Golden West’s Coach Speechless After Title

The talent, the history and the desire were all in place for Golden West to win a State volleyball title Sunday at DeAnza College.

But there was one important thing missing--the voice of Coach Albert Gasparian. Gasparian had been ill, and that combined with the stress of the tournament robbed his voice of most its strength by the time the Rustlers swept Cerritos in the title match.

“It’s not from yelling,” Gasparian said in a barely audible tone. “It’s because I’ve been sick.”

Gasparian’s voice was so weak by the time the tournament ended that he was unable to call in the final results to newspapers. That responsibility fell to assistant coach Sabrina Hernandez.

“He’s written out what I’m supposed to say,” she said.

Golden West avenged its only losses this season by sweeping Cerritos, 15-12, 17-15, 15-9, in the title match. Golden West (25-2) lost to Cerritos (23-2) twice earlier in the season.

The Rustlers also beat Cerritos, 15-1, 15-4, 13-15, 15-3, in the winners’ bracket final Saturday.

Becca Foltz, who was out of step with the team earlier this season mainly because of a stomach injury, led the Rustlers in kills in the last two matches. She had 17 kills in the title match and 75 in tournament matches.

Foltz, from Foothill High, won her second consecutive tournament most valuable player award. Vanessa Dahl (Huntington Beach High) and Christine Heims (Estancia High) also made the all-tournament team.

It was the second consecutive title and fourth in five years for Gasparian and Golden West. The Rustlers have a 134-7 record in the last five seasons.

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Seeing double: The State title was the sixth for Gasparian who has a record of 261-32 in 12 seasons.

In an amazing coincidence, Ken Hamdorf, the Rustler water polo coach, has won six State titles and has a record of 262-32. One difference is that Hamdorf’s record is in nine seasons.

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Crowded house: Five of the eight Orange Empire Conference men’s basketball teams play in the 16-team Riverside tournament that starts today.

Cypress (7-2) plays East Los Angeles at 3 p.m. and Riverside (7-2), the defending conference champion, takes on Citrus at 7 p.m.

On Wednesday: Golden West (3-4) plays Imperial Valley at 1 p.m.; Rio Hondo plays Fullerton (6-4) at 3 p.m. and Irvine Valley (5-4) takes on San Jacinto at 7 p.m.

The tournament continues Thursday and Friday and the title game is at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Rancho Santiago (6-1) and Saddleback (5-2) are at the Santa Barbara tournament starting Thursday. Saddleback takes on Hancock at 5 p.m. and Rancho Santiago plays Ventura at 9.

Orange Coast (5-2), the only Orange Empire Conference team not in a tournament this week, is at El Camino at 7:30 p.m. Friday and plays host to Los Angeles City at 7 p.m. Saturday.

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Women’s basketball: Cypress, Golden West and Orange Coast, all of which reached the State tournament last spring, are off to solid starts this season.

Orange Coast is 9-2, Golden West is 9-3, and Cypress is 7-3. With a few breaks, Golden West could have had an even better record. The Rustlers’ three losses are by a combined five points.

Sara Works, a sophomore forward at Cypress, has put on the best individual performance thus far. She is averaging 29 points and 13 rebounds and is shooting 59% from the field.

Fullerton is 7-5, Rancho Santiago is 5-4, Saddleback is 2-3 and Riverside is 2-4.

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Football: Not only was Rancho Santiago Coach Dave Ogas depressed because his team lost the Simple Green Orange County Bowl to Los Angeles Valley, 36-28, Saturday, but it also meant the end of the season.

Ogas was asked which was harder: Losing or saying goodby to a talented group of sophomores? “You get me thinking like that and I’ll start to cry,” he said.

One of the sophomores that Ogas will miss the most is quarterback Simon Fuentes who set a regular-season record with 19 touchdown passes. Beyond his statistics, Fuentes was a superb leader.

“It hurts,” Fuentes said after the game. “But we didn’t leave anything out on the field. We gave it our best shot, you just have to give the credit to L.A. Valley for getting the job done.”

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More football: Before Fullerton’s bowl game, Coach Gene Murphy asked that the individual school records that players were about to break, not be published until after the season.

The idea was to get the players to concentrate on the team and not themselves. Well, Fullerton beat Hancock, 38-33, Saturday so the embargo is off.

Mark O’Brien, the Hornets’ quarterback, set a single-season record for completions (193) and career marks for completion percentage (65%) and fewest interceptions (seven).