COLLEGE DIVISION NOTEBOOK : Battered Chapman Falls From Rankings

Adding insult to injuries, the bruised Chapman University women’s volleyball team has been passed over in the NCAA Division II rankings for the first time in Mary Cahill’s three seasons as coach.

The Panthers (12-8), who were ranked No. 11 in the first NCAA poll of the season, released Sept. 25, lost three of five matches last weekend at the Angelo State tournament and were left out Wednesday, when the second poll was released.

Furthermore, the Panthers dropped from third to fifth in the Southwest Region rankings. Four teams from the Southwest, including Chapman, advanced to the NCAA playoffs last season.

“They punished us, that’s for sure,” Cahill said.

Chapman was ranked as high as No. 3 in the nation in Cahill’s first year as coach in 1989 after defeating No. 1 UC Riverside.

The source of the Panthers’ fall was a substandard performance at the tournament in Texas. Because of various injuries, the Panthers have a tough time playing more than one match a day. Chapman opened the tournament Friday by losing in four games to host Angelo State, rebounded by defeating then-No. 9 Florida Southern in four games, but were swept by Missouri Western.

The loss to Missouri Western came without Rena Strange, who was resting a chronic sore back, and Vicky Cavadias, who separated her shoulder against Florida Southern.

“We still should have beaten them with the people we had on the court, but it just didn’t work out,” Cahill said.

Saturday, Chapman swept Texas Lutheran but lost a five-game match to then-No. 18 Missouri St. Louis. During the match, leading hitter Debi Waller broke her finger trying to make a dig.

“But we lost two games with her in there, and when she came out we won two,” Cahill said. “So it’s a weird game.”

Waller and setter Cavadias played Wednesday night in a five-game victory over Cal State Los Angeles to open California Collegiate Athletic Assn. play. Outside hitter Jennifer Lander can’t jump because of a sciatic nerve problem and is playing only in the back row. Outside hitter Jody Narey and reserve setter Christi Park still are occasionally bothered by back spasms.

Cahill hopes that playing only two matches a week will give her wounded players time to rest and recover.

“I didn’t have any injuries the first two years of coaching here,” Cahill said. “Now I’m getting it all at once.”

Saturday, the Panthers play at defending Division III champion UC San Diego.

Stat of the week: Despite a bad back, Strange is ranked 10th in the nation in blocks per game. Strange, a senior from Magnolia High, has 45 blocks in 37 games for an average of 1.2 blocks.

Football fix: Before taking over as Chapman athletic director in 1990, Dave Currey had held various football coaching jobs since 1966 when he assisted at St. Francis High School in La Canada.

Currey, who was head coach at Cal State Long Beach and Cincinnati and an assistant at Stanford and UCLA, has returned to football, in a way, by accepting a spot on the Freedom Bowl selection committee.

Don Andersen, executive director of the Orange County Sports Assn., which presents the bowl game, said Currey’s contacts in football will help the committee.

Besides, Andersen joked, it will give Currey something to do and ease his football withdrawal.

College Division Notes

Eddie Soto, a forward on the Chapman men’s soccer team, scored three goals in a 4-2 victory over Christ College Irvine Saturday. With 20 points (nine goals, two assists), Soto is tied with Todd Henry of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for the scoring lead in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. . . . Stasi Dimassis and Melanie Schmidlin of the Chapman’s women’s soccer team were ejected for fighting in the second half of the Panthers’ game against Westmont Sept. 25. Chapman rallied from a 3-0 deficit to tie the game, 4-4, in overtime, but with Dimassis and Schmidlin on the bench because the red cards made them ineligible for the next game, the Panthers lost, 4-0, to UC San Diego Sunday. . . . Southern California College cross-country runner Amber Coley ran her personal best by one second--18:55 for five kilometers--at the UC Riverside Invitational Saturday. Coley finished in seventh place in the small schools division and 26th of 141 overall.