Sienna Curci, Millennium Hall of Fame

When girls Back Bay volleyball powers Newport Harbor High and

Corona del Mar met in a gripping CIF Southern Section 5-A final a dozen

years ago, it was gratifying enough for the Sailors to win.

But for those who played for then-second-year coach Dan Glenn at

Newport Harbor, like junior setter Sienna Curci, it was extra rewarding

since Charlie Brande was CdM’s coach -- and their club coach.

Curci, a longtime club teammate of Olympian Bev Oden (Irvine) on

Brande’s Orange County Volleyball Club teams that dominated the junior

circuit for years, set many a volleyball for Oden while advancing through

the junior ranks with her and Brande.

“(Oden) made me look good,” said Curci, a three-year starter for the

Tars, two-time All-Sea View League selection, first-team All-CIF 5-A once

and a prep All-American by at least one publication.

“Charlie wanted to be involved in (Oden’s) career, so I always got to

be coached by Charlie,” Curci said of the veteran volleyball guru, now

the UCI men’s coach.

So, when the ’87 CIF 5-A final rolled around and Brande was staged on

the other side of the net, it was extra emotional for Curci following

Newport Harbor’s comeback victory in five, 6-15, 11-15, 15-12, 15-5, 15-6.

“It was very satisfying,” said Curci, who played in CdM-Newport CIF

Girls Volleyball Final II -- following the inaugural all-Back Bay title

match in 1979 (when Brande coached Newport Harbor, and won).

Curci, who signed with Cal, played four years in the Pacific 10

Conference and made All-Pac-10 twice for the Golden Bears, said the

Sailors’ down-two-games victory over their Back Bay rival “was a great

win, and something I’ll always remember.”

Winning, however, didn’t last at Cal, where Curci backed up a player

named Holly McPeak, before the future Olympian and star on the women’s

pro beach tour transferred to UCLA.

Curci sat out the next season, 1990, desiring “to be a regular

student,” and she redshirted. But Curci said it “got real boring” without

volleyball, and she returned to the court to play for Cal from 1991 to

‘93, all as the Bears’ starting setter and performing as one of their

all-time greats. Curci is still the Bears’ career leader in aces and

assists.

“It was great to be involved in the sport of volleyball,” said today’s

honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame, celebrating the

millennium. “I learned a lot from coaches, and I thank them all for what

they taught me and how they helped me in life. Not just in volleyball,

but the lessons taught by Dan Glenn and Charlie Brande are lessons that

are going to carry me a long way ... life’s lessons. Charlie was all

about life’s lessons.”

Curci, who lives in Boulder, Colo., attended Glenn’s wedding last

summer. She once coached with Glenn in 1994 -- when the Sailors and Misty

May won CIF and state Division I titles, as well as a mythical national

championship.

Curci, who graduated from UC Berkeley in December 1993, said Glenn and

Brande were “two of the best coaches” she ever played for. “They prepared

me well,” she said.

Newport Harbor was the state Division I runner-up to Irvine in 1987,

as the Vaqueros won their first of back-to-back state titles with Oden, a

two-time CIF Player of the Year. Jenny Evans was the Sailors’ hitting

star from Curci’s sets on the ’87 title team.

“I had more winning experiences in high school and club than in

college,” she said. “(With Cal’s Golden Bears), we weren’t as successful

as far as winning. Unfortunately, we were in the Pac-10, which at the time was one of the better leagues in the country. Now, there are so many

good schools all over the country. Volleyball has become so popular.”

Today, Curci is enjoying Colorado, where she lives with her husband,

Peter Howser, the brother of Fritz, a Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Famer.

The two have been married 1 1/2 years and recently bought a house,

which keeps the former setter busy, who also sets numbers as a CPA for

Arthur Anderson.