Junior highers provide bright future

One of the highlights for most volleyball players that have played in the Newport-Mesa School District, is the annual Junior High boys’ tournament.

It is the first season of each school year in the junior highs and it is also one of the first opportunities for these young players to “suit up” for their school.

The Coastal Athletic League is comprised of five Newport-Mesa junior high schools (TeWinkle, Ensign, Corona del Mar, Costa Mesa and Harbor Day) as well as two Huntington Beach Schools (Dwyer, which feeds Huntington Beach High, and Sowers, whose players will go to Edison).

Because of the affiliation with the high schools, this volleyball is the beginning of many outstanding high school experiences.

After round-robin league play over six weeks, the teams are seeded into a single elimination tournament. The two-day tournament is quite an affair.

Each season, the tournament is hosted by Harbor Day, whose Blass gymnasium is a perfect place to compete. Mike Coleman, Harbor Day’s athletic director, is an expert at assuring a fair and well-run tournament.

This year’s finals were played Thursday and Friday. As I entered Blass gymnasium, I could not help but notice a new banner up in the gym. It was to recognize Olympian Kevin Hansen, who is a Harbor Day graduate.

Kevin, who starred at Harbor Day, Corona del Mar (including two CIF section championships in volleyball and great success in basketball) and Stanford, was a setter for our 2008 Olympic champions. A tremendous role model, Kevin had taken the time to visit Harbor Day after the Olympics. In the trophy case at the gym’s foyer is the ball signed by Harbor Day’s 1995 championship team at Harbor Day during Kevin’s eighth-grade year. Pretty cool. I hope that Kevin’s penmanship has improved.

Each year, the top two teams in each grade receive a bye and do not play on Thursday. Dwyer and Corona del Mar were first and second in both divisions. Ensign, coached by Kari Rush, played Sowers in both quarterfinal matches. Sowers prevailed in both matches.

For Ensign’s seventh-grade team, Grady Kimme, Jack Binford, Collin Schlesinger and Alex Schwarzemback were key players.

The “man” on the eighth-grade team was lefty Blake Pender, who passed, hit and did it all. Sparkplug TK Mcwhertor’s play as well as the blocking of Ramsey Hufford and the hitting of Garrett Hall, were also bright spots in the match.

Harbor Day played Corona del Mar in the semifinals in both grade divisions with CdM prevailing in both. Harbor Day, coached by Pam Coleman, featured the all-around play of Charlie Evans. The eighth-grade team was coached by Mike Coleman and assisted by Kim Coleman (no relation) who won two junior high championships in her days at Harbor Day before winning two state championships at Corona del Mar and playing at UCLA in the NCAA Final Four.

Eighth grade standouts were Nic Sargeant, libero Alec Taketa and Mark Manchester.

In the seventh-grade final, Corona del Mar played an undefeated team from Dwyer. Dwyer was very impressive in its win over CdM. Led by the hitting of Cooper Wetzel and the setting of Tanner Roche (father Mark Roche’s Natural Health keeps many local volleyball players on the court), Dwyer was too dominant.

Corona del Mar is coached by Joe Sloate, who teaches at Corona but also is a nationally recognized volleyball official. Standouts for the Sea Weeds included Andrew Thompson, Augie Miller, Clint Henderson and Hagan Truninger. Thompson’s dad, Craig, is a legendary volleyball figure who set for UCLA in the very early years while Truninger’s mother, the former Brooke Herrington, was a standout at CdM and later won two NCAA national championships at the University of Pacific.

The eighth-grade final featured a rematch of last Wednesday’s league game with Sowers playing Corona del Mar and Corona winning in three long games. CdM’s league win created a three-way tie for second.

Harbor Day’s Mike Coleman was at the match and a draw was made after the match to determine the seeds since CdM, Harbor Day, and Sowers were all tied. CdM won the second seed and the bye, while Harbor Day and Sowers had to play on Thursday. With the vast improvement of these junior high boys, an extra day of play quite often changes the look of the play. Sowers pulled out a victory in the third game of the final, 15-12.

CdM, coached by Steve Deverian and Don Bassler (a former CdM volleyball player), presents a strong team for the future (lucky Steve Conti). Led by setter and captain Matt Deverian, the Sea Weeds featured strong all-around play of Joey Martino, back row play of libero Charlie Griffin (whose mother Jill Harrington played at CdM and later at Princeton) and Tommy Casey (mother, Kristen Murphy set at CdM), as well strong front-court play from Quin Bassler and Tyler Duncan. With size coupled with experienced volleyball players in Martino and Deverian, this has the nucleus of a strong high school team.

In the upcoming seasons, these players could be facing each other on the courts again.

Maybe there will be some NCAA champions or even Olympic champions.