ESPNHS Volleyball

By Walter Villa

A small, cozy gym. Loud, raucous fans. A big, bad volleyball team. Combine all three elements, and you get the kind of place most teams don’t want to visit after dark.

Today, in honor of Halloween, we present some of the nation’s scariest places to play girls’ volleyball – gyms that have become Houses of Horrors for opponents.

We’ve picked 13 sites that are usually unlucky for visiting teams, and since different schools made our list for different reasons, let’s break it down based on categories:

‘CRAZY’ FANS

Avon (Ind.)

All aboard! Ha ha ha ha ha ha haaa!

Ay Ay Ay Ay Ay Ay Ay …

Crazy, but that how it goes at Avon volleyball matches.

Surely Ozzy Osbourne would love Avon’s student cheering section, called the Jersey Junkies. They have more than 70 “cheers,” some of which are designed to distract the opposition.

Case in point: When a rival player prepares to serve, the Junkies mimic her every movement, calling out, for example, “Bounce, bounce, bounce, spin!” Then they all scream when she finally tosses the ball up for her serve.

Bishop Verot (Fort Myers, Fla.)

Between the fans and the pulsating music, it gets so loud at Bishop Verot that opposing coaches have been known to take their teams outside the gym during timeouts just so their instructions can be heard.

Ironwood Ridge (Oro Valley, Ariz.)

The students all wear No. 7 jerseys to symbolize the seventh man on the court. With room for only 450 fans, the gym is usually full. And together with a modern sound system, they bring the noise. The best thing about this place is that an auxiliary gym was converted into a volleyball-only facility, a rarity at the high school level.

Joliet Catholic Academy (Joliet, Ill.)

On Pac-Man night, all the students come dressed in black … except four who show up as the “ghosts” and one who is “Pac-Man,” And from there, the fun ensues.

TRADITION RICH

Burris Laboratory (Muncie, Ind.)

Ball Gym is a special place, and Burris Lab is a special program. Until losing on the road at Wapahani (Selma, Ind.) earlier this month, Burris Lab had won 14 straight state titles. They had also won 95 consecutive playoff matches, many of them at home at Ball Gym.

“It’s an intimidating place for an opponent,” Wapahani coach Mike Lingenfelter said. “You can’t move in that gym without brushing up against one of their national title banners or (22) state title banners. It’s a real confined space, and the fans are right on top of you.”

Palo Alto (Calif.)

Welcome to volleyball, old-school style. The high school, founded in 1898, is one of the oldest in the region. The gym dates back to the 1930s, and fans sit up above in a balcony-style setting. It can get rowdy, especially when Palo Alto is rolling – and, lately, that’s most of the time. The Vikings went unbeaten last year and defeated Long Beach Poly to win the CIF Division I state title.

Fowler (Colo.)

The Grizzlies’ rich tradition includes 13 state titles, and they are tough to beat at home. In fact, they haven’t lost there in four years. It’s a small school (Class 2A) with a small gym. “Our low ceiling teaches us to have great ball control,” Fowler coach Sandy Moss said. “We consider that our seventh man.”

Mira Costa (Manhattan Beach, Calif.)

Fisher Gym has seen tons of great volleyball over the years. Mira Costa has won seven state titles, including its most recent crown in 2007. Only two California schools have won more titles, and that mystique is evident when you walk into the gym that has produced scores of pro volleyball players.

Kamehameha (Honolulu, Hawaii)

Coach Chris Blake said fans at his school’s games routinely paint their faces. That can be an intimidating sight for opponents, who also have to deal with a Kamehameha program that has won 18 state titles since 1969.

Santa Barbara (Calif.)

Established in 1875, this is one of the oldest high schools in California. But its real claim to fame is that it is the alma mater of volleyball legend Karch Kiraly.

IT’S FAN-TASTIC

Venice (Venice, Fla.)

Indians coach Brian Wheatley has patterned his program after the University of Nebraska and makes every home game fan friendly. The cheering section is called “The Wheatley Wackos,” and “Fans of the Week” get to sit on leather couches on the sideline.

“We have a smoke machine,” Wheatley said, “and fans come out dressed as Indians.”

The fun atmosphere is helped by the fact that the Indians have lost only three matches in the past 10 years inside the 1,500-seat TeePee the nickname for their gym. From 2001 to 2009, they didn’t lose there at all.

Since Venice is located on an island, even the bus trip to play Venice is scary as teams have to negotiate three bridges to get there. The team has also been virtually adopted by the city’s large retirement community.

“We get tons of community support,” Wheatley said. “Our girls have been known to sign autographs at the grocery store. That’s how crazy it is.”

Chaparral (Parker, Colo.)

The team’s student section, usually about 200 strong, stands and cheers the entire game. The Wolverines rarely lose at home – they are 33-1 at home the past three years.

Aside from their winning ways, the Wolverines make it fun for their fans by staging contests galore. For example, during timeouts, six pizza boxes are put on different spots on the court. A couple-dozen fans then line up to try to hit one of the boxes – on the fly -- with a serve. If they do, free pizza for the fan!

Snow Canyon (St. George, Utah)

Snow Canyon’s fans are called “Warrior Nation,” and they are passionate. The students love theme nights such as “Super Hero Night” and “Retro Night.” Snow Canyon administrators reward students with gift certificates to local restaurants for the best and most original costumes.

By Walter Villa

VIDEO: Misty Ma'a at Durango Classic

When it comes to volleyball, Misty Ma’a comes from Hawaiian royalty.

The 6-foot-1 senior outside hitter at Kamehameha (Honolulu, Hawaii) is the daughter of former pro volleyball players Pono Ma’a and Lisa Strand. Pono was a two-time All-American at the University of Hawaii. Strand led UH to its first two NCAA national titles.

Pono, who set the school record for kills while at Hawaii, has remained in the game, coaching a highly successful junior volleyball program. Strand has also stayed active, serving as a TV analyst for UH volleyball games.

Not only is the Ma’a moniker special on the island, the name “Misty” has obvious volleyball significance as well. Misty May-Treanor is one-half of perhaps the greatest beach volleyball team ever, along with Kerri Walsh.

Given all that, was there any doubt Misty Ma’a would play volleyball?

“I was raised around the game, and it became a part of me whether I wanted it or not,” said Ma’a, Hawaii’s Gatorade State Player of the Year in 2010 and one of the nation’s top college prospects. “As time went on, I became more passionate about volleyball.”

In a sense, the Ma’a family story is all about passion. Pono, a native Hawaiian, was a standout high school athlete when he took a recruiting visit to UH. On his first day on campus, he spotted the 6-foot blonde who would become his wife.

Strand, from Santa Barbara, Calif., was a freshman on the UH team at the time. Pono, who is 6-4, was so smitten that he turned down a baseball scholarship to Southern Cal and decided that his destiny included volleyball at UH … and Strand.

Pono and Strand have been together for 30 years, but it nearly never happened. On the day they met, a homesick Strand had made plans to transfer out of Hawaii and head back to Santa Barbara, where her family includes her identical twin sister, Kelly.

“But after three weeks at home, I realized I had made a mistake,” she said. “I had made a commitment to the team, and I knew I had to return to Hawaii.”

Pono and Strand eventually married, and when it came time for the couple to name their first child, they argued about the decision for months. Strand’s hospital bed overlooked the mountains, and there was a mist emanating from those peaks on the day of their daughter’s birth.

That’s where Misty got her name, and the fact that Pono knew May-Treanor’s family and played volleyball against her father was just a happy coincidence.

Misty Ma’a’s three siblings -- brother Micah and sisters Mehana and Maluhia – have mostly followed the family tradition of volleyball.

Micah, a 5-11 setter, is 14 and has played on four straight national champion youth volleyball teams. Mehana, 11, has also taken to the game. Maluhia, 9, has shown more of an interest in fashion design and hip-hop dancing but is starting to play the sport as well.

“It’s natural that when we are all playing in the backyard,” Pono said, “that she wants to join in, too.”

The intensity of those backyard games is the stuff of legend. The kids often bring friends over to play, and that just ramps up the competition level even further.

Pono and Strand have tried to get their children to tone it down and play without keeping score, but the kids always find a way to determine a winner.

“Whoever loses is really upset,” Misty Ma’a said. “It’s pretty typical for someone to leave the house and go for a walk to cool off. Sometimes we wouldn’t talk too much at dinner.”

Fortunately for Ma’a, she doesn’t lose often. Kamehameha has won six straight state titles and is a strong contender for seven in a row this fall.

But Ma’a has other interests beyond volleyball. She wants to study communications and has also done modeling for Project Runway -- even if it’s a subject she doesn’t like talking about too much.

“You just sound so conceited when you say you are modeling,” Ma’a said. “It’s not like I always wanted to be a model. It just came up.”

Still, Ma’a is serious enough about the potential career that she is considering playing volleyball for the University of Miami, in part because she can escape the spotlight of her family name in Hawaii but also for the vibrant modeling scene in that city.

Her parents were initially against her modeling.

“We always told her that beauty comes from within,” Strand said. “But she kept asking. She kept getting stopped and asked to do photo shoots. She does stand out – she’s 6-1 and a beautiful girl with a unique look.

“She said, ‘Mom, I really want to do this.’ So we went over some rules, what was acceptable and what was not.”

Pono marvels at his daughter’s maturity and independence. He said she’s handled her college recruitment as if she had been doing it all her life.

“I ask her if she needs help sending her transcripts to a college, and she will say, ‘No, Dad, I got it,’ “ Pono said. “When she’s had her modeling gigs, she takes the bus and gets there on her own. It’s kind of scary how little she needs us.”

Ma’a has been flooded with college offers, and each time a big batch of letters arrives from major universities, her siblings draw inspiration.

“The younger ones want to be recruited like that, too,” Pono said. “They say, ‘Come on, Dad, let’s go to the backyard. I want to hit 100 more serves.’ ”

By Walter Villa

It’s late in a match, your team is down by a point, and it’s your turn to serve.

Chelsey Keoho, a senior libero for Kamehameha (Honolulu, Hawaii) has “definitely” felt pressure in that situation.

Don’t be surprised if you do, too.

“I believe in focusing on my breathing,” Keoho says. “I will pause, calm myself and then serve.”

But where? And how hard? And, what level of risk is acceptable?

“In general,” says Rick Butler, the coach of the Sports Performance club program based in Aurora, Ill., “you want to be aggressive but not reckless.

“It’s a fine line. But you don’t want to hit a lollipop serve that they will just spike down.”

Butler said teams average only about one ace per set --“if you can side out 50 percent, that’s good,” he says -- so rather than going for an ace, he wants a consistent serve targeted at a specific zone or at a deficient returner.

If that produces a weak reply, the server has done her job.

Coaches will typically use hand signals to let the team know where the serve should go. They will use a clipboard to hide the signal from the opposing team.

But the truth is that the opposing team often knows who its weakest returner is and where the serve will go. And, on the high school level, some servers will struggle to hit the called zone precisely.

But it’s all part of the strategy within the game.

One thing that is almost always true is that teams avoid serving to the libero, who is in the game specifically for her defense.

“That’s frustrating when I’m on defense,” says Caitlin Nolan, a libero for No. 6 Southlake Carroll (Southlake, Texas). “I just try to encourage my teammates. I also try to take up more of the court to try to force them to serve it to me.”

Keoho said she, too, will avoid the other team’s libero unless …

“If I see her struggling,” Keoho says, “then I will attack.”

There are three basic ways to attack on the serve.

1. Float serve: With your feet firmly on the ground, the goal is to hit a serve that lacks spin or rotation – like a knuckle ball in baseball. If done correctly, a floater just “dies” on the receiver.

2. Jump float serve: Same as the float serve except that there is a higher contact point and the ball travels with more velocity. This serve is used often in the women’s game.

3. Jump spin serve: This is the big serve in the men’s game. It gets on the receiver quickly and acts like a deep-court spike.

“The most important thing is to control the serve and not to have any arch,” Butler says. “A good serve will stay flat and almost skim the top of the net. We practice serving from the top of the net to no more than 3 feet above.

“If we can serve in that range consistently, it won’t give the other team much time to read it and set up. It gets on them quickly and makes it much tougher to pass.”

But serve strategy and understanding the situation can be just as important as technique.

“One of the golden rules of the game is to never miss a serve on game point or after a timeout,” Butler says. “If you are serving, and the other team calls timeout, that means you have momentum, and that’s something you don’t want to give up.”

Brooke Delano, an All-American middle blocker at the University of Nebraska, says one common error made by players who get on a serving hot streak is to try to hit each ball a bit harder than the previous one. This will eventually lead to a mistake by an out-of-control server, she says.

Instead of increasing the velocity, Delano says, a hot server should stay the course and keep doing what has been working.

And, no matter what the score is, Delano says it’s important not to get caught up in the emotion of the moment.

“Focus on your technique,” she says. “Walk yourself through the mechanics of the serve. Relax and do what you’ve done normally thousands of times before.”

By Walter Villa

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Green Valley (Henderson, Nev.) exceeded expectations on Friday, showing that Las Vegas-area teams can compete with some of the nation’s elite.

Green Valley, seeded 32nd in this weekend’s 48-team Durango Fall Classic, stunned the tournament’s top overall seed, Marymount (Los Angeles, Calif.) with a 25-23 first-set win. Marymount went on to win the next two sets, 25-19, 25-15.

Because Green Valley finished second to Marymount in its pool, the Gators qualified for a play-in game and the chance to qualify for Saturday’s Sweet 16 round.

Green Valley got another tough draw: La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad, Calif.), which finished in second place at Durango last year.

Green Valley again gave the favorites a jolt, beating La Costa Canyon, 25-21 in the first set before losing 25-11, 25-11.

“It was a great night for Green Valley and a great night for Las Vegas volleyball,” Gators coach Erin Hill said, alluding to the fact that Vegas teams have never won Durango and have lately not even been very competitive. “I’m thrilled with how we played. We’re young, but we showed up.”

Hill, who was there when Green Valley opened in 1991, is the only coach in school history. She welcomed 140 girls to her very first practice and worked some minor miracles early, winning state titles in 1993, ’95, ’96 and ’01.

No other Vegas-area team has won more Class 4A state titles in girls volleyball. But since the Gators’ golden start, four new schools have opened that have taken enrollment away from Green Valley.

“We have good players in Las Vegas – girls who have gone on to compete at the Division I level,” Hill said. “They just don’t all play for the same high school.”

Still, the Gators have remained a force. Last year, they finished 29-9 and lost in the state final for the second year in a row. The Gators graduated five players from that team.

This season’s team returns four starters: 5-9 junior setter Jenna Swaffer, 5-11 junior outside hitter Carly Schiess, 5-10 sophomore outside hitter Nikki Drost and 5-4 senior libero Alexa Drost.

They also have right-side hitter Sommer King, a 5-9 junior who has emerged this season as an underrated force, and 6-0 junior middle hitter Julie Dramise, who came up big on Friday.

Tournament is on the rise

The Durango Fall Classic started with 16 teams in 1995, quickly grew to 32 schools and now sits at 48.

Bob Kelly, who created the tournament and still runs it, said he is most proud of two things connected with his event: the geographical diversity of the teams and the element of surprise.

The diversity is evident when you see that there are teams from 10 states -- including Alaska and Hawaii -- and Canada.

As for the surprise factor, Kelly said every year seems to produce an unranked team that emerges in Las Vegas. Last year, it was Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.), which shocked many experts by winning the tournament.

Two years ago, it was Newport Harbor (Newport Beach, Calif.), which finished second. They were unranked before the tournament started but finished the year No. 15.

“My gut feeling is that there will be a team from California that surprises again this year,” Kelly said. “There are a lot of outstanding teams out there.”

A hungry player

Senior outside hitter Misty Ma’a of Kamehameha (Honolulu, Hawaii) is making her fourth straight trip to Vegas, and she has found her favorite place to eat. “The buffet at the Rio Hotel,” she said. “It’s the highlight of my life -- the best food I have ever seen. We starve ourselves for months so we can eat there.”

By Walter Villa

Hawaii is comprised of eight major islands.

The ninth part of the state, some joke, is Las Vegas.

That may seem especially true this weekend, when thousands of Hawaiians are expected to travel to the Nevada desert for two of their favorite pastimes: sports and sightseeing.

As part of the former, they’ll watch the University of Hawaii football team play Nevada-Las Vegas Saturday night.

In addition, Kamehameha (Honolulu, Hawaii), which has won six straight girls’ volleyball state titles and 17 overall, will make the 3,000-mile trek to participate in the 17th annual Durango Fall Classic.

This is the fourth straight year Kamehameha has entered the prestigious Fall Classic, a 48-team tournament that runs Friday and Saturday and includes teams from 10 states and Canada.

This year, though, getting to Vegas was trickier.

“Because of the football game, it was hard to get flights out of Hawaii to Vegas this week,” said ninth-year Kamehameha coach Chris Blake.

“Many people from the mainland love to vacation in Hawaii. But Hawaiians love to come to Vegas. And when you add the football game, there will probably be about 10,000 Hawaiians in Vegas this week.”

Blake is hoping a large portion of those islanders continue to show their love for volleyball and come support his team this weekend.

“Women’s volleyball is a big deal in Hawaii, and the fans are very savvy,” Blake said. “All the UH women’s volleyball games are on TV, but they still draw over 5,000 fans. Some teams on the mainland are lucky to get that for an entire year.”

Only football is a more popular team sport on the island than volleyball. The high school girls’ volleyball state finals average about 3,500 fans, and Kamehameha is almost always there when it’s winning time.

Kamehameha, currently ranked 41st in the POWERADE FAB 50 national rankings, has also had success in Vegas, winning the Durango tournament in 1999 and becoming the first non-California team to hoist the trophy.

The only other team to accomplish the feat was Assumption (Louisville, Ky.), which won it in 2005 and finished second the next three years.

Assumption, ranked 13th in the FAB 50 poll, is among this year’s favorites. But there will be a total of 11 teams from the FAB 50 competing in Vegas this weekend.

“We like the challenge,” said coach Ron Kordes, who is in his 24th year at Assumption. “This tournament gives us that underdog mentality, which we don’t get a lot of in our neighborhood. We’ll get to play teams we don’t usually see.”

Most of those teams are from California and Nevada, but –- in addition to the aforementioned Hawaii and Kentucky -- there are also schools here from Georgia, Arizona, Utah, Arkansas and Louisiana.

Among the other ranked teams entered are:

-- No. 7 Los Alamitos (Los Alamitos, Calif.), which has North Carolina recruit JoJo Schnabl, a 5-foot-9 senior setter, is the highest-ranked team at the tournament.

-- No. 18 Marymount (Los Angeles, Calif.), which won Durango in 2003, has 5-11 setter Lauren Fuller.

-- No. 30 Redondo Union (Redondo Beach, Calif.) stars Michigan recruit Tiffany Morales, a 5-6 senior libero.

-- No. 35 Sacred Heart (Louisville, Ky.) is among the top teams outside of California in this year’s field.

-- No. 36 Edison (Huntington Beach, Calif.) stars Washington recruit Cassie Strickland, a 5-7 senior libero.

-- No. 40 Xavier Prep (Phoenix, Ariz.), a 2010 state champ, has Tennessee recruit and 5-8 setter Bianca Arellano.

-- No. 44 Walton (Marietta, Ga.), which won the 2010 Class 5A state title, looks to carry the flag for Georgia.

-- No. 46 Notre Dame Academy (Park Hills, Ky.) is the third team from Kentucky with a shot to make waves in the desert.

-- No. 48 Thousand Oaks (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) is the fifth California team in the FAB 50 entered in the tournament.

Here are some other top contenders:

-- Lakewood (Lakewood, Calif.), which has 5-6 junior libero Heather Eggers, was ranked as high as No. 29 this year.

-- Long Beach Poly (Long Beach, Calif.), which lost in the 2010 Division I state final, has been ranked as high as No. 35 this year.

-- La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad, Calif.), which finished second at Durango in 2010, won it in 2008 and has 6-2 junior Cosy Burnett, was among the FAB 50 teams earlier this season.

-- Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), which has won Durango three times but not since 2001, also was ranked among the nation’s 50 best earlier this season.

-- Saint Mary’s (Stockton, Calif.), which won Durango in 2000, is on the verge of breaking into the FAB 50 poll.

-- Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.) is the reigning Durango champion.

-- Mira Costa (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) was in four straight Durango finals between 2004 and 2007, winning three titles. Mira Costa is led by UCLA recruit Maddy Klineman, a 6-1 outside hitter.

-- Wilson Classical (Long Beach, Calif.) has top talent in 5-11 setter and UCLA recruit Rebecca Strehlow.

Kamehameha, meanwhile, has two premier seniors in Chelsey Keoho and Misty Ma’a.

Keoho, a 5-2 libero, is a Colorado recruit. Ma’a, a 6-1 outside hitter, has yet to commit but is planning a visit to the University of Miami.

Other Kamehameha standouts are sophomore setter Alohi Robins-Hardy, senior middle blocker Haley Pa’akaula and senior outside hitter Brit Kalepa.

“This will be a great test for us,” said Blake, whose team finished 13th at Vegas last season. “This will tell us where we’re at on a national level, and it’s a great springboard for the rest of our season.”