Laudato Digging Deep into 49er Record Book
by Frank Burlison, Long Beach Press-Telegram
November 3, 2005 They are numbers she wouldn't think a whole lot about unless asked. But Heather Laudato does get at least one update on her soon-to-be, record-breaking digs total for the Long Beach State women's volleyball program immediately after every match from a more-than-just-a-little-interested spectator.
"My mom (Pauline) sits in the stands for every match and keeps track," Laudato said Tuesday evening by cellular phone while the senior communications major drove home from her organizational communications class.
"She does her own tally and then can't wait to see the (official) stat sheet afterward."
Her current total digs 1,549, collected during the 405 games in which she has played during the 115 matches since she's been in a 49ers uniform leaves her just 29 short of the school record established by All-America and Olympian Tara Cross 16 years ago.
Coach Brian Gimmillaro's team (17-5 overall and 6-2 in the Big West Conference) is in Stockton tonight for a 7 o'clock conference match with 13-9 and 6-3 Pacific.
And it's within the realm of possibilities that Laudato could be in position to surpass Cross' mark Saturday night when the 49ers are in the Walter Pyramid for a Big West match with UC Irvine.
Heady stuff, indeed, for the 2001 graduate of St. Joseph High.
But it's an inevitability that the 5-foot-5, 21-year-old defensive specialist (libero) barely seems to be coming to grips with as a possibility.
"In high school, we never kept records on digs or things like that, so this is all new to me," she said.
She established the 49ers' single-season record (with 438, breaking a mark held by Christine Romero for 13 years) as a sophomore.
"But it (breaking Cross' mark) never entered my mind until last year," she said.
"My family (mom, father Tomas and brother Edgar) would say, 'You're getting closer!" So I started thinking about it."
1,549 …
"That is a huge number," she said, then pausing a moment, perhaps, to think all the sprawling dives to hardwood floors to "dig" balls that number is probably just a fraction of.
"When I think about it … wow, it is kind of amazing."
But then she quickly tries to offer up the kind of perspective that comes from dedicating so many hours, days, weeks, months and years of her life to a sport since she was a fifth-grader.
"If you only look at stats (as a reflection of the quality of a player's performance), it's fine," she said.
"But there are so many other things, that most people don't even realize in watching (matches), that are important (that aren't measured statistically)."
Here is where she takes a bottom-line approach.
"The only thing that really matters is whether we win or not," she said.
Those who have been around her and watched her on a near-daily basis for going on four years believe that there isn't an athlete more worthy of the recognition and honor that comes with something as concrete as the record for digs for one of the elite programs in the sport.
"She never has a 'bad' day, on or off the court," said fellow senior Erika Chidester, the Big West's Co-Player of the Week for her play against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and UC Santa Barbara last weekend.
"She is so disciplined and takes so much pride in always giving the best effort she can. She is so poised and she can pump up her teammates without being a yeller or screamer."
That Laudato is about to ascend to the top of his program's leader board for digs doesn't surprise Gimmillaro in the least.
"She's always been a good defensive player, since the day she enrolled here," he said. "Maybe she's doing more spectacular things but she's been a very good player from the very beginning."
Gimmillaro believes she's as good a defensive player as there is in the country but seems to doubt that she will get that kind of national recognition this season.
"I truly believe that if we had been healthy the past couple of years (and been as good as he thought his club, if relatively healthy, could have been), she'd be getting her national due," he said.
"There is no question in my mind that she is as good a libero as we saw at the Final Four (in the Long Beach Arena last December)."
He said the program will miss her personality and character as much as her on-court tenacity.
"She's just such a positive, giving and likeable person whose personality never changes," he said.
"Coaches and athletes are always talking about channeling your emotions, positively, and staying at a consistent level of (excellent) play. But few athletes attain that.
"Heather does."
Gimmillaro believes that Laudato, if so inclined, could earn a living playing volleyball internationally.
For the moment, at least, Laudato isn't exactly sure which direction with or without volleyball in the mix her life is headed next.
Then, again, how many of us at 21 had things already mapped out implicitly?
"I really have no clue … it's a little scary," she said, in the tone of voice that makes one wonder if anything really scares her much at all.
"The real world is out there." |
