No
call may have cost 49ers victory
Photos
by Jon Cook/Daily Forty-Niner
Volleyball:
The Beach wins easily at home against Cal
Poly San Luis Obispo, but loses to UC Santa
Barbara after a missed call could have forced
a fifth game.
By
Karl Peterson
On-line Forty-Niner
It
was a tale of two games for the 49er women's
volleyball team over the weekend.
The
Beach easily handled Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Friday night at The Pyramid in three games
before falling to No. 16 ranked UC Santa
Barbara Saturday in a four-game match.
LBSU
(11-5, 6-3) won the first game of the match
versus UCSB (11-6, 7-2) on the strength
of an 11-1 closing run, but the celebration
would end there, as the team was blown off
the court in the second game, 30-18, in
front of a crowd of 2,293.
The
Beach would be more competitive in the following
games, but still lost 25-30 and 33-35. The
final game of the match was not without
controversy. 49er head coach Brian Gimmillaro,
who was engaged in a game-long shouting
match with referee Jesse Martinez, said
that Martinez cost the 49ers the final game
because of missed calls.
Gimmillaro
said that the Gauchos had two illegal substitutions
down the stretch in the final game. UCSB
had run out of subs and two of its players
were out of position, which usually would
cost the Gauchos a point.
Gimmillaro brought this to Martinez' attention,
who at one point told Gimmillaro, "shut
up and get back [towards the bench],"
but he refused to blow the whistle. The
point would have given the 49ers a win and
forced a fifth and deciding game.
Gimmillaro
said that the missed call was easily visible
on game tape and that not assessing the
point belies the strategy of a volleyball
coach.
The
49er coach was not the only one upset with
officials, Santa Barbara head coach Kathy
Gregory said that her team was able to win
because of strong serving and good defense,
but was forced to win the fourth game and
the match twice because of a missed call
by the referees.
Gregory
also said that her team was motivated by
comments made by Gimmillaro in a booster
club meeting prior to the game. Gregory
heard from a friend at the meeting that
Gimmillaro said that Santa Barbara is not
one of the 49ers' rivals and that they are
not even in our class.
Gimmillaro did not back away from the comment,
acknowledging that he did mention it at
the meeting, but denied saying that UCSB
is not in the 49ers' class.
"If
they want to be our rival, that is a joke,"
Gimmillaro said. "Let [UCSB] go somewhere
in the playoffs, then they are our rivals."
Stanford,
University of Hawaii, and Penn State University
were some of the schools Gimmillaro said
could be considered rivals because the 49ers
have faced those teams in important playoff
games.
Rivals
or not, the Gauchos, last year's Big West
Conference champion, won two years in a
row at The Pyramid and have won five of
seven matches overall against The Beach.
The
loss spoiled two career best performances
for the 49ers. Junior Captain Erika Chidester
had a career best 29 kills and added 11
digs for the eighth double double of the
season. Sophomore Co-captain Libero Heather
Laudato also set a career high with 29 digs.
UCSB
was led by Megan Blackshire with 16 kills
and Erica Menzel, who Gregory calls the
pillar of strength, had 15 kills.
Aside
from referee errors, Gimmillaro said the
loss was due to lack of scoring and having
to play from behind in every game.
In
Friday's match the 49ers easily disposed
of a struggling Cal Poly team in just over
an hour-and-a-half, 30-23, 30-17, 30-21.
A
crowd of 1,880 saw Chidester set another
career high against the Mustangs (10-9,
2-6) with 16 digs and added 18 kills for
the double double. San Jose State transfer,
senior Liz Hudson also set a career high
in the game with 18 kills and also added
14 digs for her eighth double double of
the season.
Vanessa
Gilliam led the way for the Mustangs with
10 kills and Gwen Hubbard tallied 10 digs
in the loss.
Home
wins over Cal Poly have become ordinary
as The Beach has now won 13 straight matches
versus the Mustangs at home and have not
lost to the team since 1987.
The
Beach plays next on the road Thursday against
Cal State Northridge and Saturday against
University of Pacific.
"If
they want to be our rival, that is a joke.
Let [UCSB] go somewhere in the playoffs,
then they are our rivals."
- Brian Gimmillaro, Head coach
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