Pirates retool with familiar names
Change is a typical theme for community college coaches, but Orange Coast men’s volleyball head man Travis Turner is taking that to an extreme this season.
Turner, whose 10th season that begins Wednesday at El Camino, will feature two returning starters. But, as with other players in the program, sophomores Travis Hoppe and Matthew Ujkic, both of whom were All-Pacific Coast Conference honorees as freshmen, will be changing positions.
Hoppe, a third-team all-conference opposite last season, shifts to outside hitter in 2017.
Ujkic, a second-team all-conference middle blocker last season, shifts to opposite.
In addition, redshirt freshman Chris Young, shifts from outside hitter to libero.
There is some familiarity for Turner on the Pirates’ roster, in the person of cousins Chase and Zane Moothart and freshman setter Colby Elder.
Chase Moothart, who recently signed to play next season at Ohio State as a libero, is the son of Craig Moothart, who coached Chase last season at Trabuco Hills High. Craig Moothart, who has a successful pro beach volleyball career, was Turner’s coach at Foothill High in 1987, when Turner was a senior setter for the Knights. Craig Moothart has also coached at the Newport Beach-based Balboa Bay Volleyball Club.
Zane Moothart, a 6-5 opposite out of La Costa Canyon High, is the son of Curt Moothart, who played for OCC’s 1987 state championship team.
Elder is the son of Jason Elder, who shared setting duties with Turner at OCC in a 6-2 system in 1989, when the Pirates won the first of back-to-back state titles.
Turner is also high on 6-3 outside hitter Justin Kam, who starred at Punahou High in Hawaii before playing volleyball and basketball last year at Cal Lutheran. Kam verbally committed to play at UC Irvine on Tuesday, Turner said.
Kupa’a Harrison, a 6-5 opposite and setter, is another Hawaiian who is also changing sports. He played basketball at Lewis & Clark, an NCAA Division III school in Portland, Ore. last season.
Harrison, the 2015 Gatorade Hawaii High School Player of the Year in boys’ basketball, is a competitor that Turner believes will help the Pirates in whatever role he assumes.
Turner said sophomore Austin Moore and freshman Bradley Hankus, both 6-4, should start at middle blocker.
Turner said it will take some time to develop into a team that could rival last year’s, which won the conference crown, reached the state title match and finished 21-3.
Adrian Faitalia, then a sophomore, and then-freshman Gianluca Grosso shared PCC Player of the Year laurels last season. Faitalia is now at Grand View University, an NAIA school in Des Moines, Iowa, while Grosso is at USC.
Will Donald, a first-team all-conference middle blocker as a freshman last season, is redshirting to concentrate on academics, Turner said.
GWC rebuilding
Paul Muñoz, formerly the boys’ volleyball coach at Estancia High, is readying for his second season at the helm of Golden West College with virtually a whole new cast.
His top two freshmen from last season, setter Dale Irvin and 6-foot-5 middle blocker Manuel Andrade, both transferred to Fullerton. Irvin led the state in assists last season (873) to help the Rustlers reach the state semifinals and finish 18-5.
Last year’s success was also aided by talented sophomores Chase Palumbo (third in the state in kills), Andrew Tenbrink (fourth in the state in kills), Daniel Vasquez (tops in the state in digs), and Vincent Pizzuti.
Tenbrink and Pizzuti are now at Long Beach State, while Vasquez is competing for Sacred Heart University in Connecticut.
This season, Muñoz said he will count heavily upon freshman opposite KysenOlsen, a bounce-back from Long Beach State, and Mater Dei product Sterling Miles, a freshman outside hitter.
Freshman Arturo Alday, 6-2 but with strong leaping ability, is a talented newcomer, while sophomores Tyler Peck and 6-8 Antoine Roi are expected to be the starting middle blockers. Alday was an All-CIF Southern Section Division 4 performer at Garden Grove High last spring.
Muñoz said freshmen Shilo Choi, Reid Harrison and Enzo Baggio are battling for time at setter, while sophomore Cole Williams is the libero.
The Rustlers open the season Friday at Santa Monica at 6 p.m.
County schools align
Orange County community colleges will compete in the Orange Empire Conference for the first time in men’s volleyball this season. Former Pacific Coast Conference members Orange Coast, Golden West and Irvine Valley join first-year programs Fullerton and Santiago Canyon to form the five-team OEC.
Fullerton is guided by Eddie Rapp, an All-CIF setter at Edison High, who went on to twice earn all-state honors at Golden West. Rapp, a Costa Mesa resident and a former assistant coach at Newport Harbor High, also leads the women’s program at Fullerton, where he is a full-time physical education professor.
“Eddie has made recruiting a lot more difficult for us,” OCC Coach Travis Turner said.
Inoue recognized
First-year UC Irvine women’s basketball coach Tamara Inoue is battling through a 3-16 season, 1-4 in the Big West Conference heading into Thursday night’s late game at Hawaii.
But she had something to celebrate on Friday when she was honored as an inductee into the Laguna Hills High Hall of Fame.
Inoue led Laguna Hills to CIF Southern Section, Southern California regional and CIF State girls’ basketball championships as a senior point guard in 1997. She averaged 14 points per game and set school single-game records for points (30), assists (12) and steals (12).
Inoue played collegiately at Cal and Long Beach State and spent six years playing and coaching at the professional level in Australia.
Most of the Anteaters’ players and assistant coaches were in attendance when Inoue was recognized at halftime of Laguna Hills’ boys’ basketball game against San Juan Hills.
