CAL STATE FULLERTON NOTEBOOK : Centers Miller, Srubek Are Alike, but Have Different Playing Styles

Simone Srubek is not used to what happened to her against Cal State Fullerton.

Srubek is Fresno State’s 6-foot-6 center, and one of the best shot blockers in the country.

But against the Titans, Srubek the blocker became Srubek the blockee.

Genia Miller, Fullerton’s 6-3 center, can send a shot back at Srubek.

“That’s some kind of thrill to block a 6-6 player’s shot,” Miller said.

Of course, that goes both ways.

Srubek can also block Miller.

“And I get mine blocked few and far between,” Miller said.

Srubek’s Fresno State team and Miller’s Fullerton team are all even after two games this season. Fresno State won the first; Fullerton won the second. The third is today, when the teams meet at 1 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the Big West Conference tournament at Long Beach Arena.

Srubek has been at her best in the last part of the season. Her averages have risen to 21 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots a game. And she has held her own against the conference’s top players, including Nevada Las Vegas’ Pauline Jordan and Hawaii’s Judy Mosley.

Miller also has played well, averaging 24 points, 12 rebounds and almost four blocks a game. And against Srubek, she has won the statistical battle.

In the first game against Fullerton, a 74-59 Bulldog victory, Srubek had 24 points, three rebounds and one block. Miller had 26 points, 15 rebounds, one lock and some foul trouble, finishing with four.

“The first time we played Fresno, our outside shooting wasn’t really that good, and I didn’t score much either,” Miller said. “The second time, we did much better.”

In the second game, a 68-60 Fullerton victory last week, Srubek had 20 points and four rebounds. Miller had 30 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks. Both players got into foul trouble, finishing with four each.

Even though Srubek and Miller are similarly built, their games are very different.

“Simone shoots very well from 15 feet out; Genia doesn’t,” said Maryalyce Jeremiah, Fullerton’s coach. “But Genia has quickness and more moves at center.”

As long as they both are in the game, Srubek and Miller will be the focal point and to some extent, they will each limit the other’s effectiveness.

But if either gets into foul trouble, the game will change.

“If either one gets in foul trouble, it hurts the defense against the other,” Jeremiah said.

A victory will ensure a winning season for Fullerton (14-13, 9-9). Fresno State (18-10, 11-7) probably needs a victory to have a chance at a spot in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament. The Bulldogs, who were the only Big West team to beat Nevada Las Vegas this season, hurt their chances with the loss to Fullerton last week.

Words of support have started coming in for Dick Wolfe, coach of the fourth-ranked men’s gymnastics team. Last week, Fullerton’s athletics council recommended that men’s gymnastics and men’s and women’s fencing be dropped because of department budget problems.

Wolfe, who has coached at Fullerton the past 22 years, says he will try to raise money to fund the program and convince University President Jewel Plummer Cobb to reject the recommendation.

Cobb says she is studying the proposal.

At least one booster has written to Wolfe and Cobb, urging that the program be saved and promising to help raise funds.

But athletic department officials say that even $100,000, roughly the program’s annual budget, would not be sufficient. For the program to be saved, they said, it would need to be endowed, requiring gifts approaching $1 million.

While the team’s future hangs in the balance, the gymnasts have had their best performances of the year. They scored a 279.65 in a meet Friday at San Jose and came back with a 280.70 the next day at San Jose to raise their scoring average to 278.73, the fourth-highest in the country behind Nebraska, Minnesota, and Ohio State.

“We’re trying to do well, and prove we deserve to stay,” said Amir Kadury, a junior on the team. “We all believe Wolfe is capable of working it out. We’re pretty confident our good program will stay.”

Eli Rodriguez, a senior, would not be affected if the program is discontinued.

“It’s my senior year, but that’s not the point,” he said. “I developed here as a student-athlete; I was provided an opportunity. I think other people ought to have that opportunity. A lot of the guys want to show we are a quality team. We don’t have the budget most top 10 schools do. That just shows what we can do.”

A softball game was played recently between the Fullerton team and an alumni team--or at least it looked like softball.

The exhibition game was played with a set of experimental rules being studied by a softball organization.

Among the innovations, most of which are aimed at creating a game that is less biased toward pitching:

--Bases 70 feet apart instead of 60.

--Pitcher’s mound 48 feet from home plate instead of 43.

--Ball 11 inches in diameter instead of 12.

--Taking a lead off bases is permitted.

“Our players liked it all,” Coach Judi Garman said. “The ball was really hit hard a lot, and there were a lot of balls that got through the infield.”

Titan Notes

Jill Matyuch, a senior guard on the women’s basketball team, and quarterback Dan Speltz will be recognized as Fullerton’s scholar-athletes of the year at a Big West Conference luncheon Friday. . . . Mate Borgogno’s 13-game hitting streak ended against UCLA Tuesday when he went zero for four and struck out twice in the loss to the Bruins. . . . Meg Gallagher Sanders, who played for the Fullerton women’s basketball team from 1981-85 and became an Olympic team handball player after watching the 1984 Olympic competition at Fullerton, is an assistant coach for the Fresno State women’s basketball team.