Cal State L.A. Aims Even Higher

Success is nothing new to the Cal State Los Angeles women’s volleyball team, so it is not surprising that the Golden Eagles are poised to win their first California Collegiate Athletic Assn. championship outright.

They will win the conference title with one victory in their final four regular-season matches, which shouldn’t be a problem. The streaking Golden Eagles have won all 26 of their matches in what is easily the finest season in the school’s history.

For a program that has long had to live in the shadow of conference rival Cal State Bakersfield, the amazing season has allowed fifth-year Coach Bill Lawler and his players to set their sights higher.

“The question is if we can go 36-0,” said Lawler, alluding to the number of victories it will take to win the school’s first NCAA Division II title. “I don’t know if the players have figured that out but I have.”

Under Lawler, Cal State L.A. has won at least 24 matches in each of the last four seasons. Last year, it won 26, tying a school record, and its NCAA tournament appearance was its first since 1992.

This season, they have been nearly perfect, having lost only three games in 81 they’ve played. They haven’t been taken to five games in any match.

No. 4 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Assn. poll and one of only three undefeated teams in Division II, the Eagles figure to be top-seeded when the regional playoff pairings are announced in two weeks.

Lawler was always confident about his team. Just never this confident.

“I knew we’d be good but going undefeated [in matches]? No,” he said. “Going 78-3 [in games] is something I couldn’t imagine.”

This is the deepest team in Lawler’s tenure, which helps explain the success. Junior Dana Coffey, a junior college transfer who attended high school power Torrance Bishop Montgomery, has given the Golden Eagles a reliable right side hitter.

Sophomore setter Kristy Sain has improved--and she was last season’s Pacific Region freshman of the year. But no one will dispute that the program’s rebound from an 11-14 season in 1996 revolves around seniors Kasey Jungwirth, Linda Saucedo and Jamie Griffin.

They lead a team that is second in the NCAA in hitting percentage.

“These three have been here for four years. That offense is built around them,” Lawler said. “I remember one coach saying, ‘How do you stop L.A.?’ Well, another one said, “You’ve got to stop the middle. You’ve got to stop the outside and you’ve got to stop their blocking. Then you can beat them.’ ”

Having Griffin for an entire season has made a difference. The Golden Eagles’ all-time digs leader missed all but six matches of last season because of a stress fracture in her leg and was granted a medical redshirt by the NCAA.

“It makes a big difference, having her back,” Jungwirth said. “She’s been a leader for us.”

Cal State L.A. had its breakthrough match Sept. 8 at Bakersfield. Not only did the Eagles win there for the first time, they trounced the 10-time CCAA champion Roadrunners in three games, 15-9, 15-5, 15-12.

“For us, it was big,” Saucedo said. “We knew if we could go into Bakersfield and win in front of their home crowd, we could win anywhere.”

So far, they have.

Since ending its 13-game losing streak, Whittier’s football team has compiled a three-game winning streak and finds itself atop the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference standings.

The Poets (3-4, 3-0) won their third in a row Saturday, a 52-24 pasting of Cal Lutheran. With SCIAC victories over Claremont-Mudd and Occidental, Whittier is in a first-place tie with Redlands (5-2, 3-0), setting up a showdown Saturday night when Redlands plays at Whittier.

The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men’s and women’s cross-country teams swept the SCIAC team championships by easily outdistancing Pomona-Pitzer in both races at Chino’s Prado Park. Claremont senior Eli Klovee-Smith cemented his status as the conference’s top runner by winning the 8,000-meter men’s race. In the women’s 5,000-meter race, sophomore Laura Bishop of Pomona-Pitzer edged Ellie Irons of Claremont, also a sophomore, by five-tenths of a second for the individual title.

Azusa Pacific’s football team suffered a damaging blow to its hopes for a berth in the NAIA playoffs with a 47-37 loss to Menlo on Saturday. The Cougars (5-3), who won the 1998 national title, now have a must-win game against Chapman in their regular-season finale. . . . The Azusa Pacific men’s and women’s soccer teams earned first-round byes in the NAIA West Region playoffs by winning the Golden State Athletic Conference titles. . . . The Biola women’s soccer team will play a first-round regional game at Cal Baptist on Saturday.

UNIVERSITY DIVISION

UCLA scored Pacific 10 Conference women’s soccer victories over Stanford and California last weekend and moved to No. 5 in the national rankings.

Junior forward Stephanie Rigamat was exceptional in both games, particularly the 4-1 win over then-No. 6 California in which she scored two goals. The Bruins (14-2-1, 5-1-1) can clinch at least second place by beating Arizona and Arizona State this week.

USC plays UCLA in a critical Pac-10 women’s volleyball match Friday at Pauley Pavilion. The third-ranked Trojans (19-1, 12-1) are tied with No. 4 Arizona atop the standings. No. 8 UCLA (16-5, 11-2) has won six in a row and is one game back.

USC’s Andrew Park won the Southern California Intercollegiate tennis championship with a 6-3, 6-2 victory Monday over UCLA’s Travis Rettenmaier at the L.A. Tennis Center on the UCLA campus.