49er Freshman Has Her Hands Full

His team had a perfect season and won the national championship in 1998, and Long Beach State women’s volleyball Coach Brian Gimmillaro expects another title this season.

But for the first time in four years, the 49ers will be without arguably the greatest player in women’s collegiate volleyball. What’s more, Gimmillaro is replacing her with a true freshman.

Brittany Hochevar, a 6-foot-1 freshman setter from Fowler, Colo., has been picked to replace Misty May, whose list of accomplishments includes three-time Big West player of the year, two-time national player of the year and winner of the 1998-99 Honda Broderick Cup, awarded to the nation’s outstanding collegiate woman athlete.

Replacing a legend and being the floor general for the defending national champion sounds like a heavy task for an 18-year-old, but those are two of the biggest reasons Hochevar chose Long Beach State.

“I knew what I was getting myself into,” Hochevar said. “I didn’t want anybody else in the country to have that opportunity to replace Misty May.

“I felt it was my calling, my challenge. I know I’m going to hear [comparisons] after every match, every play.”

But so far, there hasn’t been much drop-off in the play of the defending national champions.

The 49ers are 6-0, and ranked No. 4 nationally. The six victories have extended the 49ers’ winning streak to 42 matches, two off the NCAA record set by Penn State in 1990.

But Gimmillaro knows his team is far from where it needs to be in December, and is looking for his seniors to take some of the pressure off his freshman setter.

“We lost 12 years of starting experience and the returning players must be much better than they were,” said Gimmillaro, who turned down an offer to coach at USC in the off-season. “Generally, the setter is not the key to any team. People had never seen a team setter-dominated [before May], whether in college or the international level.

“Now we’re a more typical team in that we’re hitter-dominated.”

That means more of the offensive responsibilities are on the shoulders of senior outside hitters Brandy Barratt and Anja Grabovac, both first-team Big West players a year ago.

Hochevar will still be a key to the 49ers’ success. And so far, numbers indicate she’s on the right track.

Through six matches, all of which she has started, Hochevar has nearly two more assists per game and more blocks per game than did May as a freshman.

In fact, Hochevar’s biggest adjustments will be made off the court, where she has to get used to the life of a Southern California college student.

“There’s always something going on,” she said. “I called home after my first day of classes and said ‘Mom, you can fit our town times seven on this campus.’

“In Colorado, it was volleyball and books and life was good. Now throw in a social life and the beach and wow!

“I’ve learned so much in just one month here. It’s different than I’m used to but I love it. It’s the best decision of my life.”

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Long Beach State isn’t the only Southland school off to a fast start in women’s volleyball. Pepperdine, ranked 11th, is 5-0 after winning the All-Sport Challenge this past weekend at Ann Arbor, Mich. UCLA, ranked 10th, is 6-1 after winning last weekend’s Pioneer Classic at Denver, and No. 20 USC is 3-0. UC Santa Barbara is ranked ninth at 6-0 after winning the Marriott Classic at Atlanta on Saturday.

Loyola Marymount’s Sarah McFarland set a school record Friday night with 52 kills in a five-game victory over No. 14 Ohio State. The 52 kills is the third-highest single-game total in Division I women’s history.

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A week after gaining the nation’s top ranking, the UCLA men’s soccer team had a disappointing weekend. The Bruins lost to 0-1-0 Florida International, 1-0, in double overtime Friday, then defeated 0-4 Butler, 4-3 in overtime Sunday. The Bruins are 3-1, and did get a hat trick from senior Sasha Victorine in a season-opening 6-0 victory over Denver. It was the first UCLA hat trick since 1997.

The UCLA women won the Wake Forest Nike Invitational on Sunday, improving to 4-1 with a 1-0 victory over the Demon Deacons at Winston-Salem, N.C. Freshman Jessica Winton had a hat trick in a 7-0 defeat of North Carolina Charlotte two days earlier.

The USC women had their best weekend in program history with victories over No. 18 Portland and No. 12 Connecticut at Lincoln, Neb. The Trojans are 4-1. Freshman midfielder Ali Fennell was named Pacific 10 player of the week after scoring the overtime winner against Connecticut and assisting on the lone goal against Portland. The Trojans are ranked 10th, their highest in school history.

Loyola Marymount has found a new sniper in freshman Arturo Torres from Wilmington Banning High. Torres set school records with four goals and eight points in a 4-2 victory over Denver on Friday. Two days later, he added two more against UCSB and his 15 points in six games are already more than any Lion scored last season.

COLLEGE DIVISION

Long Beach State has its volleyball team, but Azusa Pacific of the NAIA has a pair of streaking defending national champions. The Cougar football team ran its winning streak to 12 Saturday, third-longest in college football, with a 21-14 victory at Olivet Nazarene of Illinois in a rematch of last year’s title game teams. The Cougar women’s soccer team is now 6-0-1 after last year’s national championship and is unbeaten in 32 games.

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Cal Poly Pomona junior Ruth Van’t Land, the 1998 California Collegiate Athletic Assn. women’s soccer player of the year, is a goal away from one conference scoring record and tying for another. Van’t Land has 44 goals, tied for the CCAA record set in 1996-97 by Cal State Dominguez Hills’ Heather Roland. She also has 103 points, two behind the record set by Jackie Powers of Cal State San Bernardino in 1991-93.

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Best of the Week

FOOTBALL

Azusa Pacific at Humboldt State, Saturday, 7 p.m.

The defending NAIA champion Cougars put their 12-game winning streak and No. 1 ranking on the line in a homecoming for new Coach Peter Shinnick, an offensive line coach at Humboldt a year ago.

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

Long Beach State at Hawaii, Thursday, 10 p.m.

Not only is this a matchup of Nos. 3 and 4 in the nation, but the fourth-ranked 49ers’ 42-match winning streak will be at stake in one of the nation’s toughest arenas for a visiting team.

Cal State Bakersfield at Cal State Los Angeles, Friday, 7 p.m.

The No. 12 Roadrunners (3-1) and No. 24 Golden Eagles (9-0) are both 2-0 in CCAA play and the winner of this early-season battle has the inside track to the conference title.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Grand Canyon at Cal Poly Pomona, Thursday, 4:30 p.m.

The Broncos are 2-0 in the CCAA, already alone in first, a game ahead of four teams. Along with conference championship implications, this game could hold a bit of CCAA history, as Cal Poly Pomona’s Ruth Van’t Land is tied for the most goals in the conference and is two behind the record in total points.

USC vs. Brigham Young at the Coliseum, Friday, 3 p.m.

The Trojans are ranked 10th, their highest ever, and face their fourth of six consecutive ranked opponents in the No. 11 Cougars.

MEN’S WATER POLO

Southern California Tournament at USC, Saturday and Sunday.

The nation’s premier regular-season tournament features defending national champion and top-ranked USC, the 1998 SoCal Tournament winner, along with the rest of the top 10 and three other schools. Other Southland schools in the tournament will be No. 3 UCLA, No. 4 Pepperdine, No. 7 Long Beach State and No. 9 UC Santa Barbara.