COLLEGE NOTES : Loyola Volleyball Has Big Wish--Tall Players

Help Wanted: Tall women who can spike a volleyball and have college eligibility. Inquire: Loyola Marymount University. See Coach Mike Normand.

Now that the women’s volleyball season is over, the real game begins for Normand--recruiting athletes who can compete with the likes of Pepperdine for the West Coast Conference title.

Normand, who took over the women’s team this fall, saw his Lions lose their first eight matches, then win six out of seven, then eventually finish with another eight-match losing streak. In the opening weeks he lost two key players, and though he doesn’t question the players’ effort, he was sometimes dumbfounded by his team’s physical shortcomings. The Lions finished 8-19 overall, 7-7 in the WCC.

But the former UCLA All-American remains upbeat and is looking for immediate help at all positions. Next year, he says, will be different.

“We learned a lot, we got beat by some teams that were bigger and had been playing together longer, but we were improving,” Normand said. “We will improve, we will get some good athletes, fill some spots. We need to get some size. We were the smallest team in the league--I think that hurt us toward the end of the season, playing hard but having to jump on every ball. We were the best looking and in the best shape, but the smallest. We had some injuries that hurt--we weren’t real deep and that hurt.”

The Lions will return a solid nucleus--notably all-conference hitter Kerry House, promising freshmen Raquel Glenn and Dana Bragado and starting setter Anita Irwin--and expect to see action by setter Janeice Stimpfig and blocker Dawn Moon, who were felled by leg injuries in the first week of the season. But Bragado is the only 6-footer of that group. Against a team like UCLA, which averaged 6-2 across the front, matches were a real uphill battle.

So Normand says he’s not worried about recruiting for specific positions. “My goal is to get good athletes with size,” he said. “My job is to teach ‘em. I can tell ‘em how to play, but you can’t teach size. We need to get a little more aggressive and some height to go to the next level, which is (conference) contention.

“We’re trying to build (the program) up but it will take some time. When they come back (next fall) we won’t have to start at the bottom again. They’ll understand the new system. There were times in the heat of battle they went back to the old ways. It’s tough to rearrange everybody’s thinking (in one season).”

Normand optimistically expects Stimpfig, an anticipated starter who needed knee surgery in September, to return to training in December and said feedback from recruits has been positive. “But I guess we’ll find out when the (February) signing period comes,” he said.

The Loyola Marymount women’s basketball team, off to a fast start at 2-0, will try to take a bite out of the Big Apple this weekend in the four-team Fordham Tournament. The Lions will face Georgia Tech on Saturday, then will play either Fordham or Lafayette on Sunday.

Team leader Kristen Bruich, despite a foot injury, earned the West Coast Conference Player of the Week honor by getting 26 points, five assists and a WCC-record nine steals in a victory over Eastern Illinois, then came back to get 15 points and five assists in a win over St. Thomas of Minnesota. Another key performer was center Tricia Gibson, who had 23 points and nine rebounds against Eastern Illinois, hitting nine of 11 shots. “She was unconscious,” Lions Coach Todd Corman said. In the two games Gibson has hit 12 of 16 shots.

With forward Michelle Bettencourt also battling an injury, sophomore Joelle Longobardi has stepped in to average nine points and seven rebounds. Bettencourt missed the Eastern Illinois game but came off the bench against St. Thomas to register 10 points and eight rebounds in 20 minutes.

Loyola Marymount used to be the little basketball team that snuck up on people, but no longer. Going into this weekend’s Gator Bowl Tournament at Jacksonville, the Lions are the co-favorite (along with host Jacksonville), and Lions Coach Paul Westhead now is wary that his opening-round opponent, Stetson, is in the sleeper role.

“It’ll be a very difficult game. I expect a full-blast game,” Westhead said. “Stetson might sneak up on us. We’re not sneaking up on Stetson. We have gained notoriety. That’s OK. We sought it. People know our players. It’s nice to go anywhere in the country and have people say, ‘That’s Loyola.’ No more ‘Loyola-who.’ ”

Traveling Man: Loyola starting forward Per Stumer, who doubles as a starter for the Swedish National Team, has had a hectic itinerary lately, trying to fulfill responsibilities to both teams.

After playing for Loyola in its opening loss to Las Vegas, he flew to Sweden last week to play in a European qualifying tournament. He flew back to Los Angeles in time to play for the Lions against Nevada Reno over the weekend, then went back to Sweden early this week for another European tournament game. He was expected to rejoin the Loyola team in Florida today in time for the Gator Bowl Tournament.

Roadhouse Blues: Through Tuesday, West Coast Conference basketball teams were 0-8 on the road and 5-0 at home. The opening week dichotomy continues a pattern from last season when seven of the eight WCC teams had losing records on the road while six had winning records at home.

College Notes: Injury update: Loyola freshman Chris Scott (broken thumb) has resumed practicing with the basketball team and may be available tonight in Jacksonville. He hasn’t played since the Lions met the Australian national team on Nov 4 . . . The Cal State Dominguez Hills men’s basketball team hasn’t started 0-3 since 1983-84 season when Toros were 0-4 on the way to an 8-17 record . . . After the first two weeks of play, Khyra Anderson of Dominguez Hills leads California Collegiate Athletic Assn. women’s basketball players in rebound average (10.8) and blocked shots (2.8) . . . The Dominguez Hills volleyball team finished the season 0-12 in the CCAA and has not won a conference match since October, 1987, a span of 30 straight CCAA losses. The women finished 7-22 overall . . . Karen Sutherland set a Dominguez Hills volleyball record for assists in a season with 461, and Maria Romero set records for kills (175), digs (183) and service aces (46) . . . Former Harbor College forward Bruce Turner scored 29 points for Cal State Los Angeles in a season-opening victory over Grand Canyon . . . Former El Camino College basketball Coach Paul Landreaux had a less than thrilling debut as a major college head coach. His St. Mary’s Gaels lost two games by a total of 41 points in the Coors Classic at Fresno, shot 27.5% from the field and were 1-for-26 from three-point range (3.8%).