Sharkie II
By Daily Bruin Staff
Sept. 23, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 COURTNEY STEWART/Daily Bruin Freshman Chrissie
Zartman hopes to continue in her mother’s footsteps as a
volleyball player for UCLA.
By Andrew Borders
Daily Bruin Reporter
Chrissie Zartman doesn’t have much to say about her brief
college volleyball experience.
But for the benefit of UCLA volleyball fans and, one might
think, the hindrance of Zartman herself, quite a bit has already
been said for her.
Any legacy that Chrissie would have was started 30 years ago,
more than a decade before she put a hand on a volleyball. Her
mother, mentioned in every reference in UCLA literature for this
season by her nickname “Sharkie,” began a career in
Westwood in 1971 that led to UCLA’s first women’s
volleyball national title as well as her inclusion in the
school’s selection of its top 25 volleyball players.
But what was a detriment during Sharkie (Boehnert)
Zartman’s career, the lack of media with which to follow the
UCLA teams of that era, relative to higher-drawing sports such as
football and men’s basketball, has taken much of the weight
off Chrissie’s shoulders.
“I don’t think (there are higher expectations on
Chrissie),” said head coach Andy Banachowski. “Chrissie
is making her own mark, and most people don’t remember her
mom as well. It’s been such a long time, and there
wasn’t as much publicity back then as there is now. A lot of
people maybe aren’t fully aware of the complete history of
Chrissie and her mom.”
“I don’t really feel any pressure,” the
younger Zartman added.
Banachowski, who has guided the program for 35 years, provides a
common thread between the mother and daughter. Fortunately for
Chrissie as well as UCLA volleyball fans, Banachowski’s
comparisons are very favorable.
“Their styles are very much the same,” Banachowski
said. Chrissie is even smaller than her mom was as a player because
the game has gotten so much taller, but she’s got so many of
her mom’s attributes in that she’s quick and
she’s always making great plays on defense. Chrissie’s
got the advantage of all these years of her mom’s experience
in addition to her own.”
Chrissie’s arrival came at the perfect time for the team,
and Banachowski has put her skill to full use. Zartman is one of
six Bruins to have competed in all 10 games of UCLA’s first
three matches, splitting time at the defensive specialist spot with
sophomore Stacey Lee.
The two underclassmen will share time there throughout the
season to fill the void left by the end of Michelle Quon’s
career after last season. Zartman is averaging 3.1 digs per game,
second on the team to superstar senior Kristee Porter’s 3.6,
and ahead of Lee’s 2.3. She is third on the team in service
aces per game at 0.30, behind Porter and senior Ashley Bowles.
But the number figuratively closest to Chrissie’s heart
will also have that proximity quite literally, as the younger
Zartman has chosen to wear the elder Zartman’s uniform number
23.
From a team perspective, however, one must assume that
Chrissie’s most important number is one: the number of
championships her team must earn to be on par with her
mother’s team, and one more than the program has been able to
come up with in the last decade. Banachowski sees the possible
makings of such an outcome with Zartman’s addition.
“She’s fitting in real well with the team. At first,
as most freshmen, she was pretty quiet and all eyes and ears,
taking in everything that was going on. Now she has kind of opened
up and her teammates say she’s become very talkative; you
can’t shut her up,” Banachowski said.
Now, the question must be answered by UCLA’s opponents.
Will teams regularly be able to shut her ““ and her team
““ down?
“I think she’s a lot farther along as a volleyball
player than her mom was at this stage in college,”
Banachowski said, “Chrissie is going to be her own standout
player.”
Much has changed indeed from the days when Sharkie Boehnert
minded the backcourt for the Bruins. While Banachowski stood beside
eight of his athletes in the team photo from 1971-72, the year
Sharkie won her title, 18 women make up the team today. Fans can
follow the team on the Internet and on cable TV, with two games
televised this year. Those types of media, of course, were not
around in Sharkie’s day.
But while the notoriety has made the sport more popular, the
growing number of Bruin fans wouldn’t mind seeing
Chrissie’s team edge her mother’s teams in the trophy
case too.
