Women's volleyball season

A big May - be

Misty May will walk into a doctor's office this afternoon for her examination. The doctor will say she's fine and no longer has to watch her Cal State Long Beach volleyball teammates from the sidelines.

Then, the freshman setter with a dislocated shoulder will boldly place herself in the starting line-up for the 7:30 p.m. match against UC Irvine (3-9 overall, 1-5 in the Big West Conference) at The Pyramid.

Is that really a likely scenario?

"I'd love to see that happen,'' Coach Brian Gimmillaro said. Tell me that's gonna happen.''

The chances are slim that any part of that, excluding her re-examination by a doctor, will come true.

Yet Gimmillaro didn't rule May's return out. "Your guess is as good as mine,'' Gimmillaro said. "She's a pretty tough kid. She sure wants to play.

"But we don't know.''

Said UC Irvine coach Mike Puritz: "It's unfortunate she is out. You hate to see that happen to great players. And I think everyone around the country believes she is one of the great ones.''

The ninth-ranked 49ers (9-2, 4-1) will use tonight's match against the Anteaters to prepare for Saturday's showdown at UCLA, which is ranked sixth in the nation. "Hey, I would definitely welcome them looking ahead to UCLA,'' Puritz said. CSULB's Lori Price will likely start at setter, where she played during last weekend's two matches -- a sweep of Cal State Fullerton and a 5-game loss to UC Santa Barbara.

Price had 98 assists in the two matches. "I'm sure glad she got a chance to play,'' Gimmillaro said. "She did OK. She was kind of nervous the first night (against the Titans).''

Nervous, but healthy. And that's the good news. "We cannot have any more injuries,'' Gimmillaro said. "It's hard to develop when people keep changing, coming in and out of the line-up. That's our biggest problem.''

The Anteaters, who are using three new starters this season, are anxious to play in The Pyramid for the first time. "I'm sure they've seen it before,'' Puritz, a CSULB graduate, said. "But they'll probably check things out a little bit.''