. Even assistant coach Debbie Green has a sprained ankle.

The 49ers (11-3) were led by senior outside hitter Nichelle Burton, who had 24 kills on the night. Senior middle blocker Traci Dahl and junior outside hitter Brita Schwerm each added 10 kills, and Hofmans led the team with 43 assists.

The 49ers came out strong in the first game, taking a quick 5-1 lead. CSULB held off a few rallies, scoring the final four points after the Tribe got as close as 11-8.

Game two saw the 49ers fall behind, retake the lead, lose the lead then finally reel off eight unanswered points for the win.

After falling behind 4-2, the 49ers came back to lead 7-5 when a Tribe hit went wide.

William and Mary freshman Natalie Kamper then led her team back by scoring three of the Tribe's next five points. CSULB took a time-out and on the next play Kamper scored on a dinker over a block attempt for an 11-7 Tribe lead.

The Tribe eventually led 13-8 and forced the 49ers to take another time-out. On the next play the 49ers misplayed a Tribe serve and appeared ready to drop game two.

Burton got the ball back with a kill off the block attempt. Sophomore defensive specialist Shawnee Hayes scored with a serve that the Tribe couldn't handle. Then it was Burton, who had kills from the back row and down the middle of William and Mary's court.

After exchanging sideouts it was Burton taking control again with four consecutive kills to give the 49ers a 15-14 advantage. The teams again exchanged sideouts before Schwerm finished off the game with a blast down the line.

"I want the team to understand, when the game is on the line we've got the best," coach Brian Gimmillaro said of Burton.

In the third game, the 49ers wasted no time in putting away the visitors from Williamsburg, Va. William and Mary scored first on a misplay by the 49ers, but that was the only point for the Tribe. Appropriately, the final point was scored on a Burton serve that the Tribe could not return.

"We had a few miscommunications, but once those were cleared up I thought we did O.K.," Dahl said.

The 49ers felt they had not played well until the last game. When healthy and playing up to its potential, the team is confident it can take another run at the national title. The 49ers play University of the Pacific and San Jose State next week at The Gold Mine.

"I sure would like to see us healthy; I sure would like to see Heather healthy," Gimmillaro said of Hofmans, "It [the injured finger] affects a lot of her sets during the course of the match."

The 49ers also beat a pesky UC Irvine Wednesday night 15-5, 10-15, 15-9, 15-11, at UCI's Crawford Hall.