Girls volleyball: 1999 Dream Team

Barry Faulkner

Save the drum roll and hold the applause. You probably knew this

was coming.

In a move that carries all the suspense of a Harlem Globetrotters game,

Newport Harbor High senior girls volleyball star April Ross tops the

All-Newport-Mesa District Dream Team as Player of the Year.

Ross, you may recall, was recently honored as national player of the

year. She also shared the same honor in CIF Southern Section Division I,

while claiming similar solo recognition in the Sea View League.

The 6-foot-1 outside hitter, who helped lead Coach Dan Glenn’s Sailors to

three straight Division I-AA section crowns, as well as back-to-back

state Division I titles, will take her vast and versatile talents to USC

next fall.

“She does a lot of things, and does a lot of things well,” said Glenn,

who frequently utilized the dominant outside hitter at setter last fall.

Joining Ross, district co-player of the year honors as a junior, on the

Dream Team are Harbor teammates Krista Dill, Brenda Waterman and Heather

Cullen, as well as Corona del Mar seniors Dimitra Havriluk, Jamie

Brownell, Meghan Gallagher and Marissa Becker.

Dill, Harvriluk and Brownell are repeat selections.

Dill, a 6-foot-2 middle blocker, is bound for Duke. She won MVP honors in

the state tournament, after collecting first-team All-CIF Division I

recognition.

Waterman was a 5-7 senior outside hitter, who added another hitting

weapon for the Sailors. She was second-team All-CIF her final two

seasons.

Cullen, a 6-1 junior, teamed with Dill to form what Glenn considered the

best middle blocker tandem in the section. A second-team All-Sea View

League pick, she is the only member of the Dream Team who will return in

2000.

Havriluk, a 6-0 senior, and Brownell, a 5-8 senior, formed the one-two

hitting punch for Coach Steve Conti’s Sea Kings. Havriluk, who is leaning

toward attending West Virginia, was a two-time first-team All-CIF choice

in Division III.

Brownell, headed to Stanford, was also first-team All-CIF last fall.

Gallagher, a 5-10 middle blocker, missed the first five weeks of the

season with knee problems, but came back in time to help her team win the

Pacific Coast League title in its inaugural season in the circuit. The

second-team All-CIF honoree is being recruited by New York University and

UC San Diego.

Becker, 5-8 and bound for Princeton, handled a share of the setting

duties last fall. But her primary contribution was passing, according to

Conti.

“She turned out to be one of the best ball-control people on the team,”

Conti said of the second-team All-CIF selection.