Future Anteaters show promise

Barry Faulkner

If there was a collective statement made by the participants in the

Dave Mohs Memorial Orange County All-Star boys volleyball match

Friday at Edison High, it was that better things are ahead.

It would be difficult to project much worse from the more than two

dozen standouts, about half of whom are bound for Division I college

programs.

A whopping 24 combined service errors, numerous hitting errors, as

well as other sundry violations, accounted for most of the points in

the rally scoring format, eventually won by the North, 25-18, 23-25,

16-14.

The North included Newport Harbor senior Mike Toole, while

Stanford-bound Eric Jones, who had two kills and one stuff block,

represented Corona del Mar on the South.

Leading the North, however, was two players bound for UC Irvine

and a third player planning on attending Orange Coast College also

showed some promise.

Edison High’s Brett Reid, a 6-3 setter recruited by the Anteaters,

made a strong bid for MVP honors, which, surprisingly, went to

6-foot-8 Pepperdine-bound middle blocker John Parfitt from Canyon

High, who collected a modest one kill and two stuff blocks.

Reid using a variety of shots, shared match-high honors with seven

kills. He also had a stuff block.

Jayson Jablonsky, another future Anteater and a 6-5 outside hitter

representing Esperanza, also posted seven kills, including four in

the decisive third game.

Meanwhile, OCC-bound Eric Eastman, a 6-3 middle for Huntington

Beach High, had a pair of kills and two stuff blocks for the North,

which also received six kills from Huntington Beach senior Kenny

Markwardt.

The South kill leader was 6-5 San Clemente middle blocker Braden

de Jong, who finished with five, all in the first game.

After the North pulled away in the first game, no team led by more

than three points the rest of the match, as both teams struggled to

find any rhythm.