COLLEGES : Winless Loyola Women Spikers Want a Change

They haven’t won a match. In fact, they haven’t won a game. They’ve had trouble getting to double figures. It’s been lean times for the Loyola Marymount women’s volleyball team. It’s been a trial for touted Coach Mike Normand in his first year.

But as the Lions take to the road to open West Coast Conference play with three matches in three nights, Normand not only remains defiantly upbeat, the former Green Beret is still ready to challenge any man--or in this case, woman--in the house.

“We should come out with three wins; I can’t believe we won’t win all three. We should win at least two,” he predicted earlier this week before the team left for the San Francisco Bay area to face the University of San Francisco tonight, Santa Clara on Friday and St. Mary’s on Saturday.

St. Mary’s is the surprise team, off to its best start ever at 8-4 and coming off a championship last weekend in Philadelphia in the Josten’s Volleyball Tournament. Santa Clara, expected to be stronger, is 2-8 and USF is 0-5.

The Lions have had a week off after closing out the nonconference portion of their schedule by losing to highly ranked Long Beach State. In that match, however, the Lions made a third-game comeback--for one of the few times this season--and Normand thinks he may have found the right talent combination. And after playing about half the nation’s Top 10 teams, the Lions should be getting competition closer to their own level in the WCC. Normand can’t wait to find out.

“We’ve had a rough go of it, (but) we’re pretty healthy and I think we’ve found a lineup. We did some good things (against Long Beach); we should take some matches,” he said.

Among other things, Normand has been disappointed in his young team’s mental errors, lack of communication on the court and problems with the setting game. Injuries also held setter Janeice Stimpfig and middle blocker Dawn Moon out of several matches.

Normand’s rejiggered lineup will feature two setters, Anita Irwin and Stacy Trapp, with Kerry House and up-and-coming freshman Raquel Glenn as outside hitters and Moon and freshman Dana Bragado at middle blocker. “We didn’t have any setting consistency (in a one-setter lineup),” Normand explained.

In the week off, Normand has been working on the team’s mental approach. “Mental ability is the most important aspect of winning,” he said. “We’ve made some good (physical) progress. We’ve got to work on the mental attitude of the team--that’s our weakest part. This team has got to learn to be a little tougher. They’re used to having one person or two carry the team, (but) they’re coming along.”

In getting off to an 0-8 start, losing all 24 games, Loyola has lost to the likes of UCLA, Long Beach, San Diego State and UC Santa Barbara, all top-ranked teams. With only one senior on the roster--team captain Tina Hammers--nobody has stepped forward as a take-charge personality.

The team’s quiet demeanor on the court has surprised Normand, but he’s getting an idea now of who is capable of playing up to his demands--or who is at least trying.

It’s a new experience for Normand, who has known only success as an All-American player and assistant coach at UCLA and as a coach on the highly competitive club level.

“My record is really getting tried right now,” he said with a laugh. “It’ll come; we’ll make some little adjustments. I think we’ll be ready to play. We’ll see. I don’t know a thing (about the WCC teams), but I’ll find out how much recruiting I’ve got to do for next year.”

The McCloskey tradition will continue in Loyola Marymount basketball now that Brian McCloskey has transferred from UC Irvine. The 6-foot-7 sophomore forward started five games as a freshman at Irvine last season, averaging three points and 1.9 rebounds, but apparently was unhappy and has enrolled at Loyola.

McCloskey, who starred at Sunny Hills High, will sit out this season under NCAA transfer rules, then will have three years of eligibility at Loyola.

He’s the nephew of Jim McCloskey, a two-time West Coast Athletic Conference scoring champion and co-holder of the school record with 49 points in a game for Loyola set in 1980 and ‘81, and the son of Richard McCloskey, who played for the Lions from 1962-65.

College Notes:

The Loyola Marymount men’s cross-country team placed fourth out of 12 teams over the weekend at the San Diego State Invitational. Top Lion finishers were Mike Thom, 24th in 29:03, and Eric Merk, 25th in 29:07. . . . Santa Clara volleyball player Julie Jamile, a junior from Torrance, leads the West Coast Conference in assists at 9.73 per game. . . . Five of the seven volleyball teams in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. are ranked in the Division II top 20--UC Riverside is No. 1, Cal State Northridge fourth, Cal State Bakersfield 13th, Chapman 16th and Cal Poly Pomona 17th. . . . Cal State Dominguez Hills volleyball, idle this week, is off to its best start in years at 5-8. . . . The Loyola Marymount water polo team has found the scoring touch. Entering the week with a 4-4 record, the Lions feature senior Tim Waggoner with 20 goals, Bobby Carrollo with 14 and Tim Bass and Hans Goettling with 11 apiece. The Lions play host to Cal State San Bernardino at 4 p.m. Friday.