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The NCAA News -- January 4, 1999

49ers finish first unbeaten season with five-game thriller

Long Beach State won a match of the unbeatens, 15-3, 15-10, 13-15, 14-16, 15-12, to win the 1998 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship over Penn State December 19 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin.

The previously unbeaten Nittany Lions (35-1) forced the 49ers (36-0) into five games before succumbing before a single-match record crowd of 13,194.

The 49ers, who became the first Division I team to complete an unbeaten season since the NCAA began conducting women's volleyball championships in 1981, rolled to a two-game lead before the Lions came alive.

"When you beat a team, 15-3 and 15-10, and then have to fight with all you have, it's very thrilling," Long Beach State coach Brian Gimmillaro said. "To be 36-0, the first undefeated NCAA champion -- this is the best team I've seen in my 14 years."

The 49ers claimed game one quickly, needing only four servers to put the game away. Penn State scored 10 points in the second game, but could not avoid being put on the brink of elimination.

But Penn State would claim successive down-to-the-wire victories to even the match and force a rally-scored fifth game.

"We would have liked to have gotten out of there in three," Gimmillaro said. "And we almost got out of there in four. But even though we outhit and outkilled them, they were still in a great position to win the match."

In fact, the Nittany Lions took an early 7-2 lead in the fifth game before Gimmillaro called a timeout.

"We said we have nothing to lose," Long Beach State hitter Veronica Walls said. "We knew we had the ability to get it done. We were still very confident out there."

The 49ers closed the deficit to 8-5 before finally tying the game at 8, 9 and 10. Long Beach State took its first lead of the game at 11-10 on a kill by senior setter Misty May, the 1997 and 1998 AVCA Player of the Year.

After a Nittany Lions kill that tied the game at 11, Benishe Dillard had a kill to give Long Beach State a 12-11 lead, which Penn State promptly tied at 12-12. Penn State server Leilani Schlottfeldt, who had four aces earlier in the match, then took the serve. A Jessica Alvarado kill made the score 13-12, though, in favor of Long Beach State and gave May the serve.

The 49ers received kills from Anja Grabovac and Walls for points 14, 15 and the title.

"I just shot it to the corner," Walls said of her soft kill from the right side of the net. "I saw no one was there. I knew I had the kill."

The loss for Penn State is the second consecutive in a national championship match. In 1997 the Nittany Lions lost to Stanford, also in five games.

"It's so hard to get to the (finals), and it's so hard to win it, obviously," Penn State coach Russ Rose said. "It's a huge disappointment to fight back and not play as well as we could have. I knew we could play better, but I'm not sure we ever got into the flow of the match.

"I would hate to think we look at 35-1 as a failure."

The title is the third for the 49ers, adding to victories in 1989 and 1993. The 1993 title also came in Madison against Penn State. The 49ers won that match in four games.

Penn State's Lauren Cacciamani and Long Beach State's May shared most outstanding player honors for the tournament. Dillard, Walls and Alvarado represented the 49ers on the all-tournament squad, while Bonnie Bremner of Penn State also was honored.

Penn State advanced to the championship by defeating Nebraska (32-2), 15-11, 15-8, 8-15, 15-11. Long Beach State eliminated Florida (35-3) in the championship semifinal, 15-2, 15-8, 15-10.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Long Beach St. -- 15 -- 15 -- 13 -- 14 -- 15

Penn St. -- 3 -- 10 -- 15 -- 16 -- 12

Long Beach St. -- K -- E -- TA -- PCT -- -- SA -- DG -- BS

Kristy Kierulff -- 3 -- 0 -- 4 -- .750 -- -- 0 -- 14 -- 0

Misty May -- 9 -- 1 -- 18 -- .444 -- -- 2 -- 11 -- 0

Anja Grabovac -- 16 -- 5 -- 32 -- .343 -- -- 0 -- 25 -- 1

Benishe Dillard -- 16 -- 6 -- 37 -- .270 -- -- 0 -- 8 -- 0

Jessica Alvarado -- 17 -- 5 -- 37 -- .324 -- -- 0 -- 9 -- 0

Melissa Ohta -- 0 -- 0 -- 0 -- .000 -- -- 1 -- 7 -- 0

Veronica Walls -- 19 -- 4 -- 33 -- .454 -- -- 0 -- 6 -- 0

Silvia Panak -- 0 -- 0 -- 0 -- .000 -- -- 0 -- 0 -- 0

Keri Nishimoto -- 0 -- 0 -- 0 -- .000 -- -- 0 -- 0 -- 0

Brandy Barratt -- 7 -- 4 -- 28 -- .107 -- -- 0 -- 2 -- 1

Totals -- 87 -- 25 -- 189 -- .328 -- -- 3 -- 82 -- 2

Penn St. -- K -- E -- TA -- PCT -- -- SA -- DG -- BS

Emily Stout -- 1 -- 5 -- 13 -- .000 -- -- 0 -- 5 -- 1

Lauren Cacciamani -- 33 -- 7 -- 69 -- .376 -- -- 3 -- 8 -- 1

Bonnie Bremner -- 4 -- 0 -- 13 -- .307 -- -- 1 -- 5 -- 0

Carrie Schonveld -- 12 -- 7 -- 53 -- .094 -- -- 0 -- 10 -- 0

Lindsay Anderson -- 7 -- 9 -- 29 -- .000 -- -- 1 -- 16 -- 1

Christy Cochran -- 13 -- 7 -- 33 -- .181 -- -- 0 -- 7 -- 0

Nadia Edwards -- 0 -- 0 -- 0 -- .000 -- -- 0 -- 0 -- 0

Katic Schumacher -- 0 -- 0 -- 0 -- .000 -- -- 0 -- 0 -- 0

Amanda Rome -- 0 -- 0 -- 0 -- .000 -- -- 0 -- 0 -- 0

Leilani Schlottfelt -- 0 -- 0 -- 1 -- .165 -- -- 0 -- 3 -- 0

Totals -- 70 -- 35 -- 211 -- .165 -- -- 5 -- 60 -- 3