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Fall Sports Preview

Now that the Olympics are over and the new school year is about to begin, the Sacramento State community can turn its focus towards sporting activities a little closer to home. Several Hornet squads begin their fall schedule this month with a clean slate and an opportunity to build on past successes.

Football
Last year, Sacramento State head coach Marshall Sperbeck sat in his outdated office preparing for his first season at the NCAA Division I level. He had an uphill battle ahead of him. The Hornets would begin the year playing four of its first five games on the road, and the team did not have a single player who had completed a pass at quarterback.

Fast forward one year, and Sperbeck is a little more comfortable. His office now sits in the second-story corner of the newly completed Eli and Edythe Broad Fieldhouse, his team begins the year with four home games in five weeks and enters 2008 with a two-game winning streak.

The new facility is not the only thing Sperbeck has to be excited about. The Hornets return a pair of All-America linebackers in seniors Cyrus Mulitalo, a native of San Leandro and Mike Brannon, from Rancho Cordova. The Hornet defense returns six starters from a unit which led the Big Sky Conference in rushing yards, allowing a paltry 117.5 yards per game.

Offensively, Sacramento State brings back its leading passer in Brentwood, native Jason Smith; its top rusher from a year ago in Bryan Hilliard, who prepped at Laguna Creek High School in Elk Grove; and two of its top three receivers (Tony Washington and Dylan Lane). The offense will also be bolstered by four returning starters on the offensive line.

Women’s Soccer
The Sacramento State women’s soccer team enters the 2008 season looking to defend its Big Sky Conference crown. The team won its first conference title a season ago, while making its first trip to the NCAA tournament in school history. Big Sky Coach of the Year Randy Dedini returns for his second season as head coach, returning 17 letter winners, eight starters and six all-conference performers from a team that won a school record 12 games in 2007.

A pair of first team all-Big Sky honorees, senior Kara Taylor and junior Kim Kemper, anchor an experienced starting lineup. Taylor, a native of Eugene, Ore., was the 2005 Big Sky co-Defender of the Year, and has started all 61 games the Hornets have played during her three years here. Kemper, from Orangevale, is the leading returning scorer on this year’s club, totaling four goals and a school record-tying seven assists a season ago.

Men’s Soccer
The men’s soccer team returns a pair of senior all-conference performers in Adam Owens and Omar Martinez to anchor the 2008 squad. Owens, a native of Carmichael, is a two-time first team all-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation performer, while Martinez, who hails from Half Moon Bay, earned second team honors in his first season here.

Offensively, the Hornets return their top three scorers from a season ago, led by Oakdale, native, sophomore Ernesto Carranza, who was an honorable mention all-MPSF pick last season as a midfielder. Senior Blake Nunes, who hails from Wailuku, Hawaii, and sophomore Fernando Cabadas, a Sacramento native and product of Hiram Johnson High School, also return at forward for head coach Michael Linenberger. Senior Ryan Kenny, who started all 18 contests he was eligible for in 2007, returns at goalkeeper. The Fresno, native posted 74 saves during his junior campaign.

Volleyball
After winning 11 straight Big Sky Conference regular season and/or tournament championships, including a second round appearance at last year’s NCAA tournament, Sacramento State enters the 2008 season with many new faces and challenges. The Hornets will begin the year with a new coach, two new starting outside hitters, two new middle hitters, a new rightside and a new libero. In fact, the Hornets’ only returning player that will start at the same position for the second straight season will be senior setter Rose Burke, from Gainesville, Fla. Every other starter on the floor will feature a player that has yet to start more than eight matches during their Hornet career. Junior Desireé Hoyum, a native of Anderson, who started 24 matches last season on the right side, will shift to the outside this year.

For the first time in 32 years, Sacramento State will be led by a new head coach. Ruben Volta, who spent the past eight years as a Hornet assistant, replaces longtime Hall of Fame head coach Debby Colberg, who retired at the conclusion of last season. Volta was promoted to associate head coach last season, and has spent the past six years as the team’s recruiting coordinator.