Fullerton Talks Volleyball After Upset of Golden West

Fullerton College football Coach Gene Murphy stood on the field Saturday before his game with Saddleback, but he had something else on his mind.

“How about our women’s volleyball team?” he said. “They did something that hasn’t been done in 10 years. I think that’s great.”

The accomplishment to which Murphy was referring happened Friday when Fullerton, ranked third in the state, became the first team in 10 years to beat Golden West, the top-ranked team in California, in a conference match.

The Hornets did it the hard way, losing the first two games, 15-2, 15-5, and trailing in the third, 11-6.

At that point, the rally started and Fullerton won the final three games, 15-13, 15-12, 15-13.

The loss ended Golden West’s streak of 120 consecutive victories under Coach Albert Gasparian. It was also the Rustlers’ first loss in the Orange Empire Conference, which was formed in 1988. That streak stopped at 102.

Michelle Halliday, one of Fullerton’s talented sophomore middle blockers, led the Hornets with 18 kills and five blocks.

“This was the biggest win of my career so far,” she said. “The fact that we’d been working so hard, we knew we weren’t going to let this one get away.”

In an effort to jump-start her team, Fullerton Coach Nancy Welliver made several substitutions and finally found the right combination late in the third game.

“It feels great,” Welliver said. “We just completely stopped making any errors.”

Gasparian, who has led the Rustlers to the last three state titles, had his own take on the evening.

“They got on fire and we totally fell asleep,” he said.

Nadia Hoerner, another middle blocker, had eight blocks and Wendy Ames, a freshman outside hitter, had 13 kills.

“We just decided as a team,” Hoerner said, “that we didn’t want to go home in three games.”