Golden West Seeks State Volleyball Title

Al Gasparian, women’s volleyball coach at Golden West College, said at the start of the season that his team should be the favorite in the Orange Empire Conference.

The Rustlers rolled to a 12-0 match record, losing only one game.

Now, he is picking his team to end the season by winning the state title. Golden West starts state tournament play on Friday in the eight-team final at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria.

“I think we’re going to win it,” Gasparian said. “The key is that we have to play with some poise. We are still really young. We have only two sophomores.”

The sophomores are Joli Eberhart and Stacia Allen. Eberhart was the Orange Empire Conference player of the year and an all-Southern California pick. Allen was an all-conference player.

Golden West (21-3) is the top-ranked team in Southern California but is second behind DeAnza (23-0) in the state.

Golden West opens with Sacramento City (17-0) at 8 p.m. in the first round of the double-elimination tournament.

“Sacramento is the only team I know nothing about,” Gasparian said.

In other first-round matches: Cabrillo (19-2) plays Cerritos (15-2) and Grossmont (17-4) plays College of the Sequoias (11-1) at 6 p.m.; DeAnza plays Pasadena City (17-2) in the other 8 p.m. match Friday.

The tournament’s championship match is scheduled at 6 p.m. Sunday.

Grossmont, the defending state champion, also won the title in 1987. Golden West won titles in 1979, ’84 and ’88.

No team from Northern California has won a title in the state tournament, which started in 1977.