Pierce’s Mertes to Sit Out Season

Sophomore standout Lori Mertes of Pierce College, who suffered a dislocated right elbow in the Brahmas’ season-opening women’s volleyball match two weeks ago, will be lost for the season, Pierce Coach Pete Gazzaniga announced.

Gazzaniga said that Mertes will redshirt this season and added that he is not sure if she will play for Pierce next year.

He said the injury is more serious than first thought and that Mertes would not be able to compete until the playoffs, if Pierce qualified.

“There appears to be some bone chips in her elbow that might require arthroscopic surgery,” Gazzaniga said. “And even if she were able to come back by the playoffs, then we have the problem of working her back into the lineup without disrupting the flow of the team.

“A lot depends on how quickly she gets her (Associate in Arts) degree,” Gazzaniga said.

Mertes, who failed to meet the academic requirements under the NCAA’s Proposition 48 coming out of Chatsworth High, must earn her AA before she can compete for a four-year Division I school.

The All-Western State Conference middle blocker also is a talented track and field athlete. She placed sixth in the high jump for Valley College--she competed for the Monarchs because Pierce does not have a track team--in the state junior college championships in May.

Mertes has a personal best of 5 feet 10 1/2 inches, although she has not cleared that height since 1989 when she was a Chatsworth junior.