COLLEGE DIVISION NOTEBOOK : Chapman’s ‘Iron Eight’ a Hit on the Road

The Chapman women’s volleyball team has always done well at home. Two seasons ago, the Panthers were undefeated in the Hutton Center.

But this season, the Panthers are showing that they are a decent road team, too, going 10-5 in their first 15 matches away from Hutton.

Tonight’s match against Abilene Christian, the first of four in a row at Hutton, will be the Panthers’ first home match of the season.

Chapman, ranked No. 16 in the American Volleyball Coaches Assn. Division II poll, opened the season with three tournaments and three nonconference matches on the road. Coach Mary Cahill believes the Panthers might have been toughened by the experience.

This week, Cahill passed out T-shirts lauding her players as the “Iron Eight.”

With only eight players, the Panthers aren’t their best in tournaments in which they must play more than one match a day. But Cahill says the Panthers have been defeating the teams they’re expected to beat and giving tough competition to the others.

Missing are four strong players from last year’s team, including Debi Waller, a second-team All-American, and Rena Strange.

Jenny Gunderson, who started as a freshman, and Tori Heywood, a transfer from Scottsdale (Ariz.) Community College, are providing most of the offense from their middle blocker positions. Gunderson has a hitting percentage of better than 40% and Heywood’s is nearly 35%.

Vicky Cavadias returns at setter for her senior season, and Jody Narey, a part-time starter last season, and Heather McKinley, a reserve, are playing left outside hitter.

Amy Tamblyn, a freshman from Valencia High School, has stepped into Waller’s position as right outside hitter and done a good job.

Cahill said she had a hard time filling her roster this recruiting season. She said she probably lost three top recruits in the wake of Chapman’s decision to eliminate athletic scholarships last spring.

As part of that decision, the university has applied for admission into the Division III Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

This is the final season the volleyball team will compete in the Division II California Collegiate Athletic Assn. Cahill still believes the Panthers will be competitive enough to win one of the three spots to the NCAA Division II regional playoffs.

“I still think we should be one of the top teams in our conference,” Cahill said. “Hopefully, we’ll be in the top three, which will be very good given the circumstances.”

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Ankle trouble: The Southern California College women’s volleyball team has been hit by a series of ankle injuries in the early going this season.

First, senior middle blocker Leslie Lastrapes broke her ankle in a match when a player from Hawaii Hilo came under the net and Lastrapes stepped on her. She might miss the rest of the season.

Then Monday, senior setter Julie Jones sprained her ankle in practice. Finally, sophomore middle blocker Genevie Wright sprained her ankle in the Vanguards’ five-game victory over The Master’s Tuesday night.

The injuries to Jones and Wright aren’t considered serious; Coach Becky Pines hopes to have them in the lineup for Friday’s Golden State Athletic Conference match at Westmont.

The Vanguards (4-9, 0-2 in the GSAC), who narrowly missed qualifying for the NAIA District 3 playoffs last season, will have another tough battle to make it to the tournament this year. Three conference teams are ranked among the top 10 in the nation.

Without Lastrapes, the Vanguards are looking for offense from Wright and senior transfer Jayna Auer, a Fountain Valley graduate who played at The Master’s and Humboldt State. Auer enrolled at SCC last year but didn’t play for the Vanguards. Wright leads the district in attack percentage (.379).

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Stasi Dimassis continues to be a prolific scorer for the Chapman women’s soccer team. Dimassis, a senior forward from Blaine, Minn., has scored nine goals in six matches for the Panthers (3-3).

Dimassis, who holds the Chapman career scoring record with 49, scored 22 goals as a freshman but she was sidelined by a serious knee injury the next year. Still slowed by the injury, she scored 10 as a sophomore and eight as a junior.

She has apparently found her old form this season. She scored four goals in the first half of the Panthers’ first match this season, a 6-0 victory over Whittier. Tuesday, in a 6-0 victory over Biola, Dimassis had three assists in the first half and two goals in the second.

“She’s just a natural goal scorer,” Chapman Coach Gregg Murphy said. “That’s her strength. Any time she gets within 25 yards she’s going to be dangerous.”

Notes

Chapman’s water polo team won three matches last week, its first three victories of the season. The Panthers beat Occidental, 11-7, last Wednesday, then went 2-2 at the Whittier College tournament. They defeated Cal Maritime, 22-2, and Claremont-Mudd JV, 10-7, and lost to Pomona-Pitzer, 9-7, and Occidental, 13-10. . . . Chapman will hold its annual golf tournament Oct. 12 at Newport Beach Country Club. The $250 entry fee for the four-person scramble event includes green fees and carts, driving range use, tee prizes, box lunch and awards dinner. Dinner will include silent and live auctions. For information: (714) 532-6074.