THE UPSIDE DOWN ON THE BEACH: REMEMBERING THE ‘NINER NAMES AND NUMBERS
2:49pm | Just to keep you alert we offer this upside-down column beginning with our usual ending, NUTTIN’ BUT NUMBERS and ending with the alliterative favorite, Notes on My Napkin.
Last Week was sort of an off-week, except for women’s tennis, since there was but one basketball game played by a Beach entry, that of the ladies who welcomed former Final Four Coach Joan Bonvicini and her new Seattle University team. The Beach had a slew of their old All-Americans in town and then fumbled away the moment 73-54 with more turnovers (36) than a bakery at Easter. Hustling 49er senior Courtney Jacob did score a game-high 19 points but the Beach is now back in danger of missing the BWC tourney if they don’t beat Northridge at home on Wednesday night. This Saturday at 4:00pm the team has a fund and friend raiser for cancer awareness after their game vs. Davis.
The still-in-first-place men’s hoops team goes back to work this week leading the BWC with an 8-2 mark but having to defend that honor in road games at UC Davis Thursday night and at Cal State Northridge on Saturday. Question is: Are they rested or rusty after a 12-day hiatus?
The good news report came, as it often does, from Women’s Tennis (2-1 and ranked 42nd) who beat Fullerton 7-0 and Loyola Marymount 6-1. Their season really heats up this week with a home opener vs. Hawaii on Thursday, vs. Cal State Northridge on Saturday and Nevada Sunday all at the handsome and almost new Rhodes Tennis Center.
Women’s Water Polo (0-3) enters the Triton Invitational this weekend in San Diego after losing two down there last week to No. 18 UC San Diego, 9-8 and No. 10 San Diego State 9-3.
Back on the upside, the second-ranked LBSU Men’s Volleyball team tries to keep the beatdowns going playing at Cal State Northridge Friday night while Beach Softball hosts their LBSU Round Robin with guests from Loyola Marymount and Boise State playing each other twice in games that run as round things do in a circle from 9:00am-1:15pm at the 49er Softball Complex. Just reading that sentence has me exhausted.
Now to the well-folded napkin, which has remnants of the last four banquets I attended–track (nice lasagna) baseball (surf and turf) volleyball (steak and salad with just a hint of truffle sauce) and baseball part two (a mountain of Tantalum appetizers).
We sat on the news about wanna-be basketball player Jacob Thomas giving up his path to black and gold glory but the story is out and so is the Minnesota sharp shooter. Did not enroll this spring and that should be the end of his LB story. The other academic sitting out star is Alma Serna out of Capo Valley who (like Thomas) was a Bickerstaff Academic Center regular. She is a potential volleyball star at 6-3 and plays a big and mean middle blocker. (Her brother is a big and mean UCSB basketball player.) Alma on the other hand earned the required 12 units in the fall and, if she does the same in the spring, Brian Gimmillaro will have more depth in his front row next fall as if the great, and now healed, Haleigh Hampton isn’t enough.
As old readers know I love the strange team names that pop up in the sports section. Previous faves have been The Macon Whoopee (name was used by a Central Hockey League Team), The Portland Wet Sox (Triple-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres) The Mars Area Fighting Planets, etc. But my new number one is the Danville Dans who honor me with their Illinois college summer league entry. I have ordered a team jersey in XXXXXL, the size not the year.