CSUN Women Again Field Solid Volleyball Team

It has been said that a setter is to a volleyball team what a quarterback is to a football team.

Walt Ker, who is in his 11th season as women’s volleyball coach at Cal State Northridge, fails to see the similarity.

“People always say that,” Ker said, “but a quarterback has 10 other players to help him. A setter has five, and they touch the ball on every rally and in a more significant fashion than a quarterback does.”

A better analogy, Ker says, can be made by comparing a setter to a quarterback who throws a pass on every down. Even if the completion percentage is high, just a few mistakes--say, four interceptions in 50 passes--might well lead to a loss.

In short, there is little margin for error. Which is why, until the past week or so, Ker was circumspect in his comments on the likelihood of Northridge earning another trip to the NCAA Division II Final Four.

When Northridge opened practice two weeks ago, there were a trio of candidates to replace Karen Langston, a second-team All-American who completed her eligibility last season.

The most experienced of the three, at least from a collegiate standpoint, is Karen Scholl, a junior who was Langston’s understudy last season. The other two are freshmen--Alison Wool from Wilcox High in Sunnyvale, Calif., and Nathalie Zodan from University High in Los Angeles.

“They’re all legitimate candidates,” Ker said. “And they all have different strengths. Nathalie is probably the best as a front-line player because of her blocking and jumping ability. She’s six feet tall, which is a real asset.

“Alison, as a pure setter, is probably a little bit ahead of them right now. And (Karen) has the experience factor going. She’s been here.”

And the winner is . . . so far, Wool, who will be in the starting lineup when Northridge faces an alumni team Friday.

“From the first day of camp she came in real polished as far as getting the ball into an attackable area, which is the setter’s No. 1 job,” Ker said of Wool. “She’s real bright--she had a 3.96 grade-point average coming out of high school--so she’s been able to assimilate the situation real fast.”

Wool is one of six freshmen on the Northridge roster. At least one other, Patty Fitzsimmons, an outside hitter, should make an impact.

Fitzsimmons was the object of Ker’s biggest recruiting coup of last season. She was listed among one national magazine’s “Fabulous 50” high school players.

A middle hitter at Fremont High in Sunnyvale, Fitzsimmons has adjusted quickly to her new position. “She’s been one of our top back-row players since the beginning of camp,” Ker said.

Northridge, which has finished no worse than third nationally in the past decade, welcomes back four starters from a team that finished second in the nation, 33-12 overall and 11-1 in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.

In the middle will be the twin towers, Kathleen and Marianne Dixon. Kathleen (6-1) was a first-team All-American last season. Marianne (6-0) was a second-team selection. CSUN is also strong from the outside hitting positions with seniors Allisa Evans and Keira Middleton and sophomore Connie Noe.

Ker, therefore, sees no reason why Northridge can’t end the ‘80s in the same fashion it started the decade--as a national champion.

“Excellence in the ‘80s is going to be our theme for the year,” said Ker, who has a 302-94 record and three national titles to his credit. “We’ve been very successful, so we’d like to go out a winner.”