Big West tourney time for women netters

Brian Gimmillaro leads the blistering women's volleyball team into the Inaugural Big West Conference Tournament this weekend.

If the tourney goes the way the regular season has, come Monday night, his squad will have secured an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The top-seeded 49ers will play North Texas Saturday at 6 p.m. at the UC Santa Barbara Events Center, if they beat UNT -- which is very likely, since the 49ers toasted the Eagles in three quick games Oct. 2.

They will then play the winner of the UCSB-Boise State game, at 6 p.m. Sunday.

If the Beach can come up with wins both nights, they go into the final, which takes place Monday at 7:30 pm.

The 49ers' efforts will most likely achieve nothing more than another banner in The Pyramid. Even if CSULB loses, the team will probably still be picked as a wild card entry to play in December in Cleveland.

During a road trip earlier in the semester, the CSULB team stepped over the Orange County line when they presented a quick three-game defeat to Cal State Fullerton. The Titans remembered and came to visit The Pyramid with fire in their eyes.

In the 15-8 Saturday night opener the Titans were burning the white hot balls in the Pyramid while taking a game from the Beach. Although Fullerton came out strong, the good times didn't last as The 49ers came back and snapped up the next three games; 15-4, 15-13, 15-1.

In a scant 57 minutes, the 49ers repeated a sweep over the UC Irvine Anteaters Thursday by a score of 15-4, 15-7 and 15-5.

Nique Crump led the team in kills, beating the UCI defense with 10, plus a .412 hitting percentage.

With only four total team blocks, the Anteaters were not able to stop the Beach assault.

Junior Shawnee Hayes continued to fill in for wounded team captain Misty May by popping up 26 sets against Irvine and 36 versus Fullerton.

CSULB enters the tournament seeking its fifth conference title in six years. The 49ers are just two victories away from their fifth 30-win season in eight years.