Small Colleges / Alan Drooz : CS Northridge, LaVerne Have to Settle for Second in Women’s Volleyball

The women’s NCAA Division II and III volleyball playoffs concluded last weekend with two Southland teams feeling like Second City productions.

Cal State Northridge finished second to Portland State for the second straight year in Division II, and the University of La Verne placed second to Elmhurst of Illinois in Division III.

Northridge Coach Walt Ker expressed mild disappointment and La Verne Coach Jim Paschal said he was pleased with the season. Both expect to be back among the contenders next year.

Ker, whose Matadors fell to Portland State in four games in Portland’s packed gym, said, “Anytime you get that close there’s a certain amount of disappointment. But I feel much better about our performance (than last year). By and large I can look at the season and say we were successful. We improved a ton. The girls played hard. The teams were very close.”

Though Portland won in four games, Ker said the second game was probably pivotal. Northridge was leading 13-10 but surrendered the last five points. “If we won that game it might have been a different story,” Ker said. “It was a two-hour match; every game was long. It was a high level of volleyball between two outstanding teams. If we’d played at that level of ability, we’d have beaten any other team in the country.”

The All-American team was selected in Portland with Northridge placing seniors Heather Hafner and Shelli Mosby on the first team, each for the third time. Junior Karen Lontka received honorable mention and will be among four returning starters from the 27-10 team. Portland will lose three All-Americans.

“I wouldn’t say Portland and us have a stranglehold on the Final Four but the last three years maybe we’ve just been a cut above,” Ker said. “Cal Poly Pomona, UC Riverside and Sacramento State have also been outstanding. We’ve managed to stay just a slice ahead. I hope we can maintain that.”

Portland has been the host team for the finals for the last two years, packing in standing-room-only crowds of 2,500--one of the NCAA’s prime considerations in Division II. “It was wall-to-wall Portland supporters,” Ker said. “I don’t think my girls were very bothered by it. If the roles were reversed maybe it would’ve made a difference. I’d rather have 2,500 screaming Northridge fans.”

Northridge may apply for the 1986 tournament. With 11 players returning, the Matadors are a solid bet to be back.

So is La Verne. Paschal’s team fell to Elmhurst in four games and Paschal said the winner “was certainly the best team that night.”

Paschal got some consolation when it was pointed out that in the last five years the only teams that have beaten Elmhurst, La Verne and the University of San Diego in the playoffs have been those same teams, beating one another. “That shows we’ve had a very stable program over the last five years,” he said.

Senior outside hitter Shauna Henrichs and junior setter Michele Galagar made the Division III all-tournament team.

Henrichs, the most valuable player in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, and outside hitter Veronica Ortlieb will be the biggest losses to graduation but Paschal confidently predicted, “We have a good core of players (returning). With the new players we recruit we’ll be as good or better next year. We’ll certainly be different without Henrichs.”

Henrichs didn’t get All-American listing because she missed too many games with an injury. Galagar and Ortlieb got honorable mention and Galagar should be one of the best setters in the nation next year. Paschal hopes so because, he said, the Division III competition is improving. La Verne needed four games to defeat Wisconsin LaCrosse in the semifinals. Juniata of Pennsylvania finished third.

“That was the best Final Four I’ve seen,” Paschal said.

Two women’s basketball coaches in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. recently recorded milestone victories. Fran Buckless of Cal State Los Angeles won her 200th game, and Brian Berger scored his 100th victory at Chapman College.

Buckless, in a 13-year career, improved her record to 200-98 with her first victory this season. She’s in her first year at Cal State L.A.

Berger, off to one of the fastest starts in Division II history, won his 100th game early in his fifth season. According to Chapman officials, only four other Division II coaches have won 100 games more quickly, among them Cal Poly Pomona’s Darlene May, the all-time Division II leader, entering this season with 282 victories in 11 years.

Berger figures to improve his standing this season. His team is led by center Leone Patterson, the returning CCAA player of the year.

Cal State Northridge basketball player Paul Hobus apparently likes to use his quota of fouls. After nine games, Hobus had committed 39 fouls--an average of 4.3--and fouled out of five games. “Hobus just plays hard,” said Northridge Coach Pete Cassidy. “He likes getting position--then there’s going to be some contact.”

Add Northridge: Before the first basketball game this season, forward Jimmy Daniels’ worst fears were realized--he discovered a pregame shoot-around is held for the players to loosen up and shoot. Cassidy said that Daniels, the team’s leading scorer, told him, “Coach, I can’t shoot before a game. I’m superstitious. I’ll go 0 for 10.”

Cassidy told him, “Don’t worry. If you go 0 for 5, you’ll never have a chance to go 0 for 10. You’ll be sitting next to me on the bench.” Daniels made 3 of 10 that game and has gone on to average 15.4 points on 47% shooting.

College Notes In final Division II football statistics, Cal State Northridge kicker Mike Doan ranked third in field goals with 16 and 22nd in scoring with 71 points. Quarterback Chris Parker ranked fifth in total offense with 277.3 yards a game, 25th in passing efficiency with a 114.9 rating, and 12th in punting with a 40.6 average. . . . Chapman College soccer coach Eunice Bobert is in the running for Division II national coach-of-the-year honors. He’s one of seven regional coaches of the year. . . . Swimming in the rain in an outdoor pool recently didn’t seem to bother Cal State Los Angeles swim teams, which broke four school records against UC Riverside. Jean Quintana broke the women’s 200-yard individual medley record in 2:17; Jeanine Scollard broke the 100-yard breaststroke record in 1:15.1, and Quintana, Scollard, Judy Pohopien and Helenka Wormer broke the medley relay record by nine seconds with 4:21.4. For the men, freshman Jim Julian set a 100-yard breaststroke record of 1:01.9. The next week Quintana set a school record in the 400-yard individual medley in 4:45.7, her sixth school record of the young season. . . . Cal State L.A. cross-country runner Kirby Lee was named the school’s scholar-athlete for the fall season. Lee, who ran No. 3 on the team, maintained a 3.5 grade point average in electrical engineering. . . . Cal Poly Pomona softball All-American Kandi Burke will be lost for a year after suffering a torn ligament in her right knee. She led the team in nearly every offensive category last season when Pomona finished fourth in the College World Series (Division I).