End Result of UCSD ‘Rebuilding’ Is Another Division III Championship Contender

Throughout the season, the UC San Diego women’s volleyball players would see the same old negative story hanging in locker rooms on trips. But when they left town, it was usually after achieving the same old positive results.

“Everywhere we went, we saw an article in the locker room about how UCSD was in a rebuilding year and that they lost four starters and had a young team,” said Laurie Bertanyi, the UCSD setter. “They would say this is the year they could beat UCSD. We’d read that before every match.”

After every match, the Tritons usually read that they had won again, and that the tradition of UCSD volleyball dominance was continuing.

In the eyes of many, including their coach, the Tritons were supposed to be down this year. They instead will be trying to win an unprecedented third consecutive NCAA Division III national championship when they open against Juniata College in the semifinals Friday at Triton Pavilion at 7:30 p.m. Illinois-Benedictine will play Wisconsin-Whitewater in the other semifinal at 5.

The winners will play Saturday at 7:30 p.m. for a title the Tritons have won four times in 7 years, with two second-place finishes during that time.

“We are a team of overachievers,” Coach Doug Dannevik said. “Before the season I thought a 25-13 record would be good and 26-12 would be excellent. To be 30-8 went far beyond my expectations considering the scheduling and the developmental level of our players.”

UCSD was 19-1 against Division III teams and, more impressively, was 11-4 against Division II teams ranked in the top 12 nationally. The only negative this season was that the Tritons had their 41-match winning streak against Division III opposition snapped at La Verne.

Dannevik’s cautious outlook was understandable considering he had only two part-time starters returning, and six of his players had not played in a college match.

And leading a long list of inexperience was Bertanyi, a fifth-year senior who played sparingly in 1987 and skipped the previous 2 seasons to concentrate on her studies. She has completed her degree requirements with a 3.74 GPA in biochemistry.

As the season wore on, the expectation that UCSD would struggle disappeared along with the pressure on Bertanyi, who took over a position that in the past had been reserved for All-Americans.

“All year we were trying to prove we weren’t going to be a rebuilding team,” she said. “To ourselves, other teams and this school.”

It was not easy, with the loss of two All-Americans and opponents figuring this was their best chance in 3 years for a payback.

“I had no experience in a serious match,” Bertanyi said. “I only played in games we knew we were going to win (last season). I felt inexperienced, but the expectations of me weren’t high.”

That may have changed as UCSD enters the championship tournament, but Dannevik likes his team’s chances.

“If a team is going to beat us, it’s going to have to play well over its head,” Dannevik said. “This team has a lot of heart. A lot of guts. And we’re tough as nails in the clutch.”

Only Elmhurst has been able to win the national tournament as host (in 1985). UCSD finished second in 1982, the only other time it played host to the tournament.

But that has not diminished the confidence or purpose of the Tritons.

“We don’t feel like a young, inexperienced team,” Bertanyi said. “We’re trying to prove we’re as good as any other UCSD team. Saturday would be the last test. The ultimate proof.”