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NCAA tournament underway

The madness is here -- December madness that is.

The first and second rounds of the NCAA women's volleyball national tournament are scheduled for this week, and 48 teams are scrambling to get themselves ready.

As usual, it's one loss, and a team gets to watch the rest of the tourney on TV.

Cal State Long Beach (32-2), still recovering from several key injuries and currently ranked sixth nationally by the USA Today/AVCA poll, has been placed in the Central Regional, and has received the No. 7 seed.

The high seed means the 49ers will enjoy a first-round bye, along with the homecourt advantage for their second- round match.

The 49ers will play that match Saturday at The Pyramid. Start time is set for 7:30 p.m.

The 49ers definitely need the week off, if for no other reason than to allow the team's walking wounded to recover a bit before returning to the court.

Brian Gimmillaro -- who has coached the 49ers for nearly 12 seasons, leading the squad to 11 NCAA Tournament appearances and two national titles (1989,1993) -- would probably appreciate it if the injury bug went elsewhere.

"We can't have anybody else get hurt," Gimmillaro said. "Even a sprained ankle. We cannot have that happen."

Among those currently receiving medical attention are several of CSULB's key players.

Sophomore all-Big West Conference setter -- and potential All-American -- Misty May is presently trying to shake off a knee injury that has sidelined her for several key games this season and has severely limited her mobility.

"She's the best hitting setter, blocking setter, and defensive setter in the country," Gimmillaro said.

"She can't do with the ball what she normally does, simply because she can't move. If she's OK, if she continues to progress healthwise, then we're really a better team."

In the second round, the 49ers will play the winner of tonight's game between Minnesota and Central Florida.

If the 49ers, who will be heavily favored against either team, go on to victory Saturday night, they will advance to the regional finals.

The Florida Gators (34-1), No. 2 overall, are currently the highest-seeded team in the Central Regional. If Florida wins their second-round match, they will, in all likelihood, host the regional finals.

CSULB will not host the regional, even in the event that the Gators are upset; regional sites are assigned by seedings and through bid applications. CSULB did not submit a bid.

The other top-seeds, for the Central Regional, are Ohio State (28-5) and Michigan State (24-6).

Gimmillaro has coached the 49ers to NCAA Tournament wins against each of those teams, including a three-game sweep of the Gators on the way to their 1993 national title. Last year, CSULB He said the Central could be the toughest of all of the regionals.

"I've talked to a number of referees, different officials, and people in the game," he said, "and the consensus of belief (around the country) is that the top five teams in the nation are Long Beach, Stanford, Hawaii, Michigan State and Florida . . . and there are three of us in (this) regional."

"The toughest semifinal match in the regional is the Michigan State-Long Beach State match," Gimmillaro said. "I think that's two of the top four teams in the nation. That should be a Final Four match."

Gimmillaro said he feels the pairings and seedings are not always based on competition.

"To get the attention the sport really deserves, especially on the collegiate level," he said, "sometimes the national look (of the sport; the nation's best volleyball teams are disproportionately clustered in the West) supersedes some of the competitive fairness.

"I think that in all sports, you suffer from this, but especially volleyball, right now, because they want to make sure that it really is a nationally accepted game."

Gimmillaro would not say that the Gators are benefiting from any regional bias.

"Not to say that Florida won't be the No. 1 team in the nation, at the end, and win the national championship," Gimmillaro said. "But they're two-and-one against top-25 teams.. And even though they're a very good team, they're in a better position than I feel they competitively deserve."

Hawaii (31-2) and the University of the Pacific (25-6) lead the Mountain Regional while Stanford (26-2) and Washington State (25-5) top the Pacific Regional. Defending national champion Nebraska (27-3) and Penn State (29-2) have the top seeds for the East Regional.