COLLEGE DIVISION NOTEBOOK : Waller Toughens Her Game to Give Chapman Volleyball Team an Edge

In the California Collegiate Athletic Assn., Debi Waller plays against some of the best Division II women’s volleyball competition in the nation. She hones her game in an equally tough environment.

Waller, a junior outside hitter at Chapman College, competes with and against men’s teams in open gyms and church leagues near her parents’ home in La Habra, and she says that she often gives her competition pause.

“I think I surprise them because they aren’t used to seeing girls being able to play at all,” Waller said. “They have it set in their heads that girls can’t play, so it surprises them when a girl comes around that can hit.”

Playing competitive recreational volleyball against men, most of whom played for their high school or college teams on the higher men’s net, has made Waller a better player for Chapman.

Waller leads the team in kills (357, 12 per match) and has an attack percentage of .282, second on the team to Rena Strange. Waller is one of the main reasons the Panthers (20-10, 4-2 in the conference) are tied with UC Riverside for second place in the CCAA and ranked 10th in the latest NCAA Division II poll.

“She’s an offensive threat every time,” Chapman Coach Mary Cahill said. “Usually when she puts the ball down, it ends in a kill.

“Last year, she was offensively the hardest-hitting girl on the team. This year, she is the same for the offense, but her defense and passing has improved, which is making her a better all-round player.”

When Waller, the Olympic League’s most valuable player during her senior year at Whittier Christian High School, came to Chapman, she was intimidated by her competition and worried whether she would be able to crack the starting lineup.

Last season as a sophomore, she did that and more, becoming one of the Panthers’ four leading front-line players and being named first-team All-CCAA.

After the graduation of Dana Beardsley and Karen Burley, Waller became the player the Panthers look to most for points.

Waller was concerned that this might be a rebuilding season for Chapman, but the addition of a few community college transfers and the improved play of some second-string players made the Panthers competitive.

They are not yet consistent, however. Chapman has defeated Bakersfield, the defending NCAA champion ranked No. 4 in the Division II poll, and No. 6 UC Riverside and given No. 1 Cal State Sacramento a couple of scares. But the Panthers have also lost quick, three-game matches to No. 11 Cal Poly Pomona and Riverside.

Waller attributes the inconsistency to youth. The team has only one senior, setter Brooke Schakel.

Chapman will have a chance to reverse one of its worst performances of the conference season--a season-opening loss to Cal Poly Pomona--when it travels to Pomona Friday. A victory would help Chapman fight its no-respect image, but Waller said she believes the Panthers are still a year away from greatness.

“We are always underestimated,” Waller said. “I don’t think anybody has ever taken us seriously. Every year we surprise some people . . . and I think next year, we are going to take over.”

Waller is the Panthers’ leading hitter, but Cahill says defense is the team’s strong point. Cahill singles out Waller’s counterparts on the left side who lead the team in digs, the diving saves of opponents spikes.

Heather Mead, a junior transfer from Saddleback Community College who played in high school at Mater Dei, has 307 digs and Jennifer Lander, a junior from Dos Pueblos High in Goleta, has 267. Cahill said Mead and Lander don’t get much attention because they don’t have many kills of their own, but their solid play has been critical.

“We frustrate a lot of teams because they can’t put the ball down,” Cahill said.

Chapman men’s tennis player Mike Zuercher was the runner-up at the ITCA/Rolex Division II National Championship. Top-seed Mark Segessa of UC Davis defeated Zuercher, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, in the final Saturday in Corpus Christi, Tex. Friday, Zuercher defeated Paul Marcum of Ferris State, 7-5, 6-4, and second-seeded Brett Field of Rollins College, 7-6, 6-3.

College Division Notes

Chapman’s water polo team, which is 3-19, will play host to a tournament Saturday and Sunday at Orange High School. The tournament features teams from Cal State San Bernardino, Chaminade, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Pomona, Occidental, the USC junior varsity and Caltech. Chapman will play three times Saturday: San Bernardino at 8 a.m., Pomona at 11:20 a.m. and Caltech at 2:40 p.m.