Return engagement

Mike Sciacca

Lance Stewart returned to the coaching ranks with the Laguna Beach

High boys’ volleyball program Tuesday, and his players made sure it

was a success as the Breakers downed visiting Edison, 25-22, 22-25,

25-18, 25-21.

“It was a wonderful match tonight for us,” Stewart said. “The boys

really played well.”

Although it was the first match of the 2004 season, Stewart is no

stranger to Laguna Beach High volleyball.

He was an all-league and all-CIF setter for the then-Artists from

1981-83, a span when the school strung together three consecutive CIF

Division I championships.

In two of those years, 1981 and 1982, Laguna went undefeated on

the court.

During Stewart’s senior year -- in which he was named the high

school volleyball player of the year -- Laguna won the CIF title

without any player over 6-foot-2.

Similarly, the average height of his top six players this year is

6-foot-1.

He coached at his alma mater from 1988-90, leading both the girls’

and boys’ programs.

In two years with the girls’ program, 1989-90, Stewart-led teams

went 20-0 in Pacific Coast League matches and won two championships.

Leading the boys’ program from 1988-90, Laguna won the league

title in all three years and went 52-10 overall.

Stewart returned to Laguna to coach the girls’ this past fall, and

began his second go-round with the boys’ program Tuesday against

Edison.

“The thing that I like best about this year’s team is that it

reminds me of the successful teams at Laguna in the 1980s,” Stewart

said. “The way they remind me of those teams is that this team is not

real big, but all six guys on the court can handle the ball.

“They are all interchangeable as players, and no one is a

specialist. All of these guys have all the skills and in the long

run, that definitely will benefit us.”

Two returning starters, senior Trey Chapel, a right-side attacker,

and junior Talon Torriero, a quick hitter, are back from the 2003

Laguna team that reached the CIF quarterfinal round.

Key newcomers, Stewart said, are four juniors: quick hitter Luke

Morris, left-side attacker Andrew Chapel, brother of Trey, setter

Clark Olson and left-side attacker Chris Hoffman.

Stewart also has three sophomores and a freshman on squad.

“These kids are working extremely hard,” Stewart said.

“Conditioning-wise, for the first two weeks of preseason practice, I

didn’t even put up a net. No balls were brought out, either.

“Instead, our motto was, ‘SYAT,’ which stood for, “See You At

Thurston.”

As part of the team’s conditioning program, the players ran up the

street from the high school to Thurston Middle School. On the run

back down, each had to perform 200 push-ups.

“I think the biggest thing is that none of these kids have won a

championship in the sport,” Stewart said. “I’m trying to convey to

them the idea that it is very difficult. You need to do more than the

next guy, every day, on a consistent basis, and the kids are trying

to do that. They want that.”

An example of a player who went beyond his talents, Stewart said,

was former Laguna Beach star Dain Blanton, now one of the top players

on the professional circuit, and one whom Stewart coached at Laguna

in 1989.

“What separated Dain was not his skills, but his desire,” Stewart

recalled. “That desire has led him to the level he’s playing at now.”

Laguna has distinguished itself from other prep boys’ volleyball

programs in that it is the only school to qualify for the

CIF-Southern Section playoffs in each of the 30 years the postseason

has been in existence.

It’s been 21 years, though, since the school has won a CIF banner.

“We haven’t won a CIF championship since 1983,” Stewart said.

“There have been some close calls, and I really think that this group

has a chance at it.”