Charlie Brande:

Joseph Boo

The volleyball Festival - 2000 was a tremendous success for the

Orange County Volleyball Club teams. The 17th annual event featured over

1,000 teams from all over the United States including Alaska to Puerto

Rico and Canada and Hawaii. With four age groups, the weeklong tournament

was an exciting event for over 10,000 participants.

The Orange County Nike team won the 18’s National Championship with a

two game victory over Sports Shack from Santa Monica. The nationally

televised match was played in the University of California-Davis Rec Hall

with a capacity crowd of 9,000 screaming fans.

The 12-member Nike team was a very special group with five players who

had played for Orange County since the sixth grade and all of the players

playing for the club throughout their high school years. The years of

commitment and loyalty coupled with a tremendous desire to win the

Festival Championship provided great chemistry as the team won every

match they played since a loss in the finals of the Las Vegas tournament

in mid-Febuary.

With Newport Harbor High’s April Ross (USC), Krista Dill (Duke),

Brenda Waterman (UCI) and Heather Cullen (the only junior and already

committed to UCLA) along with Corona del Mar’s Jamie Brownell (Stanford)

and Dimitra Havriluk (West Virginia), every player will continue their

volleyball careers at the collegiate level. The other players included

Santa Margarita’s Monique Gerlach (Colorado) and Caroline Skacel (San

Francisco), Calvary Chapel’s Jessica Wright (Eastern Washington), Mater

Dei’s Lindsay Pavlik (Northwestern), Irvine’s Julianna Bayley (Regis) and

Huntington Beach’s Amber McCarthy, who will be the setter at Orange Coast

College in the fall.

This team was special for me because of the great mutual respect that

the players and the coaching staff have for each other. It has been my

privilege to have coached Ross for the last three years. I know that

Newport Harbor’s Dan Glenn feels as I do about the impact that April has

had on our local programs. She is the most complete high school player to

play in our area because she not only can play every position very well;

she also has a great understanding of competition and the importance of

team chemistry. Fiercely competitive on the court, she is funny and very

spiritually motivated off it. Humble and modest despite her many

accolades, April is the consummate role model for any female athlete.

In the festival 16’s division, Orange County 16 Blue, led by CdM’s

Jacqueline Becker and coached by Jim Downey, played in the final before

over 5,000 fans. Bakersfield Select defeated the Orange County team in

three well-played games. Mater Dei’s Ashley Bayer and Morgan Smith as

well as Newport Harbor’s Kristin McClune played major roles in the team’s

successful tournament run.

The Orange County 14 Blue, coached by Gary Nakamura, finished a very

strong fourth place after losing a tough pool play match to an all-star

team from Oahu, Hawaii, which forced a much tougher tournament route.

With Allyson Jennings and Emily Turner leading the way and Roxanne Duka,

Cristen Clapp and Lauren Snell contributing greatly, the 14 Blue had an

extremely successful tournament.

Each year, the Festival honors the club with the best overall finish

with the Club Achievement Award. Those top finishes by the Orange County

teams in each age group have the Achievement Award to Orange County for

the 2000 Volleyball Festival. This marked the 12th time in the 17-year

history that Orange County won the Achievement Award.

These successes are directly related to the loyalty and commitment of

the players, parents and coaches, coupled with the success-oriented work

ethic displayed by the members of the club. As a part of this successful

tradition, it is exciting to watch as these players are recognized

through their club and high school seasons for their dedication and work

ethic.