I wonder if, in all his distance-running wisdom, Chico State cross country coach Gary Towne might have been being coy when he said he didn't know how his men's team would fare at the NCAA Division II West Regional this weekend.
Being the ever-gullible sports journalist, I tend to take coaches' comments at face value unless there is a lot of winking involved, and with rare exceptions, I don't get winked at much.

So when Towne said he wasn't sure what to expect from an inexperienced group on the men's side, it was far from my train of thought to assume he meant, "We're going to destroy everybody, we're just not sure in what order."
Six All-Americans, though? Towne had said he was hopeful for his whole group to finish in the top 15; six of seven ain't bad.
Another "six" of significance: The sixth straight regional championship for Chico State.

Moving from an established dynasty to one perhaps in the making, the women's soccer team won its first-ever California Collegiate Athletic Association championship with a pair of weekend victories in Carson. The Wildcats are in a way like baseball's Colorado Rockies in terms of testing the theory of just how far playoff momentum goes. Chico State had some serious issues early in the season, including a three-game conference losing streak, some losses to lower-ranked or unranked teams and a lack of Zombie Nation's "Kernkraft 400" playing after goals. Seriously, it should be a staple of any soccer game. Behold (cue to about :40 for best results):

But, like the Rockies, Chico State ended its season on a hot streak, then showed that once you get into the playoffs, anything can happen.

Unlike the Rockies, there is still no Zombie Nation.

The Wildcats will get to see how far their momentum can carry them now in the NCAA Division II tournament, as they've claimed the No. 3 seed and will play No. 6 Cal State L.A. at No. 2 Seattle University's home field. Seattle gets a first-round bye, then plays the winner of the Chico State-Golden Eagles matchup.

On not such a high note for Chico State fans, the volleyball team dropped its fourth straight road game in conference play and fifth of six away from Acker Gym. The Wildcats have plummeted to fifth in the CCAA standings after looking like a legitimate second-place team much of the season. It's unclear whether the school-imposed suspensions of Lindsay Macias, Erica Brick, Gillian Heydorff and Megan Cape two weeks ago have had any lasting "team chemistry"-type effects. Keep in mind, the Wildcats are just 4-6 on the road all season anyway, not a particularly good mark even if you do have all your players.
"Violation of a team rule" is the official reason those players missed time; Cape is done for the season, and all the others have either been back or will return to action next time out. Still, for a team that revolves around discipline and using its players to their maximum abilities, it's a little confusing as to how Wildcat players could allow for both those factors to take such a massive hit.

Tonight's game for the men's basketball team at UCLA should be interesting, if for no other reason than you might see a snippet on ESPN, and it's always cool to see Chico get represented well. I've said before how I'm not sure a game like this totally helps Chico State aside from the money aspect and marginal experience, but I understand completely how a player could be pumped for it. I almost want to compare it to me covering a game story side-by-side with someone from, say, The Los Angeles Times, but writing is a bit more subjective than a scoreboard. Maybe that's the rub, though: Human pride makes everyone think they're better than they are.

The women's team got a little D-I smackdown too, which isn't to say the Wildcats played poorly, but it might have been expected against Stanford, the No. 7 team in the country. Coach Molly Goodenbour's alma mater hosted the exhibition, and all kinds of neat little AP photos and snippets came across the wire. One of the cooler ones was this master-apprentice reunion of Tara VanDerveer and two-time NCAA champ and Cardinal guard Goodenbour.