UCSD Women’s Volleyball Team Would Like to Add a Banner : Disappointment in ’85 Spurs On Tritons This Year

The story of UC San Diego’s recent dominance of NCAA Division III women’s volleyball is hanging on the gymnasium wall.

The banners show that the Tritons were national champions in 1981, runners-up in 1982 and 1983 and national champions again in 1984.

After that, the wall is bare. UCSD has nothing to show for 1985.

Not that last season was an embarrassment. After all, UCSD was 27-19. However, the Tritons were eliminated in the NCAA regionals by La Verne College. At UCSD, not making the national championships was a blow.

“We’re winners,” setter Kim Stonecipher said. “People here won’t accept losing because of the tradition we’ve established. We thought we could go further than we did and our bubble was burst. We don’t want to settle for that again.”

So far this year, UCSD hasn’t had to settle for less than the best. The top-ranked team in its division for most of the season, UCSD is 26-5 . . . and four of those losses were against Division I schools. This weekend, the Tritons will defend their No. 1 ranking at the Occidental Tournament against a field that includes No. 3-ranked Elmhurst College, No. 5 Menlo College and No. 8 Juniata College.

It would appear a safe bet that UCSD will once again make the Division III tournament next month. But, after last season, making it isn’t enough for this team.

“Our goal is to win a national championship,” said Coach Doug Dannevik, who has not had a losing season since taking over in 1979. “I think we’re definitely capable of it. When the girls started training back on Feb. 1, they set that as their goal. They decided then that they weren’t going to be denied.”

This year’s players are essentially the same group that came up short in 1985. This in itself is a striking contrast to last year, when UCSD started the season having lost all but four members of its championship squad, including All-Americans Kristin Kilbourne, Molly Wheatley and Karin Kalk.

“This group basically followed the ’84 team, but was not capable of following in the same footsteps,” Dannevik said. “That team had three All-Americans and a lot of experience. This team is pretty young. Even though some of the girls from this year’s team were on that team, they didn’t play that much. They know what it’s like to be there, but they weren’t an integral part of the team.”

From the first day of practice last year, the inexperience was evident to the few returning players.

“Last year, we had to start with passing and setting--really basic,” said hitter Carol Lipson, who as a freshman was a starting setter on the 1984 team. “This year, everybody knows the fundamentals and we can concentrate on plays and strategy.”

Monica Bradley, who is in her fourth season with the team, agreed: “It took us a year to get to know each other. After a week or so of scrimmaging last spring, we knew we could work together.”

Of course, many a team has started a season with visions of a return to glory, only to find later on that it wasn’t as good as the coach and players thought, or that the competition was better.

This team’s coming of age may well have taken place Sept. 13 at the Elmhurst (Ill.) College Tourney. After playing--and winning--its first seven matches of the season over the span of four days, UCSD staggered into an 8 a.m. match against Illinois Benedictine College and lost in two straight games. This loss was to be a rallying point.

“We were tired and suffering from jet lag and we were not ready to play,” Dannevik said. “We just stunk up the gym.”

Later in the day, the beleaguered Tritons came back to beat William Penn College, earning a spot in the tournament final that evening against Elmhurst, the defending national champion.

“Before the Elmhurst match, (the players) were all waiting for me to come in and tell them what to do, how to play,” Dannevik said. “I walked up and said I want you guys to have fun and I want to see you smile after every point. And they went out and had fun and we beat them in three straight.”

“That was the big match,” blocker Janet Hughes said. “Everyone commented on how effortlessly we played.”

In addition to re-establishing UCSD as a top team in Division III volleyball, the victory over Elmhurst had a unifying effect.

“We never played as more of a team,” said Lori Luhnow, another veteran of the 1984 team. “We all knew Elmhurst was going to be tough and we all had to play together. I don’t remember it feeling that good, even when we won the championship.”

The Elmhurst College Tourney was the midpoint of an 18-game trip.

“During that 10-day road trip we were together all the time,” Lipson said. “That could have been a disaster, but we all had a lot of fun. I think we know each other better now and it’s more fun to play because you’re out there with your friends. It’s really a comfortable camaraderie.”

Having fun while competing is especially important for athletes at a Division III school, where no scholarships are offered. The struggle of juggling a part-time job with the usual regimen of practices, conditioning, matches--and, of course, studying--can tax any player’s dedication.

But the additional burden did not dissuade players such as Lipson, who said she never considered attending college anywhere else.

“It’s rare to come to a Division III school for a sport, but I came here to play volleyball,” she said. “I respected Doug a lot as a coach. I’d known him from camps since I was a sophomore in high school. I also like the area and the fact that volleyball is a real important part of the school here.”

The Tritons’ reputation was also the lure for Stonecipher, a Poway High School graduate who attended United States International University on a volleyball scholarship for two years but decided last year to transfer to UCSD and pay her own way.

“A lot of the reason I came here was because I knew they had a chance to win the national championship,” she said. “I’m glad I came to this school. It was the type of program I could give a lot to. And winning the national championship would be the peak of my career.”