Hall of Fame: Matt Herrington (CdM)

Richard Dunn

Growing up in Corona del Mar, it’s hard not to be exposed to the

sport of volleyball.

If not at the beach, then surely at one of the schools during recess

or P.E.

For Matt Herrington, a good athlete with jumping ability and a big

swing, it was the perfect fit.

“My sister (Brooke) encouraged me to take Charlie Brande’s clinic in

fifth grade ... she’s really the one who got me to play volleyball,” said

Herrington, who became a star at Corona del Mar High, where he was a rare

four-year varsity letterman, and later played at USC.

Herrington, an outside hitter, was the Sea View League’s co-Player of

the Year and a first-team All-CIF Southern Section 4-A selection in 1989

as a senior when the Sea Kings shocked Mira Costa to win the CIF title.

“They were undefeated the whole year,” Herrington said of the

Manhattan Beach-based Mustangs, a perennial CIF force who featured that

year, among others, future pro beach volleyball standouts Canyon Ceman

and David Swatik.

“They were head and shoulders favored to win the whole thing,” added

Herrington, whose CdM team, coached by Brande, had plenty of firepower of

its own in Jason Perkins, Chris Pliha, Matt Cwiertnia and setter Ty

Price, the CIF 4-A Player of the Year.

After the Sea Kings defeated Dain Blanton-led Laguna Beach in the

semifinals, they knocked off top-seeded Mira Costa in the finals at

Marina High, rallying for a 16-18, 15-12, 15-6, 15-8 win.

“This is the best team we have played this year,” Mira Costa Coach

Mike Cook said in May 1989 after the Sea Kings upset his previously

unbeaten team.

Earlier, CdM’s football team captured the school’s first CIF title and

its basketball unit, which also featured Herrington, reached a CIF

championship game.

“Our head counselor at Corona del Mar, Bob Worley, once said that the

Class of ’89 was one of the best (athletic) classes they’d ever had at

the school,” said Herrington, a CIF finals performer in two sports that

year.

Herrington, who had 22 kills in the CIF volleyball finals, will never

forget the feeling he shared with his teammates after losing the first

game in extra play.

“We all felt we could beat those guys,” he said. “We had a chance to

beat them in the first game, because we served for the game, but we made

some stupid mistakes, like we missed a serve. Even though we lost the

first game, I knew we could beat them. And we beat them convincingly. It

was great.”

Most of Herrington’s teammates grew up playing together, “so we

already had that chemistry and that camaraderie,” he added. “We didn’t

really have that Hugh Foster or that one guy other teams can key on ...

Ty Price was the obvious leader who really led us, but everyone

contributed. That was the best moment, after that final point (against

Mira Costa).”

In basketball, Herrington earned third-team All-Sea View League honors

under Coach Paul Orris as the 20-11 Sea Kings advanced to the CIF 3-A

finals at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, where they lost to Trabuco Hills,

59-55, after edging Morningside in overtime in the semifinals, 57-56.

A two-year varsity starter in both sports, Herrington was also voted

most valuable player of the Laguna Beach basketball tournament his senior

year.

But volleyball became Herrington’s No. 1 passion shortly after

attending his first clinic with Brande. “Charlie has sort of had a big

influence on my volleyball career,” said Herrington, who started on CdM’s

varsity as a freshman with then-senior standout Brian Lewis, a future

star on the pro beach volleyball tour.

In 1985, CdM won the CIF 4-A title under Coach Matt Albade when Lewis

was a junior and the following season, Herrington’s first for the Sea

Kings, was the proverbial “rebuilding” year.

In 1987, Herrington’s sophomore year, he earned second-team all-league

honors in a year dominated by Foster and Newport Harbor, which won the

CIF 4-A championship.

In ‘88, Brande entered as CdM’s boys coach and a year later the Sea

Kings were back on top of the CIF volleyball world with their second

title.

Herrington, who shared league Player of the Year laurels with

Cwiertnia in ‘89, went on to play three years at USC, including 1991 when

the Trojans faced Long Beach State in the NCAA championship match.

“That was my goal -- to play Division I college volleyball. I had a

great time,” said Herrington, who came off the Trojans’ bench.

Herrington, who graduated from USC with a degree in communications,

works for Verizon Wireless as a logistics coordinator and lives in

Newport Beach with his wife, Veronica. They were married in February

2000.

Herrington, 31, also has an older brother, Bill, who ran cross country

and track at CdM in the early 1980s. “They called him stretch,”

Herrington said. “My brother’s the greatest. He’s always been

supportive.”

The latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame, Herrington

credits his mother, Jane, and late father, William (Bud), with great

influence on his life and volleyball career.