VALLEY / VENTURA COUNTY SPORTS : WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL PREVIEW : Several Matadors Missing in Action as Season Starts : Ma has transferred, Duncan is in rehab, Sigel quit and two recruits are stranded in China for Northridge.

Don’t print that final copy of the media guide yet.

It has been anything but a quiet off-season for the Cal State Northridge women’s volleyball team, which has experienced wholesale changes in player personnel, some of which might still be pending.

Nancy Ma, considered by some to be the best player ever at Northridge, has transferred to NAIA school Fresno Pacific because her NCAA eligibility expired last season.

Kristin Sigel, the team leader in digs the last two years, quit the team.

Sophomore opposite hitter Amanda Duncan, the tallest player on the Matadors at 6 foot 2, will miss at least a month after having off-season knee surgery.

Crystal Newquist, among the top five career blocking leaders at Northridge, has graduated.

Perhaps most important, recruits Li He and Na Li are a world away, having been denied visas by the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

He, one of the top junior Olympic players in China, would have brought an explosive arm swing and sterling jumping ability as a 5-11 outside hitter.

Li, also a top junior Olympic athlete, could have provided leadership as the Matadors’ setter.

The exchange students have been accepted by Northridge and have passed the Test of English as a Foreign Language, but they remain in China despite a letter-writing campaign by Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) and Louanne Kennedy, interim president at Northridge.

The U.S. Embassy in Beijing has held firm on its stance that the players have not “demonstrated the ability and intention to be full-time students in the U.S,” acting chief of visa services Mark Bysfield wrote in response to a letter from McKeon.

Many Chinese students, Bysfield wrote, use the opportunity to study in the U.S. as a vehicle for immigration. Only 6% of Chinese students who study abroad return to China, the letter said.

The door has not been bolted shut for their arrival this season, but. . . .

“We are so sad, so upset,” said sixth-year Coach Lian Lu. “Without them, it’s a little hard. If not this year, next year we would have been so dominating.”

With all the comings and goings--mostly goings--the Matadors will be hard-pressed to match last year’s record of 13-11, 9-7 in the Big Sky Conference.

They are expected to be, at best, in the middle of the conference. The preseason coaches’ poll targeted Northridge for a fifth-place finish among nine teams, with Cal State Sacramento and Eastern Washington expected to finish one-two.

Only 10 players are practicing right now, 11 when Duncan comes back. There are no seniors, only two juniors.

Laura Szymanski, conference freshman of the year last season, is the strongest option. Szymanski, an opposite hitter who might move to the middle when Duncan returns, led the team with 404 kills and a 4.64 kills per game average last season.

A native of Berlin, Germany, Szymanski said Ma’s on-court presence will be missed.

“She made the team calm and quiet because she played relaxed,” Szymanski said. “She had her spot and everybody else had theirs. This year, we’re more yelling and running around and [acting] confused. Everybody wants to get to the ball.”

The apparent loss of He and Li also stings.

“I wish they were here because 10 players is not enough to play a whole season,” Szymanski said. “They would have made us more stable.”

Setter Laura Woiemberghe and middle blocker Angie Herrera are the other returning starters.

Hedder Ilustre, a 5-7 defensive specialist, will see time at outside hitter for the Matadors, whose schedule includes a trip to defending NCAA champion Long Beach State on Friday.

The Matadors’ season begins Tuesday at UC Irvine.

Cal Lutheran

The Regals, 21-3 and 12-0 in SCIAC play last season, must make up for the loss of three top players.

Marianne Moll will not play this season because of back problems, and Lauren McCartin and Kelly Mongini quit the team.

Five players return, including 5-11 sophomore middle blocker Michelle Loughmiller and 5-8 outside hitters Tory Fithian and Sara Fristad.

Top recruits include Ali Piff, a 5-10 middle blocker from Medford, Ore., and Sally Jahraus, a 5-11 middle blocker from Laguna Beach.

Jamie Arnold, a 5-10 freshman from Canyon, might see time at outside hitter.

The Master’s

Kim Gibson and Beth Barrington are back, which means a likely return to the NAIA playoffs for the Mustangs, who went 17-14 last season.

Gibson, a 5-11 middle blocker, is expected to finish among the school’s top five career kills, blocks and digs leaders.

Barrington led the Mustangs with 316 kills last season after transferring from UC Santa Barbara.

Top newcomer Jorden Gienger, a 5-10 sophomore middle blocker, played on the women’s basketball team last year.