San Jose Golddiggers information

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The San Jose Golddiggers were a professional women's team in Major League Volleyball from 1987 to 1989. The team played its home matches at the San Jose Civic Auditorium (capacity 2,200 for volleyball).

The Golddiggers were one of six original teams in Major League Volleyball. The league began in 1987 and ended short of completing a full season in 1989. Players consisted of former collegiate All-Americans and Olympians. The level of play was highly competitive (above that of even the best Division I college teams) and the action was fast-paced.

The Golddiggers placed 2nd in 1987, 2nd in 1988 and were in 2nd when the league ceased operations midway through the season in 1989.

One of two west coast powerhouse teams, the Golddiggers started as the San Francisco/San Jose Golddiggers in 1987, becoming the San Jose Golddiggers in 1988, due to the team having the largest season ticket holder base and the fact that they were the attendance leaders for MLV.^[1]

The general manager of the team was Roseann Kuryla and the director of marketing and sales was Jim Dugoni. During years one and two, all of the teams were owned by Major League Volleyball and its shareholders led by Robert Batinovich of Gleborough Corp. During year three, the Golddiggers were owned by local Los Altos, California, businessmen Gary D. Schwing and Michael Cotsworth.

Rules for volleyball in the late 1980s were different from today. The ball could not touch the net on a serve, games were to 15, and points could only be scored on serves (no rally scoring). In 1988 the league changed the rules so that game five would move to rally scoring until one team reached 10; then it reverted to sideout scoring. This was primarily to control the length of matches for television.