Volleyball Team Is Now Struggling On, Not In, Court

A long legal battle waged by former Coach Jim Huffman and his players saved the Cal State Fullerton volleyball program from the Titan athletic department’s cutting-room floor in May.

But the volleyball team hasn’t been nearly as successful on the courts this fall as they were in the courts last spring.

With about two-thirds of the season completed, the Titans have as many victories as they would have had had the program remained on the school’s discontinued list:

None.

Fullerton is 0-17 entering Wednesday night’s match against UC Santa Barbara and has won only seven games this season. The Titans have extended only one opponent to five games, losing to UC Irvine, 15-13, 3-15, 13-15, 15-13, 16-18, on Oct. 7.

But at least Fullerton has lost in relative harmony. There have been no player revolts, threats to boycott matches or demands that the university president increase funding for the sport.

“One of the weird things about this season is you usually have problems on the court when you’re not getting along off the court,” sophomore outside hitter Kristin Sharples said. “But we’ve had a lot of great road trips this season and are getting along fine.”

Few expected Fullerton to have much success this season. Four starters from the 1991 team, including all-conference outside hitter Becky Howlett, left in the wake of the court case.

The Titans have only one senior, five of the team’s 11 players are walk-ons, and they play in the nation’s toughest conference, the Big West.

But Sharples says some of the team’s problems stem from a self-fulfilling prophecy.

“People are getting too comfortable with the expectations of people who said we’re young and shouldn’t be winning,” Sharples said. “That’s not the right attitude. We’re not going to turn it around until we get the right attitude.”

Mary Ellen Murchison, who replaced Huffman as coach, sees at least one bright spot to having two freshmen and four sophomores among her top eight players.

“Our freshmen and sophomores are getting a lot more experience than other teams’ young players, and that will be valuable for next year,” Murchison said. “We’re just trying to keep a low profile, plug along this year, evaluate what we have and add players who can help next season.”

And, she hopes, win a match or two.

“We have 11 more matches--there’s gotta be a win in there somewhere,” Murchison said. “The odds are we’ll get it.”

Goodwill ambassador: In an attempt to ward off any ill feelings from the bench-clearing brawl that ended last season’s Fullerton-Nevada Las Vegas soccer match, Titan Coach Al Mistri gave Rebel Coach Barry Barto a bouquet of yellow carnations before Sunday’s rematch in the Titan Sports Complex.

“It’s an old Italian friendship gesture,” Mistri said.

Mistri should have saved a few flowers to send after the match--Fullerton buried UNLV, 9-0, an incredibly lopsided score in what has been a hotly contested and extremely competitive rivalry.

“I just spent this (Monday) morning trying to explain how it happened,” Mistri said. “One guy said, ‘It’s gotta be a mistake in the paper, right Al?’ No matter what we did, it turned out OK.”

Mistri hopes the Titans (11-4, 5-0 in the Mountain Pacific Soccer Federation) continue their solid play this week when they play host to San Diego State Thursday night--the match was originally scheduled for Friday but moved because Servite High School has the field for a football game--and travel to seventh-ranked UCLA for the regular-season finale Sunday.

The games will determine whether Fullerton will advance to the four-team MPSF tournament and have any hopes of a berth in the 28-team NCAA tournament field.

Washington and Stanford have clinched the MPSL Mountain Division playoff berths. Fullerton leads the Pacific Division, and UCLA and New Mexico each have one loss.

If Fullerton beats San Diego State and loses to UCLA, and New Mexico beats UNLV Friday--a very likely scenario--the teams would each finish 6-1 and in a three-way tie. Because New Mexico beat UCLA, Fullerton beat New Mexico and UCLA would beat Fullerton, the two playoff berths might be determined by goal differential in head-to-head competition.

“It’s very much up in the air,” Mistri said. “I think our chances for an NCAA tournament berth are slim unless we can get into the MPSL playoffs and win the first game.”

Food for thought: The Fullerton football team has already generated more than twice as much gate revenue in three games this season in the Titan Sports Complex games as it did in all four 1991 home games in Santa Ana Stadium.

With one home game remaining, Saturday against Utah State, the athletic department has netted $56,127 in gate receipts, compared to $22,424 in four games last season.

The Titans’ average attendance this season is 4,263--that’s the number of ticket stubs counted and does not include free passes to players’ families--a 310% increase over last season’s 1,040 average but still among the lowest in Division I-A.

“While the figures have increased dramatically, there’s still a long way to go,” Athletic Director Bill Shumard said.

Kids’ zone: Beginning with Saturday’s football game, children 17 and younger will be admitted free with a paid adult admission to all Fullerton home athletic events. Kids can also get a free season ticket for any sport with the purchase of an adult season ticket.

“It’s part of the philosophy behind the new Titan Sports Complex,” Shumard said in a release. “These facilities are for the youth of the City of Fullerton and Orange County, and we want to do everything we can to expose them to Titan athletics and our campus.”

Add freebies: The Titan athletic department has given vouchers for four free tickets to Saturday’s football game to 7,500 members of the Racquetball World Health Club in Fullerton.

If each member were to take Fullerton up on the offer, and get three other people to attend the game with them, it would result in a crowd of 30,000. Of course, the Titan Sports Complex holds only 10,000, so it’s safe to say that athletic department officials aren’t expecting a 100% response to the offer.

Titan Notes

The men’s soccer team will open the 1993 season with a Titan Sports Complex tournament that will include St. Louis, currently ranked fourth in the nation, seventh-ranked UCLA and North Carolina, which recently dropped out of the national rankings. Titan Coach Al Mistri said the school is negotiating with a corporate sponsor for the event. . . . Eddie Soto, who had three goals and four assists to help Fullerton defeat New Mexico and UNLV, was named Mountain Pacific Soccer Federation Pacific Division player of the week. . . . The men’s and women’s cross-country teams will travel to Hawaii for Saturday’s Big West Championships, a meet both have a good chance of winning. . . . Among the former Titan basketball players expected to play in Saturday night’s alumni-news media basketball game are Greg Bunch, Kevin Heenan, Steve Shaw and Keith Anderson, who all played on the 1978 Fullerton team that advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals. The 10:30 p.m. game will serve as a prelude to the Midnight Madness celebration, in which the Titan men’s and women’s basketball teams will open practice for the 1992-93 seasons. . . . Utah State’s offensive coordinator is Jim Zorn, the former NFL and Canadian Football League quarterback who is the Seattle Seahawks’ career passing leader with 20,122 yards. . . . Former Edison High and Orange Coast College standout Greg Angelovic started the first three games at quarterback for Utah State but lost his job to Anthony Calvillo, who has completed 120 of 221 passes for 1,313 yards and six touchdowns. . . . Titan offensive tackle Wally Bonnett (knee, missed five games), inside linebacker Lorenzo Hailey (knee, missed two games), defensive back Mike Simmons (concussion, missed one game) and free safety Al Whitten (ankle, missed two games) are expected to return to the lineup for Saturday night’s game.