49ers Determined to Bounce Back From That ‘Phantom Touch’ : Volleyball: In a sport where success is often dictated by attitude, the team believes the lesson it learned last year will make it stronger this season.

The scene on the videotape plays over and over in the minds of All-American Danielle Scott and her teammates on the Cal State Long Beach women’s volleyball team.

The “Phantom Touch” isn’t easy to forget. In fact, it may determine how well the third-ranked 49ers, who are 5-1 so far, play this season.

The “Touch”--or lack of it--was captured on tape in the third, and what might have been final, game of last year’s NCAA women’s volleyball final at UCLA. Top-ranked Long Beach held a 2-0 advantage in games over the Bruins in the championship match and was leading 12-11 with the ball. UCLA outside hitter Elaine Young went up for a kill on the right side of the net and was confronted by the nation’s 1991 player of the year, Antoinnette White of Long Beach.

Young’s hit sailed just over the outstretched hands of White’s block and out of bounds. Point--and momentum--Long Beach.

But referee Verna Klubniken, to the delight of the partisan crowd at Pauley Pavilion, ruled that the tip of White’s fingernail touched the ball.

Side out, UCLA.

Long Beach Coach Brian Gimmillaro paraded in front of the bench, protesting loudly. The 49ers seethed, grimaced and never regained their composure. Reinvigorated, UCLA battled back, winning the championship in five games.

The videotape of the match, one of dozens Gimmillaro keeps in his office in a trailer outside University Gymnasium, appears to verify White’s contention that she never touched the ball.

Scott and the other six returning players from last year’s team are haunted by that tape.

“We don’t talk about it,” Scott, a middle blocker, said. “But it’s always in the back of our minds. It’s definitely a motivator.”

Volleyball is a sport where performance and success are more often than not dictated by mental attitudes as well as physical prowess. Long Beach, which plays host to 13th ranked Hawaii (4-3) Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., believes the lesson it learned from its performance following “The Touch,” will make it stronger this season.

“I think of that thing every day,” outside hitter Christine Romero said. “It’s very vivid, but I guess it’s good for me. When it’s inside you, it helps you to get better.”

Added Scott: “We lost focus on what we should have been doing (after the call). We should not have worried about a single point.”

Long Beach is not the dream team it was a year ago, mainly because White is gone. She’s playing volleyball in Europe now. But the group she left behind is a solid bunch, including five starters from a team that set a school record of 36 wins while losing only twice.

“We have talented people,” said senior setter Sabrina Hernandez, a second team All-American in 1991. “We may have a few changes in roles from last year. We have to envision ourselves a little differently and perform as a team.”

When the 49ers needed a big kill last year, they went to White. That option has been spread out over more players so far this year, as was evident the past two weeks.

Scott, a 6-foot-2 junior, was the Big West player of the week two weeks ago and the most valuable player at the New Mexico Tournament, which Long Beach won. Last weekend, 6-foot-3 senior outside hitter Alicia Mills, who scored on more than 50% of all hits in victories over the University of Nevada at Reno and fourth-ranked University of the Pacific, was named Big West player of the week.

White’s backup last season, sophomore outside hitter Nichele Burton, is hitting .212, but is second on the team in digs behind Romero.

“We’re doing OK,” said Gimmillaro, who has a record of 182-68. “Now that we are healthy, it has made a difference. It’s time to make certain strides.”

With Scott hobbled by an ankle injury and 6-foot-3 middle blocker Lauri Jones available for only two games because of shoulder problems, Long Beach dropped its opener Sept. 4 in five games to visiting Stanford, last year’s top-ranked team during the regular season. But since then the 49ers have won five consecutive games and are 2-0 in the Big West Conference.

Long Beach defeated Pepperdine Tuesday night, 3-0.

Gimmillaro said his goal is to shape the team into a more powerful unit that can react to any situation.

“I’m not taking anything away from our wins,” he said. “But we still have a ways to go. I know what level of product I want out there on the floor and we haven’t gotten to that level yet. That doesn’t mean we aren’t a good team. It just means we aren’t where I want us to be.”

That stems, Gimmillaro believes, from the fact that he rarely had a full unit for practice before last week because of injuries to Scott and Jones, and knee problems of junior middle blocker Yukie Nagasawa, who missed the tournament at New Mexico.

“I’d like to be further ahead of where we are right now,” Gimmillaro said. “Our goal is to be the best, and the only way to be the best is put the best product out there on the floor.”

Gimmillaro prefers teams that pass the ball rapidly from side to side and score points in rapid succession with powerful hits. That philosophy has brought success since Gimmillaro arrived at Long Beach in 1985. Last year, during a 21-match winning streak, Long Beach had one of the nation’s best kills per game averages (16.5) and one of the top hitting percentages (.317).

What Long Beach has lacked, say critics of Gimmillaro’s power game, is ball control--the ability to sustain rallies. But he proudly points out that in 1991 the team had more digs per game against all but three of its opponents.

No one can criticize the veteran coach for putting together an easy schedule. In 1991 the 49er schedule was the most difficult in the nation, according to computer rankings. This year Gimmillaro believes the 49er schedule is even more competitive. Long Beach is the only team in the nation that will play each of the other top five teams. It also will play several key games on the road because Gimmillaro believes the 49ers figure to end up there again when NCAA regional play begins in the first week of December.

“We want to win against the best teams on the road and in a hostile environment,” Gimmillaro said. “The tougher the better.”

As for “The Touch,” Gimmillaro would personally just as soon forget about it. But because the 49ers play host to UCLA in their final regular season match Nov. 28, there’s little chance that will happen soon.

And if it motivates the team to perform well, he said, so much the better.