Muniz Finds Perfect Niche
by Curtis Zupke, Orange County Register
May 6, 2004 LONG BEACH – Paul Munoz can't help but laugh when he recalls how far back his love for volleyball extends.
Before they were in high school, Munoz and his older brother, Jimmy, would tie a string between two trees in the back yard of their Westminster house and spike a ball back and forth.
Over the ensuing years, Munoz thought he could play anywhere - from the yard to the junior national team - then he left high school and found himself without a position or a college.
"I didn't know what I wanted to do in volleyball," Munoz said, "but I knew I wanted to be in volleyball."
Through his passion for the game and a change in the sport, Munoz has become a key member of a Long Beach State team playing for its first NCAA championship since 1991.
The second-seeded 49ers play No.3 Penn State in the national semifinals tonight at 9 PDT at the University of Hawaii. If Long Beach State wins, it could play top-seeded Brigham Young, which handed the 49ers three of their six losses this season, in Saturday's final if the Cougars defeat Lewis College (Ill.).
Munoz was successful attacking the net at Mater Dei, but he knew there was no room in Division I for 6-foot-3 outside hitters unless they had a 42-inch vertical leap.
He was going to start his career at Irvine Valley College but he thought he was "good enough to play anywhere." So Munoz walked on at Long Beach State in the fall of 2002 and thought about those who told him he wasn't ready for a four-year school.
"I used it as motivation," Munoz said. "That just fired me up more."
Two years earlier, the libero position was introduced to the men's game to allow for a back-row specialist. Typically converted backup setters, liberos can move freely around the court without being counted as a substitution.
They play primarily on the floor, diving for misses and tipped blocks. It was a position made for Munoz, who assumed a starting role as a sophomore last season.
"It's the No.1 thing that's kept me on the court," he said.
Munoz enters tonight 17th in the nation at 2.11 digs per game. He has 239 this season, a school record for a junior and fifth in Long Beach's single-season record book.
Long Beach State coach Alan Knipe speaks proudly of Munoz's determination.
"We knew who he was, and when he came in, he had to compete with a lot of other good liberos, four other liberos," Knipe said. "But it got to the point where we had to keep him." |
