WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL : A National Title Brings Little Respect for CS Long Beach

From No. 1 to No. 12, without even playing a match?

That’s how Volleyball Monthly magazine rates national champion Cal State Long Beach before the start of the 1990 women’s volleyball season.

The magazine’s reasoning is not necessarily out of line, though, since Long Beach has only three starters back and has lost to graduation last season’s nucleus in hitter Tara Cross, 5-foot-2 setter Sheri Sanders and middle blocker Trisonya Thompson.

Still, some believe that No. 12 is too low for a team that only last season finished 32-5 and won the most lopsided championship match in NCAA history--a 15-12, 15-0, 15-6 romp over Nebraska in the final four at Hawaii.

“(Long Beach) might move up a little bit by the end of the year,” UCLA Coach Andy Banachowski said, citing the 49ers’ successful recruiting of two 6-3 players--Lauri Jones and Danielle Scott. “They are two very tall, very athletic girls.”

A preseason coaches poll--nonleague play begins Friday--ranks the 49ers eighth nationally, which Coach Brian Gimmillaro calls “more legitimate.”

The three starters remaining are Vicki Pullins, Antoinnette White and Christine Romero. Pullins, the lone senior, is this season’s captain and will figure prominently if the 49ers are going to contend for another title. A 6-3 middle blocker, Pullins led the team in blocks and averaged 1.92 kills a game last season.

White, a product of Lynwood High who placed in almost every category in the 49ers’ single-season record books last season, will also play a major role in the team’s attack as an outside hitter.

“I have to be twice as good as I was last year, and I have to be more of a leader, and I guess, try to do the best I can,” she said of her role.

Nobody doubts the talent of the 5-9 junior, but some might question her durability. White has severe tendinitis in her right knee and is prone to shin splints, both of which have been known to limit her jumping ability at times.

“My shins are doing OK,” she said. “My knee is, eeehhh? It’s OK, but I’ve learned to deal with it.”

Despite her leg problems, White remains one of the top left-side players in the country.

Romero, a 5-9 outside hitter, is one of the better athletes on the team and is probably its most versatile player. Her experience as a freshman on a winning team figures to be invaluable, Gimmillaro says.

Sabrina Hernandez, who played a limited role backing up Sanders last season, will be in the spotlight this season, controlling one of the more versatile and up-tempo offenses in the country.

Asked about the pressure on her to succeed Sanders as the starter, Hernandez said, “I don’t have any shoes to fill except my own. I think I’m ready.”

UCLA, meanwhile, is ranked No. 1 in both polls.

The Bruins will take the court minus only one player from last season--standout middle blocker Daiva Tomkus, considered one of the most consistent players in the country.

“Losing Daiva will hurt, but it’s nothing we won’t be able to overcome,” said Natalie Williams, a 6-1 sophomore hitter.

Banachowski, whose team finished 30-3 last season after losing to Nebraska in the semifinals, has 10 players and four starters returning.

It would have been five but All-American Elaine Youngs, who led the Pacific 10 Conference in ace average at 0.49% and was second in kills per game at 4.68 last season, recently had surgery to repair a torn ligament in her left knee and figures to miss much of the season.

“It will weaken us size-wise and a little bit physically,” Banachowski said. “I think that overall, though, we can still be strong enough.”

Banachowski wants to speed up the tempo of the Bruins’ game and to regularly move his attackers into different attacking zones, something the Bruins haven’t done much before.

“We’re going to look at hitting a quicker ball at every position,” he said.

Thanks to the recent acquisition of Holly McPeak, the Bruins will be deep at the setter position. McPeak, a transfer from Cal, is a senior and will share playing time with last season’s setter, Jennifer Gratteau, who led the Pac-10 in assists with 13.09 a game and ranked eighth nationally.

Prominent recruits include middle blockers Irene Renteria, a 6-footer from Clark High in Las Vegas, and Allison Randick, 6-3, from Lafayette, Calif.

Across town, USC is preparing ways to improve on its 19-13 record of last season. The Trojans have only three starters back but are ranked as high as 11th nationally, which Coach Lisa Love calls fair.

“It might be even pretty generous,” said Megan McCallister, a former standout at Mira Costa High in Manhattan Beach.

Outside hitters McCallister and Lonise Norfleet are the Trojans’ only seniors and many believe they make up one of the more powerful combinations in the country.

McCallister won’t deny it: “Lonise and I on the outside--we’re going to be able to put balls away, period. The end.”

But collectively, the Trojans will be an inexperienced team, starting at least one freshman in every game and playing as many as three at any given time.

Newcomers Marcela Moralis, Katy Haller and Missy McCall--as a hitter-setter from Tulsa, Okla., one of the top recruits in the country--all figure to see considerable action.

PRESEASON POLLS

COACHES VOLLEYBALL MONTHLY 1 UCLA 1 UCLA 2 Hawaii 2 Nebraska 3 Nebraksa 3 Hawaii 4 Pacific 4 Texas 5 Texas 5 Pacific 6 Stanford 6 Stanford 7 Illinois 7 Ohio State 8 CS Long Beach 8 Illinois 9 LSU 9 LSU 10 UC Santa Barbara 10 UC Santa Barbara 11 Ohio State 11 USC 12 USC 12 CS Long Beach 13 Penn State 13 BYU 14 Arizona 14 Arizona 15 Washington 15 Penn State 16 BYU 16 San Diego State 17 Wyoming 17 Houston 18 San Diego State 18 Colorado 19 Minnesota 19 Pittsburgh 20 Oregon 20 Wisconsin