Top Honor to Long Beach Star : Women’s volleyball: Now what’s left for player of the year Danielle Scott is a national championship. 49ers to face Florida today in semifinals.

MADISON, Wis. — Danielle Scott has come here in search of a perfect ending to her career with the Long Beach State women’s volleyball team.

Scott, a 6-foot-2 senior middle blocker, was named the NCAA player of the year by the American Volleyball Coaches Assn. on Wednesday. She is also a nominee for the 1993 Sullivan Award, given to the top amateur athlete in the country.

Now, there remains one missing piece for Scott--a national championship--and she begins her quest for that in today’s semifinals at the University of Wisconsin Field House. Third-ranked Long Beach (30-2) will play 14th-ranked Florida (33-3) at 4 p.m., followed by fourth-ranked Brigham Young (29-2) against seventh-ranked Penn State (30-4).

Scott is one of the greatest who ever played the sport.

Consider:

--She will set an NCAA record for hitting percentage in a career. She is hitting .429 and the record is held by Mary Eggers of Illinois, who hit .420 between 1985-1988.

--Scott is a two-time Big West player of the year and two-time first team All-American selection.

--She holds the 49er record for block assists with 462.

--She is in third place in Long Beach records in kills, with 1,740, and attempts, with 3,088. In both categories, she is behind Tara Cross and Antoinnette White. Cross holds both records, 2,767 and 5,694 attempts and was the 1988 and 1989 NCAA player of the year. White was the 1991 player of the year.

This season, Scott ranks second in the nation with 5.85 kills per game and fifth with a .456 hitting percentage.

“I think she is by far the most dominating player in college volleyball, and maybe ever,” said Brian Gimmillaro, in his eighth season as Long Beach coach.

This is a bit surprising because Scott has never quite fit the volleyball mold.

Unlike many of the nation’s top volleyball players who grew up in Southern California, Scott is from Baton Rouge, La., where she was a two-time all-State selection in volleyball and a four-sport athlete at Woodlawn High.

Scott’s father, Charles Young, tried to help her overcome her painful shyness by bringing a video camera to her volleyball matches and track meets in high school. Afterward, he would try to interview her, telling her she had to practice for the spotlight in college.

Scott would just laugh and get embarrassed.

Sports have helped her overcome her shyness.

“Just being on a team where you have to talk and communicate has helped me,” Scott said.

On the court, Scott is anything but shy. And although she has never played on a national champion, she is anything but inexperienced in the national tournament.

The 49ers defeated 18th-ranked Hawaii (19-11) in the Northwest Region final on Saturday to advance to their third consecutive final four.

Long Beach, which won a national title in 1989, is the only team in the final four that has won an NCAA championship.

The Gators will be at a disadvantage without their top player, Aycan Gokberk, who injured her knee on Dec. 12 in a South Region final victory over Texas and will not play in the NCAA final four. Gokberk, a sophomore middle blocker from Izmir, Turkey, is the Southeastern Conference player of the year and set a Florida record with 674 kills.

“Someone asked me what it’s like going into the match without Aycan,” said Mary Wise, Florida’s coach. “I said, ‘You should ask Barry Alvarez (Wisconsin’s football coach) how he’d like to go to the Rose Bowl without his running backs.’ ”

In today’s other semifinal match, Tumua Matu’u and Carol Rawson will lead BYU against Penn State. Matu’u, a senior outside hitter from Pago Pago, Samoa, leads the Cougars with 4.32 kills a game and Rawson, a senior middle blocker from Preston, Ida., leads BYU with 1.42 blocks per game. BYU defeated top-ranked UCLA (30-2) in the West Region final Saturday to advance to the final four.

Penn State, which defeated 17th-ranked Notre Dame (27-8) Friday in the Mideast Region final to advance, is led by Salima Davidson, a second-team, All-American junior setter from Verona, Pa.

The semifinal winners will play for the championship Saturday at 5:30 p.m. in the Field House.

Volleyball Notes

This is the first NCAA women’s volleyball final four that does not include Stanford or UCLA. . . . The event could be a sell-out in the 11,500 Wisconsin Field House. It already has broken the record for ticket sales for an NCAA final four. The projected two-day attendance of 20,634 will break the record, set at Minneapolis, by more than 4,000.