[gouci]

KEISSER: Obscure cup for LB State

By Bob Keisser, Sports Columnist
Posted: 05/29/2009 10:59:46 PM PDT
...
LBSU women's tennis coach Jennifer Hilt-Costello has signed two more foreign prospects for 2010, Jaklin Alawi from Bulgaria and Klaudia Malenovska from the Slovak Republic. They're the only team in the Big West that has a need for a team translator.

bob.keisser@presstelegram.com

[gouci]

Nice to see the lady 49ers getting a mention in The Press-Telegram, the local Long Beach newspaper.

Originally Posted by gouci

They're the only team in the Big West that has a need for a team translator.

That cracked me up.

Now Form I included the author's e-mail on the post above just for you. So if you have a problem with the column's content please take it up with the columnist and not me.

[RobertCB]

Long Beach State...

Sedem casa velke zapadnej majstrov.

Siedem czas wielkich mistrow zachod.

Sept fois grand ouest champions.

Well, at least we can say that next spring.

[RobertCB]

Gouci, we at LBSU take pride in all of our athletes, regardless of their birth place. These young ladies not only WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS but also excel in the classroom. The tennis program is one that the LB community is proud of for many more reasons then the two I listed above.

Too bad your UCI women's tennis players have never experienced being champions, but I am sure the BW Commissioner will consider the little league model and offer smaller trophies to all of the non winning participants. That way UCI can claim that they offer the full package when recruiting . Oh by the way, how much press does the women's tennis program get over in your neck of the woods... well, I know the answer so no need to bother. Had to use your favorite smiley since it was appropriate here.

[gouci]

Sedem casa velke zapadnej majstrov.

Siedem czas wielkich mistrow zachod.

Sept fois grand ouest champions.

Rob, nice reply and sense of humor.


Form learn from Rob and lighten up.


Rob I don't dwell on the past. After UCI won 2 national titles I stopped caring about UCI's past athletic shortcomings. That's one of the beauties of winning a national title, it makes it SO EASY to move on.

[10sE]

What sport did UCI win a national championship in?

[gouci]

Originally Posted by 10sE

What sport did UCI win a national championship in?

UCI beat Ohio St. in the Final 4 & then defeated U$C to win the 2009 NCAA Div. 1 men's volleyball title. UCI's head coach John Speraw was also an assistant coach for the US men's volleyball Olympic team that won gold in Beijing. He is building a men's volleyball dynasty at UCI having been to the Final 4 three times in the last four years and having won titles in 2007 & 2009.

Here's a celebration video.

[RobertCB]

Maybe we can get back on topic here. This is a Big West thread on a tennis site, right .

LBSU's 2009 class was just voted 23rd in the nation by tennisrecruiting.net. This is significant since this is the first time a BW school has made the top 25 I believe. Hopefully these young ladies can reach their potential and elevate LB's program up a notch or two. I see the gap widening between LB and the other BW schools, right Gouci .

[gouci]

Originally Posted by RobertCB

LBSU's 2009 class was just voted 23rd in the nation by tennisrecruiting.net. This is significant since this is the first time a BW school has made the top 25 I believe.

Actually UCI's recruiting class last season in 2008 was ranked #23 overall.
And that 2008 UCI class was even underrated because after the rankings came out UCI added sophomore transfers Hayley and Miranda Young. Hayley suffered a season ending injury but Miranda Young was playing #2 doubles by the end of the year.

If you go to a team's homepage on TRN it will have notes about that teams recruiting classes that were ranked.
Ex. UC Irvine

Just a side note:

1. UCSB's recruiting class in 2008 in my humble opinion was just as good or better than UCI's.
- Michelle Murphy 5 star sophomore transfer from Michigan St., played #1 at end of year.
- Sofia Novak 4 star freshman, played #3 at end of year
- Natalia Lozano freshman from Spain, played #4 at end of year
- Ratchaya Chaichanachaicharn freshman from Thailand, played #3 doubles part of the year

2. Long Beach St.'s 2007 recruiting class in my humble opinion on paper may have been better than that of 2009.
- Stephanie Jeanes freshman from Austrailia was Big West Freshman of the Year
- Deborah Armstrong freshman from Britain was honorable mention All Big West
- Lisa Haegele freshman from Germany had a WTA ranking high of #864
- Lisa Sutton freshman from Britain played #6 singles at end of that year

3. Cal St. Northridge's 2007 recruiting class in my humble opinion on paper may have been the best recruiting class the Big West has ever had.
- Karina Porushkevich blue chip sophomore transfer from Virginia Tech
- Victoria Brymer 5 star junior transfer from Washington
- Sandra Kulka junior transfer from Texas San Antonio, played #2 at start of 2009 before she got injured
- Nina Jaworowski freshman from Germany played #2 at end of 2009 season
- Brooke Doane 4 star freshman played #3 at end of 2009 season
- Whitney Paluch 3 star freshman played #4 at end of 2009 season
- Julie Onishenko 2 star freshman played #6 part of the 2009 season

[gouci]

Originally Posted by RobertCB

I see the gap widening between LB and the other BW schools, right Gouci.

Rob I don't know how you can compare Long Beach St. to how good other teams in the Big West are going to be next season and conclude "the gap is widening" when those other teams have not even completed their recruiting classes yet.

- UCI has 3 spots to fill
- Cal Poly has 2 spots to fill
- CSUN has 2 spots to fill
- Pacific has 3 spots to fill

Not to mention you may not know how a recruit is going to pan out until they've played a few tournaments in the fall. That's why I'll wait until January to make my evaluations of the Big West projected standings and determine later if any "gap is widening."

[RobertCB]

Gouci, you are at it again by cutting off a sentence of mine in your response to make it appear that I stated a fact, you left off "I believe" when quoting me .

Anyway, the reason I stated that I see the gap widening is based on two things. First, LB has won the Big West a handful or so times in a row and the team only loses one player from last year's championship team. Second, the 2009 class is probably LB's best ever and historically LB has won the conference with less talent (Grady looks to be replaced by a stronger player on paper). Well I guess there is a third reason, as a LB fan I see things through rose colored glasses .

As to your practice of delaying your predictions until January, I see that as being way too conservative. Based on the conference's history, you should be able to make your predictions years in advance .

[gouci]

Originally Posted by RobertCB

Gouci, you are at it again by cutting off a sentence of mine in your response to make it appear that I stated a fact, you left off "I believe" when quoting me.

Rob thanks for pointing that out. I'm sorry for that unintentional mistake.
But I went ahead and fixed it.

[10sE]

That's cool about the volleyball (no sarcasm, I think it's great when small athletic programs at solid academic schools can still win big like Rice in baseball a few years ago).

That said, I'm not sure why that would make you feel any better about tennis. I don't feel any better about Roddick losing at RG just because Phelps won big at the Olympics.

[gouci]

UC Irvine has a celebrity fan in Leonardo DiCaprio. Check out the UCI hat he's rocking.

Here's the article.





Other celebrity UCI fans include Kobe Bryant and Rocky Theuss (star of the BET reality series Baldwin Hills).

Here's video.


Are you jealous Rob?

[RobertCB]

Man, you are getting desperate in your attempts to find any kind of UCI love, but it seems that your favorite school is still using Long Beach State's hand me downs .