Boys’ sand volleyball debuts
- Share via
The girls first hit the beach last spring.
In September, it was the boys’ turn.
For the first time, Laguna Beach High developed a boys’ sand volleyball team. The squad, coached by Laguna boys’ indoor volleyball Coach Darren Utterback, is made up of 10 players on the competitive team who compete in two- and four-man games in a match.
In addition to the competition team, Laguna also has a 12-man roster of players who are in training, Atlhetic Director Mike Churchill said.
The inaugural Laguna boys’ sand volleyball varsity competition roster is: Tyler Alter, Jack Burgi, Liam Christiansen, Reed Donenfeld, Tyler Jackson, Adam Lythgoe, Pete Obradovich, Dane Olson, Cole Paxson and Nick Rieckhoff.
The Breakers hold outdoor practices during the week at Main Beach.
In the first month of the season, the Breakers won all four matches they played. They posted victories over Edison, Servite, Corona del Mar and, on the final day of September, defeated Los Alamitos.
Laguna is playing in the Orange County High School Beach League. The 15-member league is split into two divisions. The Breakers are part of the South Division, which also includes Edison, Corona del Mar, Newport Harbor, Irvine, Fountain Valley and Tesoro.
The North Division has Servite, Los Alamitos, Huntington Beach, Marina, Monarchs, Esperanza, Orange Lutheran and St. John Bosco.
Five two-player teams and one four player team compete for each school in match play.
“It’s been a lot of fun, so far,” Laguna’s Tyler Alter said.
Alter has played varsity indoor volleyball at Laguna since his freshman year. A second-team All-Orange Coast League middle blocker last year, the junior has been paired with three different teammates (Adam Lythgoe, Pete Obradovich, Tyler Jackson) in two-man match play during the first month of the season.
Alter and Lythgoe went 2-0 against Edison in the Breakers’ season opener Sept. 9. He and Obradovich went 2-0 in ensuing wins over Servite and Corona del Mar, and he and Jackson won both games against Los Alamitos.
“Outdoor is really a fun sport,” said Alter who, before the start of the school year, teamed with Cole Paxson and took a fifth-place finish in tournament play in Huntington Beach.
“I’ve been playing in beach volleyball tournaments all my life, and the outdoor game is a lot different than the indoor game. In sand, you touch the ball almost every time it’s on your side of the net whereas with indoor, you aren’t necessarily in on every play.
“I find it (sand) a better sport than indoor because you are always moving and you have only two men covering the entire court. It’s challenging.”
It was last March when Laguna put together its first girls’ sand volleyball team. The Breakers competed in the Interscholastic Beach Volleyball League. The Breakers, led by Laguna girls’ indoor Coach Raul Papaleo, went on to claim a share of the IBVL South Coast Division league championship with Saddleback Valley Christian.
Like the girls’ sport, boys’ sand volleyball is not sanctioned by the CIF Southern Section.
Churchill said back in March that a review of the first year of girls’ sand volleyball would determine if a boys’ team would take shape this fall.
The boys’ first sand team came as a “natural offshoot” of the girls’ sand program, he said.
“Couple of reasons we think this (boys’ sand volleyball) is a good thing,” Churchill said. “First, it provides another chance to have fun and compete. Secondly, this is a natural for a beach school. Lastly, we hope to get some positive carryover to the spring indoor season.”
Twitter: @MikeSciacca