Beach begins postseason after triumph 

By Marten Lewerth
Daily Forty-Niner
 
Here come the playoffs.

The women's volleyball team closed the regular season this weekend with  victories on its home court at the Long Beach State Thanksgiving Tournament and will open NCAA Tournament competition Thursday in San Jose.

After dropping both Oregon State (16-16) and Hawai'i (27-1) and improving to 22-7 overall at the home invitational, the 49ers learned Sunday that the NCAA did not give the team, which finished 11-5 in the Big West Conference, home-court advantage for the first two rounds of postseason action.

"I don't know if I'm more shocked or numb," said Head Coach Brian Gimmillaro. "I don't understand how we're not one of the 16 (hosts)."

This will mark the first year that the 49ers have opened away from home since 1987.

"My initial response is disappointment because we made such great strides," said middle blocker Tayyiba Haneef. "It seems like the NCAA is not recognizing it."

No matter the reasoning of the NCAA board, the 49ers will begin the quest for the title by facing San Jose State (22-9) at the San Jose Event Center Thursday at 5 p.m. If The Beach prevails against San Jose, the team will match up with either Sacramento State (21-11) or No. 14-ranked Santa Clara (26-4) at 7 p.m. Friday.

Although the 49ers finished the 2000 season with more losses (7) than the last three seasons combined, the final record is deceptive in judging the team going into the Tournament. A string of injuries, including the season-loss of outside hitter Lindsay Phillips in September, has played a major factor in the team's performance.

Since moving Brittany Hochevar to the outside and placing Keri Nishimoto at setter, The Beach has won seven matches in a row, including the biggest triumph of the season – Saturday's victory over the previously unbeaten No. 2-ranked Hawai'i.

Coming into the match Hawai'i held a perfect record of 27-0. Bolstered by a highly-vocal Pyramid crowd of 3,025, – the 10th largest in program historty – the 49ers came out firing and disposed of the Wahine in four by scores of 15-13, 15-8, 13-15 and 15-10.
 
"Beat the unbeaten, yeah, that's our record," said senior Melissa Ohta, who was making her final regular season appearance. "It was the perfect way to end my senior year."

Another 49er playing in her season finale was Mariah Marquis, whom Gimmillaro described as courageous because she has continued to compete after two knee surgeries.

"It felt amazing," Marquis said. "No words can describe it."

The first game featured championship-level battling as the teams furiously traded points before the 49ers jumped ahead with a 15-13 win off a Cheryl Weaver-Marquis block after six match-point opportunities.

In Game 2 the Wahine built a 3-0 lead before The Beach stormed back. Tied at 4-4, the 49er attack exploded as Weaver scored nine kills, including the game winner.   A defining moment in the 15-8 win was a cannon shot fired by Hochevar that slammed into the face of Hawai'i's Kim Willoughby.

With a two-game deficit threatening their longest winning streak since 1995, the Wahine turned it up in the third and prevailed 15-13.

"We just didn't come out as strong," Hochevar said. "It was just a matter of which way the cards fell late in the game, but we never lost control and they knew it."

The fourth game saw more back and forth action until the 49ers poured it on tied at 7-7.

"Even though we lost the third game, we knew we were coming out on top," said Elisha Thomas, who finished the contest with 10 kills and six blocks. "In the fourth game it was like, 'it's do or die, let's beat them now.'"

The match ended 15-10 with a bullet from Thomas that drew a boisterous reaction from the 49er bench and the fans in the stands.

"That was our team out there," said Nishimoto, who finished with 69 assists and 11 digs. "We've seen glimpses of it at times in practice, but it hadn't shown up on the court yet this year and it finally came out tonight. Good time for it to come out."

Leading the way offensively was Weaver with 29 kills and 12 blocks, followed by Haneef with 21 kills and Hochevar with 17 kills and 20 digs.

"We were very, very emotional," Weaver said. "We had emotions come out we've never seen before in people. Everybody wanted it really bad."

Lily Kahumoku led Hawai'i with 19 kills and 10 digs, while freshman standout Willoughby recorded 15 kills and 14 digs.

In Friday's 14-16, 15-5, 15-8 and 15-9 49er victory over Oregon State, Weaver tallied a career-high 31 kills and 16 digs, while Haneef notched 24 kills and Thomas had 16.

Marten Lewerth/Daily Forty-Niner