Women's volleyball off to good start

Saturday marked the end of the two-day UC Santa Barbara Judy Bellomo Classic.

Women’s volleyball teams from northern Arizona, central Florida, Pittsburgh and Cal State Fresno came to Goleta for the tournament, and all lost to Cal State Long Beach.

It was a bargain for the 49ers; in those two days they picked up four wins, improving their record to 6-0 this season. They outscored the four other teams by a total of 180-60.

Coach Brian Gimmillaro is close to his 300th career win. Saturday’s victory over CSU Fresno was No. 298. Gimmillaro’s overall record is 298-88.

The coach sees the present team as improved over last year’s edition. "This is a much better team than last year," Gimmillaro said. "This team has more depth than any we’ve ever had."

The match against CSU Fresno started out evenly, but with the first game tied 5-5, the 49ers took the final 10 points and won, 15-5. CSULB went on to win the next two games, 15-0 and 15-6.

The 49ers are now headed for Provo, Utah, for Friday’s match against Brigham Young University, in the opponent’s first home game since the start of the season.

"We owed some teams, like BYU, who has been here," Gimmillaro said. "(BYU is) potentially a good physical match up against anybody in the country . . . a good match to see how we do on the road under these kinds of conditions."

"We’re 60th in attendance nationally," he said. "We need to change that."

The 49ers are ranked ninth nationally as a team in a USA Today/AVCA Coaches’ poll. The team will be on the road until October, playing against teams which have a lot more in attendance.

The first Big West game will be at Cal State Fullerton on Sept. 27. The 49ers’ first home game will be against Boise State on Oct. 2 at 7:30 p.m.