Girls volleyball: Stars align for South

Barry Faulkner

HUNTINGTON BEACH - With club friendships blurring the lines of

traditional high school rivalries, the Dave Mohs Memorial Orange County

All-Star girls volleyball match Friday at Edison High became merely a

prelude to a valuable photo opportunity that followed.

Corona del Mar High senior setter Jacqueline Becker, who helped the

South collect a 25-20, 25-20, 15-17 victory over the North in the annual

exhibition, said afterward she placed little importance on the outcome.

Instead, she hugged and posed for postmatch pictures with South

teammates, CdM and South teammate Morgan Smith, and even a player or two

from the North, including Newport Harbor High setter Katie King, a former

Orange County Volleyball Club teammate.

Smiles, high fives and good vibrations were enough to all but negate

anything the scoreboard reflected. And why not?

“I know all the girls who played tonight,” said Becker, who will leave

her Southern California roots to continue her career at Yale. “Tonight

wasn’t really about winning and losing. It was just a lot of fun.”

Becker had her share of fun on the court, as well, distributing eight

assists, all in the first game, before handing the setting duties over to

others.

Becker also displayed her ball-control skills in the third game,

passing out of the back row.

“I haven’t passed since I was 12,” said Becker, who appeared anything

but rusty as she sprawled on more than one occasion for digs.

Smith, a 5-foot-9 opposite bound for UCLA, chipped in two kills for

the South, which was paced by a trio of 6-footers, including match Most

Valuable Player Sarah Salem from Laguna Beach.

“We had one practice and I knew we had all the tall girls,” Becker

said.

Megan Blackshire, a 6-0 middle blocker bound for UC Santa Barbara,

produced nine kills, while Pepperdine-bound Kathleen Daly, a 6-0 outside

hitter from San Clemente, added 10 kills.

Salem, a 6-2 middle bound for Duke, finished with five kills and one

stuff block, while 5-10 University High middle blocker Melissa Zapiain,

bound for West Virginia, chipped in four stuff blocks and two kills to

add to the South advantage at the net.

Newport Harbor senior Liz Lord, a 5-10 middle blocker bound for

Portland, had five kills, second-best on the team. She also helped the

North salvage the third game and had one of the North’s three stuff

blocks.

King, who did most of the setting for the North, collected 15 assists.

She will attend Irvine Valley next year, with plans to transfer to USC

for the fall of 2003.

Breegan Mulligan, a 6-0 opposite from Mater Dei, had 10 kills to lead the North.

The South broke a 7-7 tie with three straight points in the opening

game and never looked back. The South used the rally scoring format to

score four straight early in the second game, turning a 2-0 deficit into

a two-point lead it would never relinquish.

The North used a four-point spurt early in the third game to claim an

early lead. The South rallied for a 15-14 edge, but the North answered

back to avert the sweep.