Dominguez Hills Women Look for Winning Formula

Cal State Dominguez Hills opens its California Collegiate Athletic Assn. women’s volleyball season next week, days short of a dubious anniversary.

The Lady Toros last won a CCAA match on Oct. 19, 1987, when they defeated Cal State Los Angeles, 3-1. Since then, Dominguez Hills has lost 30 consecutive league matches.

Sadly, despite major improvements made by second-year Coach Nancy Fortner, this year’s outcome could be a repeat of the past three seasons.

Even Fortner, charged by Athletic Director Dan Guerrero with rebuilding a program that was all but dead, admits it will be an uphill struggle. Her goal: “I hope that we can take some games off some of these teams this year.”

That’s games, as in 15 points. Not matches. The NCAA ranked Dominguez Hills sixth out of eight teams in the Southwest recently. Ahead of the Lady Toros were the other five CCAA teams, including top-rated Riverside, which plays host to Dominguez Hills on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

This is a school that considers it a victory to win a game or two. In CCAA play, Dominguez Hills won only one game last year and that came against Cal State L.A., which, according to Fortner “has improved a lot this season over last.”

The Lady Toros have shown promise in two tournaments, however, taking single games from defending national champion Bakersfield and Cal Poly Pomona, ranked second in the region.

“We have a new attitude here,” Fortner said. “Things are more positive, the kids are stronger and they come from good, strong club backgrounds.”

The near demise of volleyball at Dominguez Hills has been especially painful for Fortner. In 1978, she coached the Lady Toros to their only conference title. But a year later, after a 13-14 record, she became the coach at Loyola Marymount. In 1986, the Lady Lions were champions of the West Coast Athletic Conference and opened the playoffs with an upset victory over powerhouse UCLA.

Then Fortner, frustrated that Loyola would not give her a full-time teaching position, walked away from volleyball altogether. She worked odd jobs and drove a bus for a retirement home. When Coach Jennifer Gorecki resigned at Dominguez Hills in 1988, Fortner returned to coaching.

In Fortner’s absence, however, Dominguez Hills struggled. It has had only one winning season since she left in 1979, a 15-14 mark in 1984. Going back to 1986, the team has lost 35 of 36 CCAA matches. You can count the number of games the team has won on a single hand.

Down the line, however, Guerrero sees improvement.

“In two or three years, Nancy will have done the things necessary to make this program more competitive,” he said.