New Look, New Coach : Dominguez Hills Spikers to Open Season Saturday

Cal State Dominguez Hills, which at times last year barely had enough healthy women to field a volleyball team, will have a new look this fall.

The Lady Toros, who open at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at home against Biola, have a new coach and proven winner in Nancy Fortner, 11 healthy bodies and--they hope--a renewed sense of purpose and enthusiasm.

None of that may show up immediately in the won-loss columns, though.

When the Lady Toros open the season, Fortner will have seen her new group play once, in a scrimmage this week. Although they should improve on last year’s 6-28 record, the inexperienced Toros, with only two seniors and one returning starter, figure to view this campaign as a learning experience and foundation for bigger things to come.

Meanwhile, Dominguez Hills may come up short when California Collegiate Athletic Conference play begins and the Toros run into nationally ranked teams such as Cal State Northridge and UC Riverside.

“I hope we’ll be willing to play with a lot of hustle and work through things,” Fortner said. “We’ve mostly been conditioning and doing a lot of teaching. I’d have liked to spend more time on drills but, hopefully, this will help later down the line. We have a good attitude and everyone’s thinking real positive. We may start slower, but I’m hoping we’ll get a little bit better each time.”

Fortner helped found the Dominguez Hills program in the 1970s, then spent seven seasons at Loyola Marymount, leading that program from its infancy to a West Coast Athletic Conference title and a victory over UCLA in the NCAA playoffs in 1986. Her teams were known for overachieving, and Fortner was said to have the knack of developing a family attitude among teammates.

She resigned after that season and has not coached for two years. Dominguez Hills is hoping she can bring the same kind of success to that struggling program, which has never been able to hold its own with the bigger CCAA teams that traditionally contend for the NCAA Division II title.

At least Fortner will have more people to work with than her predecessor, Jennifer Gorecki, who resigned after last season. The team’s ranks were so thin last year that at times, Gorecki had trouble finding six players to put on the floor.

Returning players include Karen Sutherland, who will be the team’s top setter but will also double as a hitter; hitter Maria Romero, also a star on the softball team; backup setter Shawn Brunson, and Rachel Millan.

Fortner got a late start on recruiting but managed to bring in community college transfers Julie Berthiaume and Sharlotte Fritzges, both from Antelope Valley, and freshmen Julie Martinovich from San Pedro High, Angie Hamer from El Segundo and Anne Salzman from Villa Park. Rounding out the team are Josie Gonzales and Lourdes Estrada, who redshirted last year.

The Toros are relatively short up front, with Berthiaume the team’s only 6-footer.

In the CCAA, Northridge and Riverside are again the front-runners--Northridge finished second in the NCAA championship last year after winning it in 1987--with Cal Poly Pomona and, possibly, Cal State Bakersfield providing a challenge. The Toros were 0-12 in the CCAA last year.